PAPERS ON BIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE 199 



and 1918 which brought about the organization of the 

 present barberry eradication campaign by the Office of 

 Cereal Investigations of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture in March, 1918. Field work was begun in 

 April, 1918, under an emergency appropriation for sti- 

 mulating agriculture. An annual appropriation of ap- 

 proximately $150,000 was provided by Congress from 

 July 1, 1918, to June 30, 1921, after which it was increas- 

 ed to $350,000. During this time, practically all cities 

 and towns were surveyed for barberry bushes and a farm- 

 to-farm survey was begun in 1919. By December 31, 

 1922, all properties in 472 counties had been surveyed. 



Because of the desire of interested commercial and 

 agricultural organizations to further the campaign and 

 shorten the time necessary to complete the survey, a con- 

 ference was called by them at Minneapolis in March, 

 1922, to consider further measures that might be adopt- 

 ed as a means of rust control. Representatives of com- 

 mercial interests, the farm bureaus, the State depart- 

 ments of agriculture, and the State experiment stations 

 formed a permanent organization, and indorsed the bar- 

 berry eradication campaign as the feasible measure to be 

 used in rust control. Largely through effective presenta- 

 tion by this organization Congress increased the appro- 

 priations for barberry eradication, and some of the States 

 likewise provided extra funds. 



PROGRESS OF ERADICATION 



The entire State of Illinois is included in the eradica- 

 tion area. Due to a wide range of temperature and lati- 

 tude within the State there is a marked difference in the 

 type and variety of cereals and grasses in the northern 

 and southern areas. Experimental data show that 

 spring wheat is subject to greater damage from stem 

 rust than winter wheat, and, as spring wheat is grown 

 successfully only in northern Illinois, it was decided to 

 begin barberrv eradication in that section. 



From April 1, 1918, to December 31, 1922, 762 cities 

 and towns were surveyed for barberry and 15 counties 

 were covered in the farm-to-farm survey with the result 

 that 142, 882 bushes were located, and, in most instances, 



