84 



Diseases in Wheat. 



Vol. IV. 



found in lime and slaughter-house manure, 

 for both of these wei'e employed. The seed 

 was limed, and the above manure copiously 

 applied. 



It is not to be attributed to the luxuriance 

 of the crop, for several pieces in the neigh 

 borhood have suflered equally, and from the 

 same cause, when the cultivation was by no 

 means so high. 



It is not a time of universal failure. A 

 good deal in this vicinity is perfectly healthy 

 and sound ; and I have already reaped on the 

 same farm a small piece of wheat, say lialf an 

 acre, on higher land, which was healthy and 

 fair, though from the condition of the land it 

 gave but a small product. This, however, 

 though sown at the same time, was ready for 

 tlie sickle more than a week sooner than the 

 other, from the drier and poorer quality of 

 the soil. 



As the w'heat was filling fast, we had fre- 

 quent showers, and mucli of what we Yankees 

 call muggy weather. One day in particular 

 tlie air vvas sultry, the heat intense, and the 

 showers frequent, with intervals of sunshine ; 

 and the earth was steaming most profusely. 



An intelligent farmer in my employ, ac- 

 customed to the cultivation of this grain in 

 02ie of the best wheat districts in New York, 

 remarked to me that this was very severe 

 weather for my wheat, and that he feared I 

 should lose it. The rust in fact appeared 

 for the first time the next day, and rapidly 

 extended itself over tiie whole field, present- 

 ing no difference cither in the manured, and 

 in the parts not manured, and of course less 

 luxuriant. 



Had my wheat been sown earlier, so as to 

 have been farther advanced, it would proba- 

 bly have escaped ; had it been sown later, so 

 as not to have been so far advanced as it was, 

 perhaps I should have been as fortunate. But 

 the occurrence of such a peculiar state of the 

 atmospliere being wholly accidental, at least 

 as far as we are concerned, it is impossible 

 to make any certain calculations about it." 



The remedies against rust, mildew or 

 blight, as laid down in the " Code of Agricul- 

 ture," by Sir John Sinci.air, are as ibllows : 

 Cultivating hardy sorts of wheat — early sow- 

 ing — raising of early varieties — thick sowing 

 — frequent changes of seed — consolidating 

 the soil — using saline manures — improving- 

 the course of crops — extirpating all plants, 

 that arc receptacles of rust, and by protect- 

 ing the ears and roots of wheat by rye and 

 other crops. 



In tlie present state of botanical knowledge, 

 as regards the diseases of grain, it is out of 

 our power to offer any remedy for injuries 

 arising from such various and uncertain 

 causes. But as they seem to be chieily occa- 

 eioned by a close state of the atmosphere, 



they may, probably, be partially guarded 

 against, by preservmg as free a circulation as 

 possible of air among the plants, by keeping 

 the fences as low as the security of the crop 

 will permit; and especially by drilling the 

 grain instead of sowing it broad cast.'^ 



Smul is a disease almost peculiar to the 

 grain of wheat. It differs from rust and mil- 

 dew in this, that the means of prevention are 

 generally within our power. The remedies 

 are numerous and simple, — such as are calcu- 

 lated to destroy any noxious quality, adher- 

 ing to the seed grain, be it the seeds of mi- 

 nute parasitic plants or of animalculje. 



A European farmer,! after repeated experi- 

 ments, gives it as his opinion that the best 

 preventive is to steep the seed in strong lime 

 water, which, it is presumed destroys the vi- 

 tality of the seed of the smut. It is a general 

 opinion in this country, founded on experience 

 — that the steeping and liming of seed wheat, 

 is a certain remedy against smut. 



The use of fresh burnt lime is almost in- 

 dispensable ; as lime, exposed for any length 

 of time to the action of the atmosphere, will, 

 in a great measure lose its causticity. By 

 absorbing carbonic acid it is restored to the 

 state of limestone or chalk, and its alkaline 

 qualities are completely neutralized. 



One of the most eminent of American 

 agriculturists,! whose opinion on these mat- 

 ters is always received as good authority, 

 saj's, that he is surprised to learn that smut is 

 still permitted to adulterate and diminish our 

 grain crops, when it is a tbxt amply and satis- 

 factorily established, that steeping the seed 

 grain twelve hours in brine, and rolling it in 

 fresh slaked lime, before sowing, will prevent 

 the evil. 



The pepper-brand and dust-brand, the tv,o 

 species of smut, are parasitic plants, the minute 

 seeds of which attach to the grain, and are 

 propelled through the sap vessels of the 

 plant, to the germs of the young grain. The 

 salt and lime destroy the vitality of these 

 seeds. 



Of all the injuries to which wheat is liable, 

 there are perhaps none which are more to be 

 dreaded than those arising from insects and 

 ivorms, which invariably commit great de- 

 vastation, and in some seasons spread their 

 ravages to a very alarming extent. 



Of these, the various tribes of predatory in- 

 sects, those known under the names of wheat 

 fly — hessian fly — or weevil, or any of their 

 numerous varieties, are the most dangerous ; 

 and although treated of by naturalists, they 

 have furnished no means of either a radical 

 prevention or cure. The wheat fly generally 



* Kritish Ilusbaiulry, vol. ii., page 159. 

 1 1'. Banf.r. 



I JuDGK HiiEL, Esq., of Albany, N. Y., conductor of 

 the Cultivator. 



