THE WHEAT CULTUKIST. 



415 



out the remedy for it. The reader can find all the 

 theories about rust that he will care to read, in works 

 on agriculture, where the remedies are not recorded. 

 The forlorn farmer often rails at the climate, and 

 cries out that his wheat is killed by rust, while in fact it 

 has died from starvation from the want of that food 

 which, as a provident husbandman, it was his duty to 

 have provided for it. 



FIG. 77. Magnified section of Straw, showing Silica deposits. 



The illustration herewith given represents a small 

 section of the thin pellicle, or skin, of the stems of grow- 

 ing wheat, highly magnified, and showing the manner 

 of depositing silica in the epidermis of the stalk. Silica 

 is a substance that imparts stiffness to straw. The 

 liquid silica is deposited all around the straw, similar to 

 enclosing it with a thin glass tube. Silica is what ren- 

 ders wheat straw so harsh and stiff. 



Now, then, the practical consideration is to sup- 

 ply the roots of growing wheat, in large abundance, 



