278 



FARMERS' REGISTER— DISEASES OF WHEAT. 



those immediately interested in its beneficial results. 

 The machine first cuts the stave to its proper thick- 

 ness by means ol'acircuiar saw, then with a chisel 

 attached to a perpendicuitvr wiieel, gives it a con- 

 vex and a concave shape, leaving the two sur- 

 faces smooth, and by a third process, cuts it to its 

 proportioned width. The importance ol" this in- 

 vention is already felt to a very considerable extent 

 throughout the country. Oak timber in many 

 sections cannot be obtained at the greatest cost 

 and trouble, and in most or all milling districts is 

 procured at a great inconvenience and expense. 

 The rapidly increasing agriculture of the northern 

 and western states, and the correspondiiig decrease 

 of oak timber, will very soon realize to the com- 

 munity, the policy of its adoption generally, and a 

 very few yetirs will render this, or alike invention 

 indispensable. 



!>. K. B. 



DISEASES OF WHEAT. 



[Notwithstanding all the labors of agriculturists and 

 of the men of science who have written on the diseases 

 of wheat, there are few subjects more enveloped in ob- 

 scurity, or oifering more difficulty to the novice who 

 endeavors to investigate the causes of any of the many 

 diseases to which this plant is subject. It is not so 

 much on account of the errors and mistakes of the 

 various writers, (considerable as they doubtless are,) 

 as to the facts they have asserted, that the difficulty has 

 arisen, as to the want of clearness and xmiformiiy in 

 the use of names, and the uncertainty as to what dis- 

 ease is meant by any one particular name. The terms 

 blight, mildew, rust, blast, smut, scab, stud, stunt, have 

 been used in either England or this country, so loosely, 

 that it cannot be known what is meant by either, with- 

 out a very particular description of the symptoms of 

 the disease: and the symptoms are seldom described 

 plainly enough for this end. A great service might be 

 i-endered by any person, who, from his acquaintance 

 with the actual diseases, and with what has been pub- 

 lished concerning them, could adjust properly terms 

 and descriptions, and merely give a clear account of 

 the opinions entertained in England and America, of 

 the causes and remedies of the diseases of wheat, and 

 how far those of the one country are identical with 

 those of the other. This would enable us at least to 

 profit by the knowledge already existing, but which is 

 sealed up from most persons by the improper use of 

 names, either by the writer or reader — and doubts are 

 thus created, even as to the terms that are properly ap- 

 plied. But far greater benefits might be conferred on 

 agriculture in this respect, if scientific men would pur- 

 sue the investigation, and not only define the diseases, 

 but search out their causes, and thence the remedies. 



The thi'ee following papers on as many different dis- 

 eases in wheat, are uncommonly satisfactory. The 

 particular descriptions given leave no doubt as to the 

 identity of the first two with those we know as the 

 sjnut, and the blast or black-head. The writer has 

 traced these diseases to their hidden causes by a course 

 of patient and careful investigation — and thence has 

 correctly deduced that the proper means to avoid the 

 evil is to destroy on the seed wheat, the sources of 

 the diseases which he had there discovered. Without 



this course of reasoning, or knowing the cause of the 

 disease, farmers have accidentally found the benefit of 

 liming the seed topreventsmut ("the pepper brand") in 

 wheat — and an experiment published in the Farmers' 

 Register, (Vol. I. p. 275) shows the like benefit from 

 a similar treatment of oats infected with the blast, (or 

 "dust brand.") These coincidences of accidental prac- 

 tice with theoretical reasoning are highly satisfactory: 

 and though, in these cases, accident had discovered 

 the remedy more early than science had made known 

 the cause, it does not therefore lessen the value of the 

 latter mode of investigation. A very similar discove- 

 ry has lately been published (page 219 of Farm. Reg-) 

 of the eggs of the very destructive turnip fly being 

 discovered on the seeds, before any effectual means had 

 been found to arrest its ravages. If this fact is estab- 

 lished, it leads at once to an obvious mode of destrsy- 

 ing the insect, by some kind of wash for the seeds. 

 The disease of wheat described last in order by the 

 writer, if it belongs to this country, is not known to. 

 us, but may be so to more close observers. 



The descriptions of the author ai'e accom.panied by 

 a number of figures, which serve, as well as his descrip- 

 tions, to prove the identity of the first two diseases 

 with those above named. But these figures are not 

 necessary to farmers who know the actual diseases; and 

 others which represent microscopic fungi and animal- 

 cule, would be of no use to any who did not seek for 

 the originals with powerful magnifying glasses. To 

 save a considerable expense therefore, the figures are 

 omitted, and also those passages which merely refer to 

 the figures.] 



THE SMUT BALLS OR PEPPEH BftA VD. 



From tlie Penny Magazine. 

 [We arc indebted for the follov.'ing interesting paper to 

 Francis Bauer Esq., a gentleman who has attained a 

 most deserved celebrity for his valuable discoveries 

 connected with the diseases of grain, the most im- 

 portant article of human food.] 



The existence ofthis destructive disease in wheat 

 has long been known to every agriculturist in Eng- 

 land, as well as by those on the continent; but the- 

 real cause of it is yet very httle known; not only 

 by the practical cultivator, but even by scientific 

 authors. Such erroneous and contradictory opin- 

 ions have been advanced that the farmer cannot 

 possibly derive any satisfactory information from 

 them. I hope, however, that the following ob- 

 servations and illustrations of facts may be accep- 

 table to some of the numerous reader,:! of the Pen- 

 ny Magazine. 



This disease is occasioned by tlie seeds of an ex- 

 tremely minute parastic fungus, of the genus vredo, 

 being absorbed by the roots of the germinating 

 wheat grains and propelled by the rising sap, long 

 before the wheat blossoms, into the young germea 

 or ovum, Avhere the seeds of the fungi vegetate, 

 and rapidly multiply, thereb}' preventing, not only 

 the fecundation of the ovum, but even the devef- 

 opement of the parts of fructification. In conse- 

 quence no embryo is produced in an infected ger- 

 men, which however continues to grow as long as 

 the sound grains do, a,nd, when the sound grains 

 arrive at maturity, the infected ones are generally 

 larger than, and are easily distinguished from, the 

 sound grains, by their darker green color, and 

 from the ova retaining the same shape and form 



