SMUT. 



fubjeft. Upon a near infpeftion with the glafs, he found 

 that the dirty-green colour of the blades of the fmulted 

 ears was owing to a number of fpots infinitely fmall, and 

 bearing a near refemblance to thofe upon blighted ears : 

 his obfervations were continued throughout the whole 

 period of the ripening, in the courfe of which he made no 

 additional difcovery, except obferving, that the leaves and 

 ftalks of the fmutted ears decayed fooner than fuch as were 

 healthy. About the end of autumn, however, having one 

 day brought home fome fmutted cars of rather an unufual 

 appearance, he examined them very narrowly, and obferved 

 that the balls were perforated in many places with fmall 

 round holes, a thing he had not before obferved in any 

 that he had met with : this he afcribed to vermin ; and 

 upon Iticking one of the grains upon a pin, and placing it 

 under the glafs in a very bright fun, he could dillinftly ob- 

 ferve feveral fmall tranfparent fpecks upon the beard, or 

 downy part of it. He examined feveral more, and met with 

 exaftly the fame appearance ; but upon being called hallily 

 away upon bufinefs, he was under the neceflity of leaving 

 them upon the table, without being able to afcertain 

 whether the objefts he had feen were eggs or infefts. In 

 the evening, when he came home, he refumed the invtfti- 

 gation by candle-light ; in the courfe of which, a? he was 

 under the neceflity of holding them very near the candle, 

 the heat foon relieved him from his embarralTment, by put- 

 ting them in motion, and he then difcovered that the fpecks 

 above-mentioned were real inftfts, refembling wood-lice in 

 (hape. Next day he repeated the fame trials by fun-light 

 with new fmut-balls, and difcovered the fame appearances, 

 but without being able to make any of the infedls ilir. 

 Difappointed and vexed at not being able to fee them in 

 motion with the fun-light, and recoUefting the heat of the 

 candle, he threw the concentrated rays of the fun upon 

 them with a burning-glafs, which completely anfwered his 

 purpofe of putting them in motion, and (hewing them in 

 every different point of view. To defcribe minutely an 

 infeft fo fmall as not to be diltiiiguifhable by the naked eye, 

 would, he thinks, be no eafy matter ; it is fufficient to fay, 

 that its general appearance is very fimilar to the wood-loufe, 

 though infinitely fmaller. As foon as he had clearly af- 

 certained the exiftence of this infeft, his mind was pcr- 

 feftly at eafe with regard to the caufe of the diltemper ; 

 but though he could very readily conceive that vermin, in 

 the early llagcs of the growth of a plant, might fo injure 

 the ftamina as to render it unfit to produce any thing but 

 fmut, he could not fo well underftand how it was poflible 

 for the mere touch of the black earth contained in the 

 fmut-balls to produce the fame effeft. It is well known, 

 that in the animal body, certain infeftions are communicated 

 merely by the contact of the found and unfound parts ; 

 but that in every inftance where this happens, the injury 

 can be diftindlly traced to an abforption of the virulent 

 matter, by the vedels of the healthy fubjeft. 



And we are now, he thinks, fo well acquainted with 

 vegetation, as to know that plants have a circulating fyltem 

 an well as animals ; and that while they are in a growing 

 Hate, poifon as well as nourifhmcnt may enter their ved'eb, 

 and do infinite mifchief. If this reafoning is landtioned by 

 expedience, and there can be no doubt of it, and if there is 

 the flighteft analogy between animal and vegetable life, it 

 will at once appear, that no bad effeft could polfibly arife 

 from fmutted and healthy ears coming in contact, either in 

 the (lack or xhc barn, as at that time they are in a (late of 

 relt, and no circulation going on. It may be argued in 

 anfwer to this, tliat while the plants are green, the (baking 

 of the wind may bring the fmutted and the healthy ears 



into contaft, and that the acrimony of the fmut may cor- 

 rode and dellroy the healthy wheat, fo as to produce the 

 difeafo. This idea he knows is entertained by many very 

 good farmers : it is, however, clearly difproved by the 

 experiment above recited, by which it appears that a fimple 

 wadiing in water, provided it is properly performed, is a 

 very efie&ual cure for the diltemper : common fcnle will 

 inform us, that had the ftamina, or germ of the grains fo 

 wadied, been injured by any thing of a corrofive nature, 

 even in the (lightclt degree, no ablution whatever could 

 poflibly have repaired the milchief. And the fame reafon- 

 ing, he fuppofes, applies with equal jullice to the other 

 caufes affigned, with the fingle exception of infefts ; for 

 if either the grain was naturally weak, or had been fprung 

 in harvelt, or was deficient in its male organs, as is ridi- 

 culoudy iuppofed, nothing but the highelt degree of weak- 

 nefs and credulity could make any perfon believe, that 

 either the wadiing with water, or indeed any other prepa- 

 ration, could cure fuch defefts. 



It is, therefore, his opinion, that the fmut is occafioned 

 by the fmall mfeft above defcribed, as leen by the glafs in 

 the downy part of the grain ; and that when the balls are 

 either broken in the operation of thra(hing, or come in con- 

 tact with clean healthy grains, the infefts leave the fmutted 

 grains, and, adhering to fuch as are healthy, are fown with 

 them, and wound the tender ftem in fuch a manner as to 

 render the plant incapable of producing any thing but 

 fmut. It is not an eafy matter to account for the manner 

 in which this takes place ; but a little attention to the 

 circumftances he is now to mention vi'ill perhaps throw 

 fome light upon it. It is known that plants of very op- 

 pofite natures and qualities will grow and produce abun- 

 dantly upon the fame foil, where the nourifhment is feem- 

 ingly the fame. This effeft is alfo known to be owing to 

 the ftrufture of their veffels, by the aftion of which the 

 juices that circulate through them are differently prepared 

 in every different plant. From this ftriking difference, 

 owing confeffedly to organization, is it not, he aflts, 

 prefumable that the fmnt in wheat is produced by the 

 infefts wounding the veffels of the plant in fuch a manner 

 as to render them incapable of taking up any other prin- 

 ciple from the foil, but the fmut contained in the balls, 

 which, upon examination, feems to have no quality different 

 from the fineft vegetable earth ? This opinion, he thinks, 

 is llrongly fupported from the circuraftance of certain 

 pickles being found a cure for the malady. The effeft of 

 thefe pickles is, however, completely mifunderdood ; for, 

 in place of fuppofing, as is erroneoudy done, that they 

 operate by flrengthcning the grain, and thereby removing 

 that debility which has been long confidered the caufe of 

 fmut, their benefit depends upon the powers they podefs 

 of dcftroying the infefts above defcribed : but to fhew the 

 abfnrdity of the commonly received opinion in a more 

 ftriking point of view, it is only neccflary, he adds, to 

 date, that many of thefe preparations, which are fuppofed 

 to be fo friendly to vegetation, are in faft inimical to it, 

 unlefs they are ufed with tlie utmofl caution ; even Itale 

 urine, which has long been confidered as a fafe and inno- 

 cent remedy, is, under certain circumftances, highly per- 

 nicious. After he had difcovered the infeft, he made 

 trial of all the fubflaiices commonly ufed, and found all of 

 them, when properly applied, deftruftive to it. Is it Hot, 

 therefore, he contends, more agreeable to plain common 

 (enfe to fuppofe, that the virtue of thefe preparations con- 

 fifts more in the power they have of dcftroying vermin, than 

 in any ftren^tliening quality they polfefs ? 



The following opinion has been offered on this vege- 

 Bb 2 table 



