RED RUST AND BROWN RUST. 171 



A friend of mine spent a part of the last summer in this 

 vicinity, and occasionally delighted me with a visit. At our 

 first interview, he began, in unmeasured terms, to denounce 

 the folly and superstition of "some ignorant citizens of the 

 district," in believing that poke could produce rust. Like St. 

 Peter, I was at first ashamed to confess my faith in so despised 

 a doctrine, and, if I did not deny, certainly did not avow that 

 I was a disciple. At each subsequent interview, I was grati- 

 fied to observe that the opposition of my friend was melting 

 away under the influence of accumulating proof, till at length, 

 when I rallied and came to the rescue, his offensive warfare 

 degenerated into mere defence of his doubts, and he finally 

 determined to risk his remaining strength upon the issue of a 

 single experiment, an opportunity for which then presented 

 itself. In the midst of a large, healthy, flourishing field of 

 cotton, he saw a small spot of rust, and he determined to sur- 

 render at discretion, if in the centre he should find poke- 

 weed. The poke was found, and he acknowledged himself a 

 convert. 



I may properly close what I have said of red rust, by stat- 

 ing, as a corollary, that though we do not know what pro- 

 duces it, in poke or cotton, nevertheless, if poke, briars, &c., 

 are more liable to the disease than cotton, and can communi- 

 cate it, it is wise not to suffer them to take root in our fields. 

 We know not the cause of the origin of yellow fever or small- 

 pox, yet we know that they are communicable and infectious, 

 and avoid persons and places suspected of being tainted with 

 their influence. 



Of the French or brown rust, though I suffer from its effects, 

 I have very little to say. Some people have attributed it to 

 the presence of iron in the soil, in some of its chemical forms. 

 Others (and I am among them), believe that it is caused by 

 an undue proportion of lime in the soil, causing the plant to 



