48 PLANT DISEASES 



the total value of the crops. The year 1891 was a very 

 unfavourable one, but even taking the estimate at the 

 half of the above sum, we have a yearly loss by rust 

 amounting to ^10,000,000 sterling. 



'In Australia the loss in the wheat harvest of 1890-91 

 on account of rust has been estimated at ;£"2, 500,000 

 sterling. 



' Consideration of the loss of sums of money like these, 

 which might be considerably reduced if energetic and 

 universal measures were employed a'gainst fungoid plant- 

 diseases, will serve to emphasise the importance of 

 remedial measures. It must also be borne in mind tliat 

 the use of diseased fodder, especially hay, grass, or grain, 

 infested by rust or smut fungi, is productive of serious 

 results to the various animals of the farm ; while the use 

 of meal or flour contaminated with smuts, stinking-smuts, 

 or ergot, is dangerous to mankind.' 



Professor Newton B. Pierce, U.S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 30, writes as follows on 

 the subject of ' Grape Diseases on the Pacific Coast ' : — 



'As near as can be learned, the disease first appeared 

 in 1884; in 1885 many vines were killed, and in 1886 

 extensive vineyards were destroyed by it in the vicinity 

 of Anaheim, Cal. From this time on the disease spread, 

 until now the whole vine-growing regions are denuded 

 and the disease is at work 50 miles from the point where 

 it began its ravages. Up to the present time, as before 

 stated, 30,000 acres of vines have been destroyed, causing 

 a direct and indirect loss of not less than 820,000,000.' 



The above quotations indicate the extent of injury 

 done by fungi and other enemies, and undoubtedly the 

 unwritten experience of others who have suffered, if 



