No. 9. 



Rust in Wheat. 



269 



stalks; give it animal and vegetable ma- 

 nures, to furnish ammonia, the phosphates 

 and carbonic acid, — cultivate well, "and 

 leave the rest to Heaven." 



A Delawarian. 



Mill-creek Hundred, Second mo. 23d, 1843. 



Fur the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Rust in Wheat. 



Messrs. Editors, — Let me draw your 

 attention to a paper containing observations 

 on a wheat crop, communicated to the Phila- 

 delphia Agricultural Society, by Mr. David 

 Comfort, a practical agriculturist, to whom 

 the community are much indebted for vari- 

 ous useful and interesting experiments. Mr. 

 Comfort is also the person who has taken 

 premiums for several seasons, of the Horti- 

 cultural Society, for the growth of the Val- 

 paraiso squash ; and is in all respects, a per- 

 son of information and veracity. 



He relates, at page 343 of the second vol. 

 of the Cabinet, that "about the time when 

 the wheat shot into ear, and while in 

 blossom, owing to much damp and foggy 

 weather, the leaf was struck with the red 

 rust, and the straw with black mildew, in 

 •consequence of which the grain was shriv- 

 elled and light, at the common time of har- 

 vesting. The timothy grass growing amongst 

 it, was now coming out in ear, and the heads 

 w r ere generally from nine to eleven, and 

 some twelve and thirteen inches long; I 

 therefore resolved to let the wheat stand, 

 for the timothy to ripen. I gathered in my 

 other wheat, and my neighbours gathered 

 theirs, mildewed and rusty, with a light 

 grain. In four or five days after I had 

 gathered my other grain, I visited my wheat 

 and timothy, and found it doing well; in five 

 or six days more I found it improving finely; 

 and in sixteen days after common harvesting 

 was over, I cut my wheat and timothy toge- 

 ther in fine condition ; the grain of the wheat 

 had improved 20 per cent; the mildew and 

 rust were gone, and the straw had a fine 

 yellow appearance, not one head having 

 fallen to the ground. The miller who 

 ground this wheat for family use, informed 

 me, that it was the best he had seen that 

 season ; and the miller who bought it, gave 

 an advanced price, stating it was the best 

 white wheat he had obtained that season. 

 My desire is, if farmers are annoyed with 

 mildew and rust, that they try the experi- 

 ment and publish the result ; although this 

 wheat stood sixteen days longer than usual 

 harvest, there Was no shattering or loss of 

 grain, and it appeared just the proper time 

 for gathering it." 

 Now, not having before noticed the above 



communication, I am induced to inquire, if 

 any of your readers have had the opportu- 

 nity of testing its application to the case in 

 point? One thing is pretty certain; when 

 the crop is so far gone with the rust and 

 mildew, it might be allowed to stand with- 

 out the fear of being further injured by 

 longer exposure; and it is easy to perceive 

 that no loss will accrue from shattering, as 

 the grains of wheat must still remain com- 

 paratively thin, and not liable to burst their 

 envelope. There is just one remark which 

 I feel inclined to make, without, however, 

 offering any discredit to the account; it is 

 this — there is no ground to expect that the 

 straw of the crop, once so completely in- 

 fected with the black mildew, would ever 

 recover so far as to become of a fine "yellow 

 appearance ;" this must, I presume, be un- 

 derstood as speaking comparatively; for I 

 have never yet found, but that the straw of 

 a mildewed crop of wheat, has been radi- 

 cally injured, so as never entirely to recover 

 its pristine vigor or colour, the hue still re- 

 maining pale and sickly, with no glaze, as 

 indicative of health in uninfected crops. It 

 is quite sufficient, if by permitting the crop 

 to stand, it improve " 20 per cent.," and be 

 the best sample sent to the mill in a season 

 of general rust and mildew, and no more 

 ought to be expected ; for rust is not the 

 cause of disease, but the effect — the cause 

 operating to the deterioration of the crop, 

 perhaps long before the effect was visible, 

 and inflicting an injury that cannot be en- 

 tirely removed by any after process. Still 

 the communication is extremely valuable, 

 inasmuch as it is calculated to set people to 

 thinking and experimenting — the chief use 

 of the very numerous agricultural publica- 

 tions that are springing up around us, and 

 to all which, I wish "good speed." 



H. E. 



Delaware county. 



He is a public benefactor who, by the pru- 

 dent and skilful outlay of his money in bet- 

 tering its condition, shall make a single field 

 yield permanently a double crop: and he who 

 does this over a square mile, virtually adds 

 a square mile to the national territory — nay, 

 he does more, he doubles to this extent the 

 territorial resources of the country, without 

 giving the state any larger actual area to 

 defend. All hail, then, to the improvers of 

 the soil! Health and long life be their for- 

 tune — may their hearts be light and their 

 purses heavy — may their dreams be few and 

 pleasant, and their sleep the sweet repose of 

 the weary — may they see the fruits of their 

 own labour, and may their sons reap still 

 heavier harvests. — Blackwood's Magazine, 



