THE WHEAT CULTURIST. 



407 



illustration (Fig. 74), which represents the mildew of 

 wheat, greatly magnified. To the naked eye these beau- 

 tiful fungi seem more like the minute particles of dust 

 on a miller's hat, than anything else. 



To the practical wheat grower the great question is : 

 What is mildew? what causes it? and, what is the 

 remedy f 



I answer in brief: Mildew is a disease of the grow- 

 ing wheat. The plants are covered with a white sub- 

 stance, which is made up of minute fungi, which ap- 

 pear in spots on the straw. These parasites, repre- 

 sented by Fig. 74, are minute 

 plants, growing on the wheat 

 plant, and extracting the juices 

 that should be appropriated to 

 the development of the grain. 

 After reading scores of pages 

 about mildew, in which various 

 plausible theories are broached 

 by one author, and the same 

 theories controverted by an- 

 other author of equally reliable 

 authority, I have to again ac- 

 knowledge that we- know little 

 about the cause, or the remedy. 



By referring again to Fig. 

 74, it may be seen, that the 

 ends of the delicate creeping 

 threads bear spores, or sporules, 

 which fall off, an I fly like dust, in the air. Some- 

 times these spores form quite a little cloud. Strange 

 as it may appear, these intinitesimally small parti- 

 cles of dust are seeds, so to speak, from which millions 



Fig. 75. — Rust magnified. 



