21 



Station sent out a circular of inquiries early in May 1892, to 

 farmers, gardeners, and mycologists as to the condition in which 

 rust is prevalent and destructive and as to its effects upon the 

 crop. There were eight questions asked, and they are very 

 similar to those at the head of this paper. The answers and the 

 report thereon have not yet been received, but they cannot fail 

 to be interesting, as the Massachusetts Experimental Station 

 is one of the most important and most ably-conducted of these 

 numerous American institutions. 



A large number of experiments were made in 1892 by the 

 Division of Vegetable Pathology of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture upon wheat-rust ; the results of these have 

 unfortunately not yet been published. Experiments upon rust, 

 or mildew, on wheat were also carried out in 1890 at the Agri- 

 cultural College at Guelph, in Canada, and the following 

 conclusions were arrived at : 



i st. Seasons are the chief cause of rust. Sudden 

 changes of temperature and rain, accompanied by close 

 sultry weather, are favourable to its increase. 



2nd. Low-lying rich soils are most subject to its attacks. 

 3rd. An excessive use of manures rich in nitrogen 

 encourages the disease. 



4th. Late-sown grain-crops are the most liable to the 

 attack. 



5th. Thinly-sown wheat crops are most liable to rust. 

 An inquiry of this nature was also instituted by Professor 

 Panton, Natural History Professor to the Ontario College 

 of Agriculture, in which the results were identical with those 

 arrived at from the Guelph experiments. 



Australasia. 



Rust has been present in some of the Australasian colonies for 

 a long while, according to Sir J. Banks, who states that it was 

 known in New South Wales in 1803 ;* but it appears to have 

 increased lately, and has caused considerable excitement during 

 the last few years. In 1890 a Conference of delegates from 

 New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, 

 and Tasmania was held at Melbourne to discuss the subject, and 

 to consider what modes of prevention and remedies could be 

 adopted. A similar Conference was held in 1891 at Sydney, and 

 in 1892 delegates from the above colonies assembled at Adelaide. 

 At the meeting at Sydney in 1891 the President, the Hon. 

 Sydney Smith, Minister of Agriculture, in his address to the 

 delegates said : " No one can deny the immense amount of 

 damage caused by rust in special years, and the considerable 

 mischief caused even in what may otherwise be called favour- 

 able years. When we learn that the loss in our greatest wheat- 



* A Short Account of the Cause cf the Disease in Corn called by Farmers 

 the Blight, the Mildew, and the Rust, by Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., P.R.S. 



