74 Wheat Rust in Australia. 



of the world (Europe, Asia, Africa, and America), it has 

 been proved that no wheat is absolutely rust-proof, that 

 to say, there is no wheat known which will be proof against the rust 

 when grown under conditions favorable to its development. But the same 

 experiments have shown that among a number of varieties grown in a 

 particular district, some will resist the rust more than others, are able by 

 their constitution it may be by their vigour of growth or toughness of 

 their cuticle or glaucousness, or all combined to resist the inroads of the 

 rust sufficiently to prevent its seriously injuring the grain, and such wheats 

 are known as 'rust-resisting wheats. At present we have at least one such 

 wheat which has been grown in various districts of different States along- 

 side of other wheats badly rusted, and it has been able to withstand the 

 rust. Rerraf is the wheat referred to, and perhaps it, too, in course of 

 time, will succumb to the rust. 



For this great and burning rust-question the only measures I can 

 suggest are : 



1. To produce wheats suited to our Australian conditions by crossing, 

 as Mr. Farrer, Wheat Experimentalist of New South Wales, is now so 

 successfully doing. 



2. To select and carefully cultivate the most rust-resisting plants from 

 these and other wheats having the necessary hardy, prolific, grain-holding, 

 and milling qualities, keeping up the strain and constantly renewing their 

 constitutional vigour. 



3. To cultivate early maturing varieties and sow them early, combined 

 with the best agricultural methods, such as clean cultivation, judicious 

 rotation, suitable (phosphatic) manuring and fallowing, to insure a good 

 crop. 



In judicious crossing and careful selecting lies the solution of the great 

 rust problem, as far as our present knowledge goes, a)nd to increase and 

 extend this knowledge it would be desirable to follow the advice of 

 Professor Eriksson, who has done more than any other single individual 

 to enlighten us on the subject : " The question of the rust of cereals being 

 of the greatest practical importance for every country, means should be 

 furnished to those in whose hands the direction of these investigations are 

 placed, to meet from time to time, that is to say, at least every five years, 

 in order to discuss, according as experience is gained, the value of any new 

 observations, and to gain for their work the advantage of being based on 

 a plan common in 'its essentials to all." 



Rust in wheat has been known in Australia for at least 80 years. 

 H. C. L. Anderson, Principal Librarian of the Public Library of New 

 South Wales, informs me that the earliest record of it is given by 

 Atkinson, 1 who, referring to 1825, or even earlier, says that " rust sometimes 

 appears, but it is not very common." J. Montague' Smith, in 1828, notes 

 that the plains and forest lands of the Hunter district of New South Wales 

 suffered from rust in wheat. As the wheat-growing area extended, the 

 rust also spread with amazing rapidity, until now it is undoubtedly the most 

 widely distributed and the most destructive of all the diseases to which 

 cereals are subject. 



NOTE i. 



P. 4. Eriksson 18 , in his latest work on the vegetative life of Puccima 

 graminis, has described and figured a transition from the mycoplasm to the 

 protomycelial stage, but it still remains to be seen how far his interpretation 

 of the facts is borne out bv other observers. 



