THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



407 



REPORT TO THE N. JERSEY AGRICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY, ON RUST AND MILDEW. 



From the American Farmer. 



The regular quartorly meetinsj of ihis s^ocieiy 

 was held in Princeiori, on the 23d ult., the pre- 

 sident, Caleb Siniih Green^ in I he chair. The pre- 

 sident reported ihat both the trials made by Capt. 

 Lavender and himself, to germinate ihe grass seed 

 Irom Peru, had failed of success. 



Mr. Green, from the committee appointed to 

 investigate the cause of, and to report the best 

 preventives against rust and mildow of wheat — 

 read the (biiowing report on that important sub- 

 ject, which was ordered to be filed and published. 



Mr. President. — Your committee, in their en- 

 deavor to investigate the subject of mildew and 



A question of importance arises on these two 

 cases. Was this injury a fungus, the very fine 

 seeds of vvliich float about and attach themselves 

 to the straw, as some of our learned agricultural 

 wriiers tell us, or is it the sap of the bTraw that 

 ran out and was dried on the straw, and was red- 

 dish or black according to its state of ripeness or 

 fulness of sap 1 



Your committee are decidedly of the opinion 

 that the sap being lost at this critical lime of ripen- 

 ing is the true cause of the shrinking of the o-rain. 



Some of our most judicious agricultural vvritera 

 have taught us lliat the leaves of Indian corn 

 above the ear cannot be taken off at the time of 

 ripenintj without deiriment to the corn, causing it 

 to shrink in the grain. 



Your committee made an experiment on this 



preventives, will first present to your consideration 

 some circumstances which have occurred under 

 our observation, to show that it is not in the power 

 of us short-sighted mortals, with our puny arm, 

 to contend against the overruling providence ol 

 God : occurrences arise which are not in the 

 power of man to Ibresee, govern or control. In 

 confirmation of this view of the subject we pre- 

 sent the following cases. 



One of our farmers had an ex'raordinary piece 

 of wheat, which he thought out ol' danger, it was 

 so near ripe. On a very hot day, between the 



rusi on wheat, and what may be in some measure case, when the corn was nearly ripe, strippintr 



some rows, and leaving others, over several acres! 

 At husking time it was evident that on the rows 

 that were stripped, many of the ears were consi- 

 derably shrunk in the grain, so much so as to be 

 loose on the cob ; the ears on the rows that were 

 not stripped showed none of those shrivelled 

 grains, thus showing in the most satisfactory 

 manner the damage sustained by removinfr the 

 leaves above the ears. ° 



Your committee think they are fully sustained 

 in their conclusion on the wheat, by the parallel 

 case of injury sustained by the corn in the re- 



hours of one and three o'clock there came a small j moval of the leaves, which at this critical ti 



cloud over, which completely drenched the field o 

 wheat. A deathlike stillness succeeded ; the 

 cloud passed away; the sun shone intensely hot. 

 The owner in this state of the case, went to ex- 

 amine the wheat, as it was much pressed down 

 by the shower ; he immediately observed a con- 

 tinual ticking, or snapping noise in every direc- 

 tion in the wheat. The straw was fine and bright. 

 but upon examination he perceived it bursting iri 

 short slits of a fourth of an inch long, and the'sap 

 exuding in thousands of places. A day or two 

 alter, the whole field was darkened with rust and 

 the wheat of very little value. It does not appear 

 that these circumstances take place while the 

 wheat is growing, but only at this critical stale of 

 ripening. 



On my neighbor White's farm some years since 

 was one of the heaviest pieces of wheat straw I 

 ever saw, remarkably fine, and nearly ripe. I 



has the only nourishment to sustain the corn in 

 ripening. So of the wheat straw ; the bottom 

 is dead in a great degree, but from the upper joint 

 10 the ear is lull of nourishment to sustain the 

 wheat in ripening, and this is the part that suflfers 

 the loss of sap. The under part of the straw is 

 ripe, and passed through the state in which it can 

 suffer loss, and we olten find it bright and tough at 

 Ihe bottom, when ihe top will scarcely make a band. 



These two cases fully demonstrate the impossi- 

 bility of any management in the power of man, 

 always to insure a crop of wheal safe aorainsl the 

 destructive efJecis of rust. Yet a kind Providence 

 has left us so many means by which we may re- 

 duce loss, and in some measure approach to this 

 very desirable security, that they are worthy of our 

 atientive consideration, and practical experiment. 



Mildew and rust, are more common now, than 

 before that destructive scourge, the Hessian fly, 



had also a good piece advancing last to maturity ; appeared in this slate. Previous to that time the 

 on a close warm morning, a small cloud of fog wheat was sown the last of August, and the first 

 arose from the meadow and gradually covered I of September, tilled largely, obtained great 



the two fields, but was not a general fog ; being 

 very still it remained hovering over the fields unid 

 the hot sun dissipated the vapor. Being ac- 

 quainted with Ihe above case, I was alarmed for 

 the wheat and watched over it with deep interest. 

 When the sun had somewhat dried the straw, 

 and warmed it, the straw becran to burst v^iih a 

 continual ticking noise, the sap exuding at all 

 these little splits. In a day or two the fields were 

 black with rust, except some small spots, which 

 are worthy of notice. An acre or two of mine 

 was so near ripe that ihe wheat was tolerable 

 good, and the rust on this part of a reddish brown. 

 In Mr. While's field there were some trees which 

 kept the intense heat of the sun from the straw : 

 there was tolerable wheat, also. The rest of the 

 fields would scarcely pay for galherino- and 

 thrashins'. 



strength of roots, and was but little injured by 

 winter frosts ; the effect of which was lo produce 

 strong bright .Mraw, with but few leaves, the con- 

 sequence of which but little mildew and rust. 



The fly having totally cut off the wheat, put 

 the farmers on many schemes to meet this ruinous 

 enemy. Among the experiments tried, manuring 

 high just at seed time, and sowing late, was much 

 depended op. But disappointment frequently 

 followed li-om mildew or rust. As the wheat was 

 often sown late in October it ought to have had 

 three bushels of" seed to the acre, instead of three 

 pecks, or one bushel, the usual quantity then sown. 

 Being sown so lale, the plants had no time to til- 

 ler, or multiply and strengthen their roots ^and 

 stalks ; of course the winter weakened and thin- 

 ned the plants, which made the wheat still later 

 in the season and when highly manured the straw 



