Vol. xxvn, 



1 McAlpine, The Romance of Plant Pathology. 131 



His own words are : — " Sow early, and, if possible, after the 

 rains have moistened the soil ; the ' rust smoke ' perishes in 

 water. And wheat-growers should be specially warned that their 

 crops are liable to be destroyed by rust if even the smallest 

 portion of their seed is mildewed, as that state is, to a certaint}^ 

 the j)redis])osing cause of the attack of the parasite. The 

 necessary precautions which I have recommended cost absolutely 

 nothing ; and if farmers will only adopt these precautions they 

 need never be alarmed about the rust plague destroying their 

 wheat crops." 



Accordingly, a committee of investigation was appointed by 

 the Minister, consisting of Messrs. Pearson, Knight, and myself, 

 for Victoria. As experience had taught me to act warily with 

 discoverers when £10,000 was at stake, I arranged with Mr. 

 Ellis to meet the committee at a farm in the Goulburn Valley to 

 choose his own seed-wheat, and see that it was perfectly ripe 

 when reaped, then it could be kept dry under his personal super- 

 vision, and finally sown under conditions selected by himself. 

 He agreed to this, and appointed a day of meeting with the 

 committee at the farm agreed upon, but afterwards he changed 

 his mind, and met me at the railway station to start for the 

 Goulburn Valley, when he bluntly informed me that he was not 

 going. He had evidently made uj) his mind to carry out ex- 

 periments on his own account, and had made arrangements with 

 the Curator of the Botanical Gardens to have a small enclosed 

 space there for the purpose. I understand that he sowed two 

 plots there — one treated according to his method to ensure a 

 clean crop, and the other sown in the usual way ; but, with that 

 perversit}' which often occurs in agricultural ex])eriments. the 

 carefully tended and treated cro]) developed the rust, while the 

 other was comparati\'ely clean. 



Shortly afterwards the startlmg announcement appeared in 

 the daily press that the experimental plots had been ruthlessly 

 destroyed by some vandal hand during the night, and accom- 

 j^anied by the suggestive remark that a gentleman with a 

 magnifying glass had been seen inspecting the plots the day 

 before. Judge of my surprise when Detective Cawsey, as he 

 then was. called at the College of Pharmacy inquiring for me, 

 as the students were about to assemble for the lecture, and one 

 of them informed me of the fact that the detectives were after 

 me ! On meeting the detective in my private room, he delicately 

 hinted to me that 1 was accused of destroying the experimental 

 plots : but after explaining to him the circumstances connected 

 with the ];)lots and tlie monetary interests involved, and stating 

 that, no matter who carried out the experiments, I would be 

 curious to see the results, he went away apparently satisfied. 

 This was my first and last and onl}- meeting with a detective. 



