^^£RICAN HERD-BOOli 



DEVOTED TO 

 AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



Perfect Agriculture i« tbe true foundation of all trade and industry. — Libbiq. 



Vol. XI — No. 13.] 



7th mo. (July) 15th, 1817. 



[Whole No. 150. 



PUELISKED MONTHLY, 



BY JOSIAH TATUM, 



EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last page. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Cause aud Preventives of the Rust in 



Wheat. 



Mr. Editor, — The rust in wheat is the 

 presence of tliugi, which may be seen by 

 tlie aid of a good microscope. The cause of 

 these fungi, is the presence of free carbonic 

 acid and ammonia in the wheat plant, in 

 greater quantity than can be assimihited by 

 it. About the latter part of June, and from 

 that time onward till November, carbonic 

 acid and ammonia are generated very fast, 

 by the decay of animal and vegetable mat- 

 ter. Water possesses the power of absorb- 

 ing immen.-^e quantitici of these gases. I 

 have not any work by me at present — being 

 away from home — to see the exact amount, 

 but I think it is stated that one single gallon 

 of water will condense and absorb upwards 

 of eight hundred gallons of ammonia. In 

 the summer, after a drought of some consi- 

 derable length, the rain of a small shower, 

 or the rain of the first part of a heavy shower, 

 is highly charged with these gases — and the 



Cab.— Vol. XL— No. 12. 



heavy dews, too, are often very highly charged 

 with them. The water of a slight shower, 

 or of a heavy dew, after a short drought, 

 coming in contact with the stalks of wheat, 

 is absorbed by them, and the carbonic acid 

 and ammonia become mixed with the juices 

 of the plant. These gases, coming as they 

 do, in greater quantity than can be "assimi- 

 lated by the plant, and the surplus, if great, 

 so weakening the energies of the plant as 

 to deprive it of the power of expelling them, 

 remain in the pores or other wide cells 

 and vessels. Now, if the seeds of tlie kinds 

 of fungi that infest wheat are present, the 

 extra carbonic acid and ammonia furnish 

 their proper food, and they immediately ger- 

 minate and soon grow to full maturity, burst- 

 ing arrd splitting the stalk of the sickly wheat 

 in order to get room for their development — 

 thus disorganizing the tissue of the wheat 

 stalk, stopping its pores, preventing the ope- 

 rations that should go forward in it, thereby 

 killing the plant. 



Now for the remedy. To prevent thia 

 carbonic acid and ammonia from injuring 

 'the plant, it is necessary that the carbonic 

 acid should be neutralized, and the ammonia 

 prevented from getting in contact with the 

 I wheat stalk in such great quantities — and, 

 also, the stalk should be strengthened as 

 jmuch as possible against such attacks. There 

 |are many substances that may be made use 

 'of to attain these desirable objects. I will 

 mention a few, and the method of applying 

 I them. Pulverize charcoal of any kind until 



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