H USB 
burft, and the farina be-wkfhed away. The difeafe is 
there i'uppofed not to be produced by any infectious fub- 
ftance, or the ova of infects that may adhere to the grain, 
ks fmutty ears and found ones are found proceeding from 
the fame roof, and, in fome inftances, both fmutty and 
found grains to be contained in the fame ear ; fome of the 
corns having even one end fnvutty, and the other found. 
The enquiries of a late winter are, however, highly in fa¬ 
vour of the opinion, that the malady is produced by the 
attacks of an infeCt; and that, though unqueft-ionably 
infe£lious, it may be prevented, or cured, by the ufe of 
different kinds of fteeps, fuch as brining, Sec. Others 
have fuggefted that fteeps, prepared with aloes, tobacco, 
and hellebore, may be ufeful for the fame purpofe, when 
applied during the growth'of the crop, by means of a 
piece of flannel immerfed in them, and drawn different 
ways of the ridges, by two perfons walking in the fur¬ 
rows, fo as to touch the ears. The proper time of per¬ 
forming this bufinefs is when the weather is fine and dry. 
Tiie fads and oblervations on which thefe interefting 
conclufions are founded, are detailed in the following 
manner by Mr. Somerville, in the fecond vdlume of Com¬ 
munications to the Board of Agriculture. Some years 
ago, he fays, he collected a quantity of fmutted ears from 
one field of wheat, in which they were very numerous, 
end a number of healthy well-filled ears from another 
field, in which there was no fmut. The grains were rub¬ 
bed out of both, intimately mixed, arid kept in a box 
for two months, at the end of which they were rubbed 
between the hands in fuch a manner as to break the 
whole of the finut-ball. The parcel was then divided 
into, two equal parts, one of which was three or four 
times wafiied with pure water, and well rubbed between 
the hands at each waihing, and afterwards fown in a drill 
in his garden ; the other half was fown in another drill 
without any wafhir.g or preparation whatever ; the foil 
nnd every other ciroumftance was equal. Both parcels 
vegetated at the fame time, and for about two mojiths 
afterwards there was no vifible difference in their appear¬ 
ance ; about that period he however obferved, that many 
of the plants in the drill, that had been foyvn without 
being wafhed, were of a darker colour than the others ; 
thefe, when narrowly examined, were of a dirty green. 
The plants in the drill that had been wafhed were all of 
one colour, and feemingly healthy; as the feafon ad¬ 
vanced, the difference in colour became more finking, 
and continued to increafe till the grain was fairly out of 
the blade; about which time many of the dirty green 
ears began to exhibit iymptoms of decay. As foon as 
the ear was fairly fliot out, the whole of thofe in the un- 
waihed drill, that had the dirty green appearance above 
deferibed, were found to contain nothing but fmut; and 
thefe fmutted ears were in the proportion of more than 
fix to one of the healthy ones ; while, on the contrary, 
the drill in which the wafhed grains had been fown, and 
which confilted of feveral hundred grains, had hardly a 
fmutted or unhealthy ear in it. The fame experiment 
was repeated the following feafon, and with nearly the 
fame refult. Satisfied with knowing that’complete wafn- 
ing would be found a remedy for the difeafe, he made no 
farther enquiry upon the fubjedl till lafi autumn, when 
he was employed in making obfervations upon the blight, 
in the courfe of which he met with a good deal of fmut in 
many fields ; and, being at the time poffefled of fome excel¬ 
lent magnifying’-.giaffes, he carefully examined fome of the 
fmutted plants. This at firft was done more as a matter 
of amufement than from an expectation of difeovering any 
thing that might contribute to throw light upon the iub- 
jeft. Upon a near infpeftion with the 'glafs, he found 
that the dirty green colour of the blades of the fmutted 
ears was owing to a number of fpots infinitely final],' 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 diicovery, except obferving, that the leaves 
Vol. X. No. 682. 
UN D R Y. 511 
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 ears of rather an unufual ap¬ 
pearance, he examined them very narrowly, and obferved, 
that the balls were perforated in many places with (mail 
round holes, a thing he had not before obferved in.any 
that he had met with ; this he aferibed to vermin ; a d 
upon flicking one of the grains upon a pin, and p:?i mg 
it under the glafs in a very bright fun, he could diitin'Ciiy; 
obferve feveral frnall tran (parent fpecks upon the beard, 
or downy part of it. He examined feveral more, and 
met with exactly the fame appearance; but, being called 
hafiily away upon bufinefs, lie was under the neceffity of 
leaving them upon the table, without being able to af- 
certain whether the objects he had feen were eggs or in¬ 
tents. In the evening, when he came home, he relumed 
the inveftigation by candle-light; in the courfe of which, 
as he was under the neceffity of holding them very near 
the candle, the heat foon relieved him from his.erobar- 
raffment, by putting them in motion, and he then dilco- 
vered that the fpecks above-mentioned were real inlefts, 
refembling wood-lice in fiiape. Next day he repeated the 
fame trials . by fun-light with new fmnt-balls, and difeo- 
vered the fame appearances, but without being able to 
make any of the infefls ftir. Difappointed and vexed at 
not being able to fee them in motion with fun-light, and 
recoliecling the heat of the.candle, he threw the concen¬ 
trated rays of the fun upon them with a burning-glafs, 
which completely anfwered his purpofe of putting them 
in motion, and (bowing them in every different point of 
view. To deferibe minutely an infeft fo frnall as not to 
be diftinguifhable by the naked eye, would, fays be, be no 
eafy matter; it is fufficient to fay, that its general ap¬ 
pearance is very fimilar to the wood-loufe, though infi¬ 
nitely fmaller. 
As foon as he was clearly afeertained of the exiftence 
of the infeft, his mind was, he fays, perfectly at eaie with 
regard to the caufe of the diftem'per ; but though he could 
very readily conceive that vermin, in the early fiages of 
the growth of a plant, might fo injure the ftamina as to 
render it unfit to produce any thing but fmut, hi could 
not fo well underfiand how it was poffibie for the mere 
touch of the black earth contained in the fmut-bails to 
produce the fame effect. 
After fome reafoning, he however, gives it as his_opi- 
nion, that fmut is occaiioned by the frnall infeft above de- 
feribed, as feen by the glafs in the downy part of the grain ; 
and that, when the balls are either broken in the opera¬ 
tion of thrafhing, or come in contaft 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 fiem 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 will perhaps throw l'ome light upon it. 
It is known that plants of very oppofite natures and quali¬ 
ties will grow and produce abundantly upon the fame 
foil, where the nourilhmenX is Feemingly the fame. This 
eft'efi is alfo known to be owing to the firufture of their 
veflels, by the aftion of which the juices that circulate 
through them are differently prepared in every different 
plant. From this ftriking difference, owing confeflediy 
to organization, is it not, fays he, prefumable, that the 
fmut in wheat is produced by the iniefts wounding tiie 
veflels of the plant in fuch a manner as to render them 
incapable of taking up any other principle from the foil 
but tiie fmut contained in the balls, which upon examin¬ 
ation feems to have no quality different from the fineft 
vegetable earth ? This opinion he thinks is ftrongly (up- 
ported from the circumftance of certain pickles being- 
found a cure for the malady. The effeft of thefe pickles 
is, however, completely mifunderftood ; for in the place 
of fuppoling, as is erroneoully done, that they operate by 
6 Y ltrengtheiiing 
