12 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE SELECT 



. 59. Mr. van Breda.] Do you think the same observation 

 . also applies to barley ? The disease in barley has not been 

 reported to me until now ; but the same remarks apply to the 

 rust in whatever grass-plants it attacks ; and I believe that, 

 substantially, the same remarks will apply to smut, red robin, 

 and other affections of the cereals. 



60. Mr. Cock.~\ Have you been able to discover a remedy 

 for these diseases? None other than bathing the seed. 



61. Mr. Pote.] Then there is no remedy you are aware of 

 but that practised by the farmers now in reference to rust in 

 wheat and other grain ? None. But I consider it desirable 

 that more attention should be given to the principle upon 

 which my suggestion in regard to period of ripening is 

 founded. 



62. How do you account for the fact that where lands lie 

 contiguous to each other, sown with the same seed, and 

 subjected to the same mode of culture, one piece will develop 

 the rust and the adjoining piece will escape?- Assuming the 

 fact to be so, there are at least two modes in which it may 

 be brought about. The wheat in the one field may be more 

 advanced in growth than the wheat in the other, and the 

 stalk and leaf be then in a state to supply the proper soil for the 

 germination of the spores. Or, from the direction of the 

 wind, spores may be blown upon the one and not upon the 

 other. You require spores and the proper soil. If you have 

 not both at the same time you will have no rust. When 1 

 speak of the soil, however, I mean, not the earth, but the 

 surface of the straw. 



63. But does not rust attack grain in all stages of its 

 growth, except when it becomes too ripe ? The stage of 

 growth at which it is most injurious is when the ear is filling. 

 If it attack the straw earlier, it produces little effect upon the 

 grain ; or if it appear later it produces little effect, and 

 therefore it is not likely to be remarked. But if at any period 

 of growth there be a thin film of decaying matter on the 

 surface of the leaf or straw, and spores be borne by the 

 atmosphere upon it, the disease will appear. 



64. Do not the spores interfere with the rising and circu- 

 lation of the sap in the plant? My belief is that the rootlets 

 of the fungi penetrating the cellular tissue of the plant do 

 affect the sap, and prevent its ministering to the full and 

 perfect development of the grain. 



