AiiUICULTrilAI, AIMMIOIMIIATIOX HII.I., lUJM. 



190 



passed Ix'foic that, isoo aiid aluii^ alxMit lliut tiiiio ro(|iiirin(; the 

 eradication «)f tlu' roniiiinii harlxTiy hiislics. 



Denmark, jis we all kimw. passed a haiherrv law in I'MKi. and as 

 a residt of the bcnelicial elFeds df thai Danish law tlw eoninion 

 haiheriv has heen eradiealed from that coiintrv. A harherrv law 

 has heen enaete*! in Bavaria, in southern (lermariv; «>ne has heerj 

 enatted in Sweden and one in Norway. So that in praetii-allv all 

 of the countries of w«'stern ICurope there is now le<jal provision for 

 the eradication of the harherrs . 



The (|Uestion in which we are particularly interested is: What \uv* 

 heen the result of the taking out of these harherrv hushes^ In 

 Knj^land all of the pathr)lo}^ists and a«;rononusts— and even the 

 i)raclical farmers with whom 1 talked told me they were ah>o- 

 lutely convince*! that the hlack stenj rust could not exist in Mn;;land 

 without the common harherrv hush. I traveled a p^reat many miles 

 by automobile and the only barberries I saw in Hnj^land proper 

 wen^ those which a professor of botany at (\iml)rid^'e had kept for 

 experimental pinposes, and that was the only place also in which 

 I saw the blacK stem rust in Kn<^land. 



They told me this was not an exceptional year; that they had that 

 same ex|)eiience year after year and that when they wante<l black 

 stem rust for ex|)erimental i)urposes they had to pt out to those bar- 

 berry bushes which still exist in Scotland or Wales, where there are 

 still somi> conunoii barberry bushes. So. in K:i<;l;ind proper, thcv have 

 eradicated all of their barberry bushe-; from the a»;ricultural districts 

 and they know very little, if anything;, about the black stem rust 

 because they simply do not have it. I talked with a prominent 

 invest itjator, at Cambridjjje he havinf; studied the situation in Kw^- 

 hmd for several years — antl he told me he was absolutely convin<'ed 

 that blaek stem rust could not exist in Enj^land witlu)Ut the common 

 barberry. 



In Wales I made a loiif; automobile trip and we could find no black 

 stem rust whatever for a »jreat many miles, and I bi'came very lone- 

 some. Finally we stopped at a field and found a little on some wheat. 

 We asked the farmer whether he knew of any barberries in the region, 

 and he said he could not tell us. We asked him whether the knew 

 what barberries were, and he said he did not, but when we asked him 

 whether there were any prvn melin in that neighborhood that 

 being the Welsh term for barberrie-^ -he said there were, and he said 

 the schoolmaster had been k(M'ping barberry bushe-; right across 

 the road, and we could trace the rust verv nicelv fi"om tho^e bar- 

 berry bushes on to this farm. 



We went still farther into Wales and we could find no black-stem 

 rust at all. except where we found barberri«'s and where we found 

 them there was plenty of black-stem rusl. Th(>re was one field in 

 which it was particularly present and it impn^ssed me very forcibly. 

 In that field tluM'e was a very marked attacK of black-stem rust, and 

 although I did not know where the barberry bushes were I knew 

 they were in that general region. I asked wheth(>r they were over 

 in that direction and the man to whom I was talking looked around 

 and said: "That is exactly where they are." He waiited to know 

 how 1 knew liiey were on that side, ami the way I knew was this: 

 There was a very heavy attack on that particular'side of the grain; 

 the grain was literally covered with rust on that side, showing that 



