of the Fungi producing Rust and Mildew. 223 



granular matter. In some cases there was no distinct trans- 

 parent pedicel, and the granules filled the entire body of a one- 

 celled club-shaped spore (as at n). I have not thought it neces- 

 sary to give more than the mere outline of some of the forms, nor 

 is it worth while to dilate any further upon them. A glance at 

 the plate will be sufficient to explain their appearances better than 

 any description. 



Although these details are perhaps more strictly suited to 

 botanical than to an agricultural journal, I trust they are not 

 entirely foreign to the objects which the Royal Agricultural 

 Society have proposed to themselves— the union of science and 

 practice. Whatever interest may be attached, in a scientific 

 point of view, to determining the specific identity of certain para- 

 sitic fungi which had previously been considered to belong to dis- 

 tinct genera, the practical agriculturist must clearly be interested 

 in learning that two of the most fatal diseases to which his wheat 

 crop is liable are in fact only modifications of one and the same 

 disorder. He may then reasonably hope that if he is ever able to 

 find a remedy or palliative for one of the states of this disease, he 

 will not need to search further for any different corrective of the 

 other state. The similarity in the general economy of the bunt 

 and smut fungi (their sporules being introduced at the roots of 

 the plants which they attack) renders it extremely probable 

 that the most efficacious remedy (I mean the sulphate of 

 copper) hitherto discovered for destroying the former will be 

 found equally active in destroying the latter. Much more, 

 then, is it likely that we may be able to check the progress 

 of both rust and mildew by some common treatment appli- 

 cable to both forms of this one disease. But a better know- 

 ledge of the exact economy of the parasite which produces this 

 disease, and especially of its mode of propagation, is required, 

 before we can hope to suggest any means of resisting its attack 

 with much probability of success. 



It is remarkable that the rust seems to be more common and 

 more dreaded on the Continent than the mildew, whilst with us 

 the mildew is considered a far greater pest than the rust. Is it 

 that our climate is better suited to the more complete develop- 

 ment of the spores of these parasitic fungi, and that our conti- 

 nental neighbours are more rarely favoured with the opportunitv 

 of seeing them in their most perfect form ? 



As the fact uf the berberry occasioning some sort of blight in 

 wheat, but more especially mildew, has been forcibly brought 

 before me from several quarters since my report was written, I 

 am bound to suppose that there must occasionally exist some 

 relation between the presence of this shrub and the occurrence 



