No. 2. 



Report on Rust and Mildew. 



55 



the straw, and warmed it, the straw began 

 to burst with a continual ticking noise, the 

 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 the wheat was tolerable good, 

 and the rust on this part of a reddish brown. 

 In Mr. White'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 gathering and threshing. 



A question of importance arises on these 

 two cases. Was this injury a fungus, the 

 very fine seeds of which float about and 

 attach themselves to the straw, as some of 

 our learned Agricultural writers* tell us] or 

 is it the sap of the straw that ran out and 

 was dried up on the straw, and was reddish 

 or black according to its state of ripeness or 

 fulness of sap ! 



Your committee are decidedly of the opin 

 ion, that the sap being lost at this critical 

 time of ripening, is the true cause of the 

 shrinking in the grain. 



Some of our most judicious Agricultural 

 writers have taught us, that the leaves of 

 Indian corn above the ear cannot be taken 

 off" at the time of ripening, without detri- 

 ment to the com, causing it to shrink in the 

 grain. 



Your committee made an experiment on 

 this case, when the corn was nearly ripe, 

 stripping 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 considerably 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 satisfactorv 

 manner the damage sustained by removing 

 the leaves above the ears. 



Your committee think they are fully sus- 

 tained in their conclusion on the wheat, by 

 the parallel case of injury sustained by the 

 corn in the removal of the leaves, which at 

 this critical time have the only nourishment 

 to sustain the corn in ripening. So of the 

 wheat straw ; the bottom is dead in a great 

 degree, but fiom the upper joint to the ear 

 is full of nourishment to sustain the wheat 

 in ripening, and this is the part that suffers 

 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 often find it bright 

 and tough at the bottom, when the top will 

 scarcely make a band. 



These two cases fully demonstrate the 



♦See Cultivator and Fanner, Vol. 1st, No. 2, page 36. 



impossibility of any management in the pow- 

 er of man, always to insure a crop of wheat 

 safe against the destructive effects of rust. 

 Yet a kind Providence has left us so many 

 means by which we may reduce this loss, 

 and in some measure approach to this very 

 desirable security, that they are worthy of 

 our attentive consideration, and practical ex- 

 periment. 



Mildew and rust are more common now, 

 than before that destructive scourge, the 

 Hessian fly, appeared in this State. Previous 

 to that time the wheat was sown the last of 

 August, and the first of September, tillered 

 largely, obtained great strength of roots, and 

 was but little injured by winter frosts ; the 

 effect of which was to produce strong, bright 

 straw, with but few leaves; the consequence 

 of which was 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 experi- 

 ments tried, manuring high just at seed 

 time, and sowing late, was much depended 

 on. But disappointment frequently followed 

 from 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 quan- 

 tity then sown. Being sown so late, the 

 plants had no time to tiller, or multiply and 

 strengthen their roots and stalks; of course 

 the winter weakened and thinned the plants, 

 which made the wheat still later in the sea- 

 son; and when highly manured the straw 

 was full of leaves, very succulent, usually 

 mildewed, and almost certainly rusted — of 

 course, a crop of small value. 



At this difficult time of obtaining a small 

 lot of wheat, one of your committee in a con- 

 versation with an Englishman who then was 

 a very successful raiser of wheat on Perm's 

 Manor, fully stated the difficulties as above 

 narrated. He considerately replied, that 

 there appeared to be two prominent errors 

 in the then practice — the manuring so late, 

 and sowing so little seed. 



Ques. What injury by late manuring 1 



Ans. Apt to make the straw very succu- 

 lent and full of leaves. 



Ques. What quantity of seed ought to be 

 sown"! 



Ans. Increase the quantity till it fully oc- 

 cupies the ground, making the straw fine 

 and but few leaves. 



This short history of the difficulties, and 

 means made use of to obtain a small lot 

 of wheat immediately after the fly came, 

 your committee thought might be of use in 

 further examining the subject. It shows the 

 progress we have made at the present time 

 in better cultivation, earlier manuring, ear- 



