The Country Gentlemaii's Magazine 



473 



"^kz llatoraltet. 



TH£ PARASITICAL FOES OF THE FARMER. 



IN a previous number we quoted an 

 extract from a paper read by the 

 Rev. E. A. Bloomfield, of Guestling, before 

 the FramUngton Farmers' Club, treating of 

 the animal friends and foes of the farmer. 

 The following extract from the same lecture 

 refers to the vegetable and parasitical enemies 

 which farmers have to guard against : — 



Our vegetable foes not only include the 

 weeds which cumber the ground and take the 

 place of better plants, but also many ills 

 which unusually go by the name of blights, 

 such as mildew, smut, bunt, &c. With respect 

 to weeds, I will only mention two weeds by 

 name, the dodder and clover rape, both of 

 which are very destructive to clover. They 

 are both parasites, and live by sucking the 

 juices of the clover plant. I cannot but 

 think that the ravages of the dodder might be 

 almost entirely stopped by sending in a man 

 to mow out the infected piece as soon as it 

 begins to show itself; or, still better, if he 

 dug it out. The mowed pieces must be car- 

 ried away. I know no method of preventing 

 the ravages of the clover rape, that great 

 brown succulent plant that appears so plen- 

 tifully in clover fields after the first crop has 

 been taken. It has been growing underneath 

 the surface and sucking the clover long before 

 it shows itself The most probable means 

 of diminishing its quantity is to be very par- 

 ticular to see to the cleanness of the clover 

 seed. I think it is very probable, however, 

 that the seed may be some years dormant in 

 the ground, and in that case I do not know 

 how we can guard against it. 



Let us now go on to those special diseases 

 of the corn which are often called blights. 

 The mildew, with many other blights, as 

 smut, and rust, and bunt, are caused by fungi; 



in fiict, are due to parasitic growths, which 

 destroy or injure the corn. You all know 

 what mildew looks like. The stem and 

 leaves become discoloured, and at length the 

 outer skin splints, and the parasite is disclosed. 

 If you look at the infected plant with a glass 

 which magnifies slightly, you will observe 

 that the spots are dark and rough. Put a 

 small piece under a powerful microscope, 

 and you will see that the threads and spawn, 

 or mycelium, is hidden in the straw, but what 

 we see is the fruit or seed vessels. Each 

 spore consists of two compartments, which 

 are filled with sporules. But how did the 

 seed enter the plant ? Perhaps through the 

 stomata or little openings which abound on 

 leaves. At any rate, the mildew shews itself 

 generally at these apertures. How, then, 

 does the mildew injure the corn? It absorbs 

 the sap which should go to nourish the 

 grain, and is as true a parasite as the dodder. 

 Moist seasons, damp situations, over-manured 

 land, and lateness of crop all favour mildew; 

 a plant on a manure heap is, in fact, almost 

 always mildewed. And so, again, over- 

 luxuriance will favour mildew. Well draining 

 the land, and keeping the crops free from 

 weeds, will generally prevent the mildew from 

 doing much mischief. 



Again, you all know the rust^ or red robin. 

 Different as it looks, there is good reason 

 to believe that it is the same plant as that 

 which causes the mildew, taking one form or 

 the other, according to the circumstances — 

 the state of the weather or plant. Here it 

 does little harm, but on the Continent it is 

 more dreaded than the mildew. 



The next parasite I would mention is the 

 smut. Some farmers, I have heard, like to 

 see it in the crops, because it is usually 



