WHITE-EARED WHEAT. 
89 
pulling at the ear, the stem came out of the sheath, leaving a stump 
behind of a few inches long attached to the highest knot. This 
stump looked flaccid and shrunken, and at the point of severance, in 
almost all the specimens sent, the straw was shrunk (and also often 
brownish, as might naturally be expected from decay taking place at 
a dead point). 
There was no obvious cause for the injury,—neither signs of insect 
nor of fungoid origin, so far as I could myself make out, or as far as 
I could [learn by consultation, British or Foreign,—nor, although 
“ white ears ” are often noticeable in summer in ripening Wheat, 
could I find that this peculiar fractured stem attack had been recorded 
before. 
In the only instance in which I had a specimen with the attack 
still in progress, the stem cracked asunder on being pulled (was not 
already parted), and I found that at the point of fracture the straw 
tube had an irregular swollen growth within,—what might be described 
as a granulated growth partly filling up the tube ; so that whereas a 
section of the straw an inch above would have shown a clean, even, 
fine ring, the section at the point of fracture showed a much thicker 
ring, smooth and even outside, but inside irregularly swelled or 
granulated. 
The cross section also showed small open cells which had been 
cracked across in seveiing the straw. From this appearance it seemed 
to me that the attack was some kind of vegetable disease, and perhaps 
due to the wet season acting on local causes. 
From some of the reports it might be inferred that the diseased 
Wheat occurred generally, more or less, in the field from which the 
specimens had been taken, but in some cases the attack was quite 
local, only affecting a patch or portion of a field. 
In one note the attack was stated to be confined to a spot about 
ten yards in diameter, near an elm tree ; in another, only on one land 
in the field, and that the outside land. In the instance of the attack 
extending to Barley which I saw samples of, the attack was said to be 
confined “ pretty much to one side of the field.” From these circum¬ 
stances the disorder whatever it may be, does not appear to have come 
in the seed; and it certainly cannot be transmitted from seed of the 
injured plants, as the barrenness of the head is one characteristic of 
the attack. 
But it would be desirable to ascertain what the cause of the disease 
may be; and if I could have specimens sent to me in the coming 
season, gathered as soon as the Wheat-ears begin to show the very first 
signs of (apparently) premature ripening, we could probably very easily 
make sure of the cause of the injury. 
