453 



The Valley of Xepaul. 



[Oct. 



common term for the blackening of wheat ears is smut, regarded by 

 the vulgar in Europe as well as here, as a disease. But a correct and 

 rational explanation has been furnished by the Entomologists.* The 

 insect known in England, whose destructive operations on wheat are 

 precisely analogous to what is observed here, is a small orange colour- 

 ed midge (Cradamya tritica), which deposits its eggs in the floret of 

 the wheat, towards the end of June and throughout July.f The con- 

 sequence of this is, that the anthers of the florets on which the larva 

 feed when produced from the egg, are totally destroyed, and no seed is 

 formed in the ear, which becomes black and powdered. This disease 

 is not very general in Nepaul, but I have annually observed it to exist 

 in the wheat crops, and although I have not seen the insect alluded to, 

 I have no doubt that it is the cause of this effect. The wheat flowers 

 in April, after which the smut appears. The depositing of its eggs in 

 June and July in England, will not invalidate the idea of its being (he 

 same animal which lays its eggs here in April, as nature adapts the 

 breeding seasons of all animals to the occurrence of the necessary 

 favourable circumstances. The Newars attribute the smut to the state 

 of the wind, or of the atmosphere, in general ungenial to the young 

 wheat ear ; but are disposed to believe that there is more of it in wet, 

 than in dry spring seasons. Wheat alone of all the white crops is sub- 

 ject to smut. The next disease of crops prevalent here is, languishing 

 and whitening of the young rice plants, when only a few inches above 

 ground ; this is attributed to the attacks of a large grub, called kiongki 

 or root worm, of a black or blue colour, generally the thickness of the 

 four finger, sometimes as thick as the thumb, and about two inches long. 

 It is supposed by the natives to be produced, and to thrive best in rotten 

 manure, and to devour the seed and young radicals of the plant The 

 kiongki is most destructive to the gohya or upland rice, attacking it 

 soon after being sown, and continuing its vavages until about the middle 

 of May, after which it ceases. The people do not know of what flying 

 insect this grub is the larva, nor have they any remedy against its at- 

 tacks except removing it from the fields when they see it. The third 

 disease of white crops is a premature whitening of the ears of rice 

 (both kinds), and the failure of the grain in them. This is attribut- 

 ed by the Newars to the attacks of a small grub the size of the com- 

 mon white maggot, the body of which is white, the head black and 

 hard ; it is called the sheo-ki, the marrow or pith worm. J The sheoki 



* Me3srs. KiThy and Masham. 



t See Natural History of Insects in Lardner's Cyclopaedia. 



X Ki in Newatf is the generic term for worm or grab. Kiong is root, and sheo the 

 narrow or brain of animals, and pith of trees and vegetables. 



