No. 9. 



On Mildeiv, Blight, or Rust. 



295 



then complain that our favourite plant— tliat which 

 furnishes iis with the staffof life— has been unfaithful, 

 and we lament over the disappointment, disease, and 

 death that we see around us! Is not our system con- 

 trary to every rule of reason and common si'nse ? And 

 are we not called upon at once and for ever to aban- 

 don it? 



It is said, that mildew is more prevalent now than 

 formerly. This seems to go far to establish my doc- 

 trine—for in proportion as the land is improved, its ca- 

 pacity for producing ve-jetation is increased, — and 

 hence, as our land is better cultivated now than for- 

 merly, we have a heavier growth of grass or weeds, 

 and thus are we more certain to have mildew. The 

 rery improved capacity of the soil is made the means, 

 under our present system, of rendering our wheat crops 

 worse. I have been told that in New England grass- 

 seed is not sown with wheat, and that mildew is not 

 known there. From all I have seen and heard upon 

 this subject, I am led to believe that the wheat crop 

 would be equally as certain in Pennsylvania, if our 

 farmers would refrain from sowing grass-seed with it, 

 and that it is a sure crop here, if the soil is free from 

 weeds and grass. If my theory is true, the productive- 

 ness of our land would be, I doubt not, greatly in- 

 creased by judicious management, since the soil would 

 only have to supply food for one crop instead of two, 

 and that one crop would engage all its power and capa- 

 city. This is probably the reason why we sometimes 

 hear of crops that are not only extraordinary in their 

 great yield, but in the superior quality and weight of 

 their grain. 



For the reasons I have assigned, I respectfully sub- 

 mit, whether mildew or rust is not caused by grass or 

 weeds prevailing at the roots of the wheat crop, where- 

 by the soil is covered and shaded, and thereby, in moist 

 seasons, rendered too damp and cold for the healthful 

 maturity of the plant— and that the remedy for the dis- 

 ease is, more care in tillage, whereby the weeds and 

 natural grasses will be destroyed, and to discontinue to 

 80W grass-seed with winter grain. 



In this inquiry I have not gone out of my way to 

 consider whether the disease- of mildew or rust is 

 caused by animalculffi ; whether the retention of cxcre- 

 mentitious moisture in plants suspends circulation, or 

 whether the expansion, occasioned by air and increase 

 of temperature, produces congestion ; whether the dis- 

 ea.se is occasioned by honey-dew, or the rays of the sun 

 passing through the globulesof water that remain upon 

 the grain after a heavy dew, fog, or shower, and these 

 acting as lenses the straw is burnt. These theories 

 have all been fully consirlered before, and it is not ne- 

 cessary for my purpose that I should discuss them here. 

 Some of them have very lately been suggested by an 

 individual whose opinions are at all times entitled to 

 great respect, and who, it is well known, takes the 

 deepest interest in all that relates to agriculture. It is 

 enough for me to know that the cellular tissue becomes 

 diseased, that the health of the plant is impaired and 

 prostrated, and that the hull of the grain is not sup- 

 plied with that nourishment which is required to cause 

 It to be tilled with farinaceous matter. 



Since it has been generally known that I presume to 

 have discovered the cause of mildew in wheat, I have 

 conversed with a number of persons, particularly farm- 

 ers, who were curious to know my views on the sub- 

 ject, and they have in every instance, except one, ad- 

 mitted that they could not recollect a single crop which, 

 being sown with wheat alone, and being free from 

 grass and weeds, was affected by mildew. A young 

 farmer frr)m Bucks county, from whom I have obtain- 

 ed some of my supplies during the past winter, called 

 upon me as usual a fow days ago. In the course of 

 conversation (for I seldom lose a favourable opportu- 

 nity to have a little friendly chit-chat with a farmer) 

 I mentioned that I thought I had discovered the cause 

 and the remedy for mildew. He expressed some sur- 

 prise, hut when he heard my views, he said at once 

 that he had no doubt it was so, as his father never 

 sows grass with his winter grain, and always has good 

 trops. He then spoke of iiulividual instances of mil- 

 dewed and good crops in his neighbourhood, and the 

 customary mode of cultivation, and finally said, that 

 he was fully convinced, from his own observation and 

 experience, that my views were correct. I could in- 

 stance many conversations to the same effect. Some 

 have even gone so far as to suggest that if we were to 

 have no grass with our wheat we might get rid of the 



Hessian Fly, which also appears peculiar to our region. 

 Wheat, under juilicious treatment, does not appear to 

 be a delicate plant, nor one which is much affected by 

 climate. On the contrary, it is cultivated with equal 

 success under the arid sun of Syria and Egypt, and the 

 Southern coast of the Mediterranean, and in the milder 

 temperature of Sicily and Italy. In the more moiet 

 climate of Englaiul and Ireland, and in the colder re- 

 gions of Poland, Denmark, the Baltic, and Russia. In 

 those countries it has no disease, perhaps because they 

 take much pains in its cultivation. Of this, however, 

 I don't know much, except as it relates to England, 

 Ireland, and France, where it is deemed necessary be- 

 fore the grain is planted, that the soil should be in most 

 perfect order ; and when the grain is growing in the 

 spring, it is well known that tlie farmer employs him- 

 self and his people in carefully removing all grass anii 

 weeds from his wheat fields. If our people would take 

 as much pains in <Acir cultivation, they would, perhaps, 

 avoid the necessity of so frequently complaining of bad 

 crops; and their business would, in the end, tw more 

 profitable. Industry and gooil management are the pa- 

 rents of jjrosperity, and no class of men stand more in 

 need of their beneficial influence than the farmer. 



The system heretofore pursued by our farmers is 

 wrong in many respects ; the stubble of the grain, un- 

 der the present plan is lost. If ploughed under, the 

 straw, &c., would render the land still more fruitful 

 and productive. Ploughing it after harvest would pre- 

 vent it from being overrun and impoverished by rag- 

 weeds and other noxious vegetation, and sowing it witli 

 grass-seed, even without manure after a second plough- 

 ing, allowing sufhcient time to intervene for the vege- 

 table matter turned under to rot, and the grain which 

 is scattered from the crop at harvesting to grow sonwi 

 two or three inches high— say about 10th of October — 

 would insure a more abundant crop of hay for the en- 

 suing year, and greatly enrich and improve the soil. 



In conclusion, allow me to add, that I was induced 

 to turn my attention to this subject by the great inter- 

 est I have always felt in every thing that relates to ag- 

 riculture, since I regard it as our greatest source of na- 

 tional wealth and virtue. I felt concerned at the great 

 annual loss sustained by reason of blight or mildew, 

 and was convinced that our want of success in culti- 

 vating this crop was occasioned by sonic oversight or 

 mismanagement, and was not justly to be attributed 

 to an uncongenial or ungrateful soil, or an unfavoura- 

 ble climate. I felt that the man who should discover 

 the cause of it, and point out the remedy, and thereby 

 save the immense amount of grain that is annually 

 lost to the country, might be justly regarded as having 

 done the state some service, and as having conferred a 

 benefit upon the American farmer. 



VVHiether I liave satisfactorily accounted for the cause 

 of mildew, and pointed out the remedy, I leave to farm- 

 ers to determine. At all events, 1 earnestly recommend 

 to thera, instead of fanning their grain fields with 

 ropes, or only sowing the earlier kinds of wheat, which 

 might be ditltcult to obtain, to give to their land gene- 

 rous coats of lime and manure, or marl ; to mix thera 

 well through the soil, to sow their winter grain in good 

 season, to thoroughly pulverize and cleanse their land, 

 by careful and judicious ploughing and tillage, before 

 sowing their seed — not on any account to sow grass- 

 seed upon land sown with winter grain, and to be pre- 

 l)ared with grateful hearts to acknowledge, at harvest, 

 the bounties of a generous soil, and the blessings of a 

 kind Providence. Kenderton Smith. 



Philadelphia, March 24, 1841. 



P. S. I am informed by Mr. Isaac Newton, an active 

 and zealous member of the Society, and one of our 

 most enterprising farmers, that he had, last year, a field 

 of about eight acres of wheat, which he sowed in the 

 fall with timothy and herd grass, except one land, 

 nearly in the middle of the field, which by accident was 

 omitted. The wheat upon this land was not affected 

 by mildew, and the erain wasof superior quality, whilst 

 the rest of the field was rendered worthless by reason 

 of mildew. 



K. S. 



It is only by increasing cattle and sheep that yon 

 can increase grain permanently: A small amount of 

 live-stock, and a large amount of grain, would soon 

 reduce the finest land iu the world to a caput mort%- 

 ■urn. 



