RUST, SMUT, ETC. 125 



223(a). Mr. Theodore Perry tells us in the " Prairie Farmer," 

 that he sowed one-half of a ten acre field with one-and-a-half 

 hushels of salt, just after seeding it with spring wheat ; the re- 

 sult was that the salted portion was ready for the sickle five days 

 earlier than the unsalted part, and not a particle of rust or smut 

 could he found ; aud the increase of crop he estimated at five 

 hushels to the acre. The effects of salt, it must be remembered, 

 are always rather variable and uncertain. 



223(b). A number of experiments were undertaken by Dr. 

 Aug. Voelcker, of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, 

 with a view of studying the effects of salt on vegetation in 

 general, and a notice of the results he arrived at is to be found 

 in the Report of the British Association for 1850. The plants 

 selected for experiments were cabbages, beans, onions, lentils 

 and radishes. The lentils watered with a salt solution contain- 

 ing twenty-four grains of salt per pint of water, were greatly im- 

 proved. Grasses were affected by salt more readily than any 

 other of the plants experimented on. Solutions containing 

 twenty-foiir grains of salt, decidedly benefitted radishes, lentils, 

 onions and cabbages. Many of the plants tasted like strong 

 brine. 



223(c). The effect of salt on wheat is said to increase the 

 weight of the grain, and diminish that of the straw. 



224. Early sowing, with properly prepared seed, to escape the 

 time when those climatal conditions occur favourable to rust, is, 

 perhaps, one of the best remedies which can be recommended. 

 If to this we add the selection of flinty-stemmed varieties, whose 

 stomata on the stalk will have in great part closed before the 

 "time for rust," little damage may be expected in ordinary 

 years. The use of charcoal and common salt, as liefore described, 

 mil serve very matei'ially to lessen the dangers arising from the 

 appearance of this most destructive parasite. Common salt, or 



