Vegetable substances used for the food of man / [Edwin Lankester. Revised and partly rewritten].

  • Edwin Lankester
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vegetable substances used for the food of man / [Edwin Lankester. Revised and partly rewritten]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    WIIKAT. shrunk and shrivelled up to less than one-half the size of what it had formerly been, and so withered and blasted as not to appear to belong to the same field. The rest of the field produced a fair crop.”* This disorder attacks either the leaves or stem of the plant, which ap- jK!ar to be covered by broken lines of a black or deep brown colour. This disease has been ascertained to result from the presence of a very minute species of fungus, the roots of which are inserted into the stem, and .absorb the nourishment intended for the grain, which, when the plant is thus attacked, proves little else than husk. The minute seeds of the parasitical plant which occasion this mischief are so exceedingly light that they are borne along by the air to considerable distances. They are likewise of extraordinary quick growth, occupying in warm weather, according to the opinion of Sir Joseph Banks, not longer than one week from the time of their insertion in the j)lant to the pro- duction of their seed. Every pore in the straw whereon they fix will jirescnt from twenty to forty plants, so that the extent to which this mischief spreads is difficult to Ije imagined. Fungus thrives best in dump and shady situations, a circumstance which seems to |)oint out natu- rally the jjropriety of providing means for the free ven- tilation of the fields, keeping low the hcilgcs and fences by which they are surrounded. For the same reason it is found that thin crops, and such as are sown by drilling or dibbling, are the most likely to csca])e. It has been often asserted, and was for a long time believed, that the neighbourhood of barberry bushes was hurtful by attracting the noxious fungus, l)ut this idea is now classed among mifoun(l(!(l i)rejudices. The grain of mildewed plants is found to be ])crlectly good for seed, and being smaller than sound grain, a less measure is re(|uired for the purpo.se. Another formidable disease to which corn is liable is known under the characteristic name of smut. 'I'his injury consists in the conversion of the farina of the * ‘ Encyclop. of Card.,’ p. 2.^7. 1) 2
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