54 



Rust in Wheat. — Report on Rust and Mildew. Vol. VII. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Rust in Wheat. 



A friend writes me, " My wheat is ter- 

 ribly affected with the rust, grain as well as 

 straw." Now I would ask, was it ever 

 really known that the grain totally escaped 

 when the straw was affected with rust! I 

 know that many will be ready to say yes, 

 but I am inclined to believe otherwise, and 

 have no doubt, it' the grain from rusted straw 

 were closely examined by the microscope, 

 and then weighed against some of the same 

 species, which had ripened with uncoloured 

 straw, it would be found that the disease, 

 which had fallen so early as to cause the 

 bursting of the sap-vessels in the straw, in 

 its passage towards the ear,* must have an 

 effect upon the quality of the grain, in pro- 

 portion, of course, to the virulence of the 

 disease. At all events, I have never exam- 

 ined a single sample of rusted wheat, by 

 comparing it with that produced from an ac- 

 knowledged clean crop, without detecting an 

 inferiority, either in weight or colour, and 

 often in both, even when the evil was not in 

 the least suspected by casual observers. And 

 it is often that such inferiority shows itself 

 most decidedly in the two or four upper 

 grains of the head, those being most liable 

 to be affected by the premature bursting of 

 the sap-vessels in the straw, as having been 

 situated at the most distantly removed point 

 to which the sap has to ascend, which it is 

 but reasonable to expect. Would your rea- 

 ders, who have, unfortunately, such ample 

 means the present year, of ascertaining the 

 real state of the question, be pleased to make 

 strict inquiry, each for himself, by actual ex- 

 amination and experiment, whether it be not 

 a fact, that when the straw is affected by 

 rust, the grain never totally escapes infec- 

 tion. Z. 



Composts. — I have tried the earth taken 

 from ditches in the meadows, but never found 

 any benefit from it; but when carried in 

 large quantities into my hog-sty and barn- 

 yard in the autumn, and turned up in the 

 spring and used for manuring corn, &c, I 

 have found a load of this earth-mixture as 

 beneficial as a load of unmixed manure from 

 the yard or hog-sty ; and after a year's ex- 

 posure never found unmixed dung better. — 

 Branson. 



* At the critical period of wheat being in milk, damp 

 and hot weather forces it too rapidly; the juices rush 

 up tin' stalk faster than the head can receive, burst the 



BCarf skin, 002 it and turn brown— the stalk is then 



said tn be struck with the rust, and the consequence is, 

 that the kernel is act filled with inspissated juice, and 

 on drying, is found light and shrivelled.— HathewaY. 



New Jersey Agricultural Society. 



The regular quarterly meeting of this 

 Society was held in Princeton, on the 23d of 

 July. — The President, Caleb Smith Green 

 in the chair. 



Mr. Green from the committee appointed 

 to investigate the cause of, and to report the 

 best preventives against Rust and Mildew 

 of wheat — read the following report on that 

 important subject, which was ordered to be 

 filed and published. 



Report ou Rust and Mildew. 



Mr. President. — Your committee in their 

 endeavour to investigate the subject of mil- 

 dew and rust on wheat, and what may be in 

 some measure 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 over ruling providence 

 of God : occurrences arise which are not in 

 the power of man to foresee, govern, or con- 

 troul. In confirmation of this view of the 

 subject we present the following cases. 



One of our farmers bad an extraordinary 

 piece of wheat, which he thought out of 

 danger, it was so near ripe. On a very hot 

 day, between the hours of one and three 

 o'clock, there came a small cloud over, which 

 completely drenched the field of wheat. A 

 death-like stillness succeeded; the cloud 

 passed away ; the sun shone intensely hot. 

 The owner in this state of the case, went to 

 examine the wheat, as it was much pressed 

 down by the shower; he immediately ob- 

 served a continual ticking, or snapping noise 

 in every direction in the wheat. The straw 

 was fine and bright, but upon examination 

 he perceived it bursting in short splits of a 

 fourth of an inch long, and the sap exuding 

 in thousands of places. A day or two after, 

 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 state of ripening. 



On my neighbour White's farm some years 

 since was one of the heaviest pieces of wheat 

 straw I ever saw, remarkably fine, and near- 

 ly ripe. 1 had also a good piece advancing 

 fast to maturity ; on a close warm morning, 

 a small cloud of fog arose from the meadow 

 and gradually covered the two fields, but 

 was not a general fog; being very still, it 

 remained hovering over the fields until the 

 hot sun dissipated the vapour. Being ac- 

 quainted with the above case, I was alarmed 

 for the wheat and watched over it with deep 

 interest. When the sun had somewhat dried 



