No. 1. 



Rust. 



11 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Cabinet. 

 Rust. 



Sir, — As this is the season when the hopes 

 and fears of the husbandman are alternately 

 raised and depressed — a period when much 

 solicitude is evinced for the maturation of his 

 winter crops: and as, by some visible though 

 positively unknown agents, his labours have 

 been blighted for several seasons past to a 

 very alarming extent, by what is called Rust, 

 Fungus, Mildew, Blight, &c., a few remarks 

 and observations on the supposed cause and 

 nature of this pest, may not at the present 

 prove inadmissible. Much has been said and 

 written already upon this subject, but with- 

 out arriving at any definite conclusions by 

 those who have given their views thereon. 

 The subject is one of incalculable importance 

 to the farmers of this country, and it is to be 

 regretted, that so little is known of the phy- 

 sical laws governing the development of this 

 annual pest. Opinions as various as the co- 

 lours of the rainbow have been advanced, 

 touching the immediate cause of rust, and 

 its prevention ; yet time and experience — 

 the true judges of this matter — have con- 

 vinced us, of the incorrectness of those opin- 

 ions. There is so little positively known, 

 relative to the cause, organization, functions, 

 &.C., of this tribe of fungi (the more inform- 

 ed looking upon rust at the present day as a 

 parasitical fungus), that assertions are at best 

 but mere conjecture, and must be received 

 with due allowance, unless based upon phy- 

 siological facts. 



In taking a survey of this subject, my re- 

 nriarks will extend to the several opinions 

 that have recently been started, wherein 

 much ingenuity and eloquence have been dis- 

 played. Starting with the position, that rust 

 is a diseased state of the plant, an excres- 

 cence formed by the rupture of the circulat- 

 ing vessels, and is produced by a too rapid 

 growth in the early part of the season, occur- 

 ing in those soils abounding in animal and 

 vegetable manures — it will only bo nece.ssa- 

 ry to observe, that, if this be the immediate 

 cause, we should annually have rust, through- 

 out our fields. Further, that it cannot be ex- 

 crescences, or concrete juices, exuded in con- 

 sequence of overgrowth, caused by the fer- 

 mentation of manures, is evident from the 

 fiict, that in the summer of eighteen hundred 

 and forty, when blight was so extensive 

 through many sections of the country, the 

 prairie lands, where no manures have been 

 applied witiiin the recollection of man — 

 though cultivated for years — and the sandy 

 soils of New Jersey, many of which are so 

 Bterile as to grow a miserable crop of rye, on 

 which no manures were applied, each shared 

 Jhe pestilential influence. Within the com- 1 



pass of my observation or knowledge, there 

 was scarce a single exception ; the rich loam, 

 the stiff tenacious clay, or the sandy and por- 

 ous soil, however rich in manures, or poor and 

 uncultivated, blight spread its withering in- 

 fiuence over all. There is no doubt that 

 lands in the finest state of cultivation, where 

 a superabundance of manures have been ap- 

 plied, may have contributed in a measure to- 

 ward the development of fungi ; yet that it is 

 or was the immediate cause of the extensive 

 formation of rust, the past season, wants fur- 

 ther confirmation. If the doctrine of fortui- 

 tous formation be based upon this principle, 

 and the agency of air, heat, and moisture, be 

 accessory thereto, then there should have 

 been no uniformity in its natural characters: 

 such was not the case : we observe on old 

 compost as well as new, mushrooms of differ- 

 ent species and qualities growing side by 

 side, after an evening or morning shower. 

 If then it has this dependence, blight should 

 occur yearly, in those grain-fields that have 

 been and are highly charged with manures. 

 Facts and experience run counter to the the- 

 ory, although it may be found annually in 

 low and moist situations: yet, like all other 

 dormant seeds, they require a peculiar action 

 of the seasons for their germination. Wit- 

 ness the growth of white clover, thistle, &c. 

 The opinion recently advanced by Col. 

 Smith, is, so far as I know, new ; yet, like 

 so many other theories whose exterior at 

 first appears plausible, will not bear the ana- 

 lysis of time and experience, for both are 

 equally against it. That it may exercise a 

 proportionate influence in bringing about the 

 remote cause, I shall not stop to inquire; but 

 it certainly wants the sanction of more con- 

 vincing proofs, to give it validity. So far, 

 this position may have evidence, that in ordi- 

 nary seasons when rust is first discernible, it 

 is in low, moist situations, where, if there be 

 any grass at all, it is found in such places: 

 but these cases are too insignificant to affect 

 the well-established principle ; rust visits 

 those grain-fields that have no grasses sown 

 among them : the practice of our farmers is, 

 to seed their corn-fields with winter grain, in 

 the month of September, before the corn 

 comes off; but after the grain comes oflT the 

 summer following, to fallow the stubble, by 

 seeding with grain again and grass seeds — 

 timothy in the autumn — clover, the spring 

 coming. Now, blight or rust occurs in as 

 great a degree in those grain-fields that have 

 had no such grasses sown preceding fallow, 

 as it does in those fields that have grass seed 

 sown upon them. If the Col.'s opinion be 

 correct, why is it that those grain-fields that 

 have no grass upon them are not exempted, 

 and vice versa. Rust never was so preva- 

 leat as during the past year, within my re- 



