VOL. XVll. NO. 16 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



126 



grains, taken by Fontana and others to be a diffe- 

 rent species. 



" Sometimes rust prevails so e.Ktensively, that 

 few fields escape ; but for the most part it is ob- 

 served in fields slieltered from the north winds by 

 walls, hedges or woods, or where vegetation is very 

 luxuriant, on account of fresh soil or abundant 

 manuring. Sometimes one part of the field es- 

 capes while the other is attacked ; sometimes the 

 chief plants, and at other times the side shoots 

 tillering from them are affected ; and sometimes 

 rusty and sound plants grow from the same root." 



OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE BARBERRY BUSH. 



Although It is conceded, that the farmers of Eng- 

 land, and on the continent, generally ascribe the 

 r 1st, in a measure, to the infection which spreads 

 from the barberry bush, and that this notion is 

 sometimes strengthened from the rust appearing in 

 patches and strips among the grain, as if it had 

 been carried thither by the wind from the barberry 

 bushes — and although this opiniou was sustained 

 by Sir Joseph Banks, — the writer nevertheless con- 

 siders the theory as fallacious, and quotes an anon- 

 yniOHs authority in saying, that the rust which is 

 found on different trees and plants is altogether of 

 iistinct and separate species. 



" Dutrochefs discnvery of the mode of grotolh in 

 ''ungitses. — In a damp cellar where wine was kept, 

 M. Dutrochet, one of the most original observers 

 jf the day, remarked, about two or three years ago, 

 i white looking net-work of fibres, which previous 

 jotanists had described as a species of crow-silk, 

 Byssiis.) Being struck with its peculiar manner 

 )f growth, he watched it with careful attention, 

 ind got M. Tupin, probably the best botanical 

 Iraughtsman in Europe, to take drawings from it 

 n every stage of its growth. The general result 

 was, that the supposed crow-silk was not, as had 

 jeen supposed, of the genius Byssus at all, but the 

 jenuine stems, hitherto known as such, of a mush- 

 •oom, [agaricus crispus, Tupin) the mushroom itself 

 leing the fruit only, and not as hitherto believed, 

 he whole plant. According to this view, then, it 

 would be as correct to consider a bunch of grapes, 

 yith their fruit-stalk, a complete plant, as the fruits 

 ermed mushrooms, puff-balls, or puddock-slools, all 

 ■hese being but the fruits of plants generally grow- 

 ng under ground, in the form of small white or 

 jrey fibres of net-work, and termed improperly by 

 gardeners, spawn, indicating that it is the seed of 

 nushrooms, whereas it is the genuine plant. 



"M. M. Dtitrochft and Tupin, further discovered 

 Jiat the seeds, or, as they are termed by botanists, 

 iporules, consisting of minute globular bodies, are 

 jontained in the cells of fungus fruit in prodigious 

 numbers, and they succeeded in observing these 

 germinate and produce young plants like their pa- 

 rent. There tlierefore cannot remain a doubt, that 

 funguses are produced from seeds in the same way 

 is all other vegetables, though these seeds or spo- 

 rules are exceedingly smaller than those of green 

 plants — being as subtle, Mr Pries remarks, some- 

 times as smoke. 



" Contrary, then, to what takes place in regard 

 to the eggs of insects, which are too heavy to be 

 carried about by winds, and if they were lighter, 

 are generally, when laid, glued to the substances 

 destined for the, food of the young, when hatched, 

 the minute, light, subtle seeds of funguses and 

 nosses are floated about in the air with the gentlest 

 Dreeze, and in this way diffused over immense tracts 

 )f country, in numbers altogether countless. The 

 liscovery of M. Dutrochet is, therefore, of the 



greatest interest in making us acquainted with the 

 economy of Providence in the propagation of fungi, 

 hitherto altogether mysterious. 



" What we term smut, canker and- rust, are, ac- 

 cording to this discovery of M. Dutrochet, only the 

 fruit of particular funguses, the plants of which 

 they are the fruits being hitherto undescribed and 

 unknown, but which must be sought for in the form 

 of delicate fibres, probably transparent, and proba- 

 bly difficult to see in the textures of the corn af- 

 fected with those destructive parasites. 



" It forms no objection to this view, that the 

 fibres of these funguses have not been seen except 

 partially by Bauer and Ad. Brongniart, in their 

 microscopal researches, for M. Dutrochet further 

 found, that when the fruit of the plant observed by 

 hiin (agaricus crispus,) sent up its foot-stalks, (stipes) 

 it became partially detached from the main plant, 

 and independent of it for its future nourishment, 

 the fibres of the main plant indeed becoming ex- 

 hausted of substance, and disappearing as in what 

 were previously supposed to be the roots at the 

 base of the fruit-stalk in the edible nuishroom, 

 which supposed roots are the fibres of the main 

 plant, partly exhausted of their substance by the 

 nourishment of the fruit." 



The editor of the Quarterly here details some 

 ingenious experiments of M. Fee, to ascertain the 

 manner in which plants become affected by fungi, 

 or the mode in which the sporules are propagated. 

 M. Fee infers from the result of these experiments, 

 that the seeds or sporules of the fungi are sucked 

 up with the moisture of the soil, by the tips or 

 spongioles of the root fibres. 



ASCERTAINED CAUSE OF RUST OR MILDEW. 



" The rust, and i^arious sorts of what are termed 

 mildew, are all caused by small fungi, such as the 

 tuft-brand, (Peccunia gramitiis, Persoon ; or uredo 

 fumenti, Sowerby,) and the linedebrand, (uredo lin- 

 earis, Persoon ; u. largissema, Sowerby,) which do 

 not differ so much in the injuries which they pro- 

 duce as in their mode of growth and appearance, 

 as has been already described. 



" The history of the red rust need not detain ns, 

 as it has been long well known from the very good 

 account given of it by Sir Joseph Banks, with most 

 admirable drawings, by M. Bauer. The opinion, 

 however, which Sir Joseph seems to adopt is, not 

 that the seeds of the rust fungus get into the corn 

 plants by the tips of the roots, but by the pores on 

 the leaves and stems, being carried there by the 

 winds, and caused to adhere by the moisture of 

 dew or rain. When once entered into the pores, 

 he says — 'they germinate, and push their minute 

 roots, no doubt, (though these have not yet 

 been traced,) into the cellular texture beyond the 

 bark, whei'e they draw their nourishment by inter- 

 cepting the sap that was intended by nature for the 

 nutriment of the grain. The corn, of course, be- 

 comes shrivelled, in proportion as the fungi are 

 more or less numerous on the plant ; arid as the 

 kernel only is abstracted from the grain, while the 

 cortical part remains undiminished, the proportion 

 of bran in blighted corn is always reduced to the 

 same degree as the corn is made light. Some 

 of the last year will not yield a stone of flour for 

 a sack of wheat.'" — On blight in corn. 



PREVENTION OF RUST. 



On this branch of the subject, we find little to 

 copy, that, in onr opinion, is worth the pains. The 

 writer adopts the opinion, that the seeds or sporules 

 of the fungi, smut, canker and mildew, are dissem- 



inated in myriads over our fields — that these seeds 

 are carried into the soil by the rain, and that they 

 enter the plant by the tips of the roots. The pre- 

 vention recommended is paring and burning, or 

 copiously liming ; the first of which he thinks will 

 destroy wholly, and the other partially, tlie vital 

 power of the fungi. 



We dissent from the opinion of Fee, adopted by 

 the Quarterly, that the speds of the fungi enter 

 the plant by the root, and are disposed to believe 

 with Sir Joseph Banks, that the seeds of the rust- 

 fungus get into the plant by the pores of the leaves 

 and stem. And we will offer some reasons for 

 this belief. 1. The prevalence of rust depends 

 much upon the temperature and humidity of the 

 season when it [irevails. If the season is moist 

 and hot, and the atmosphere calm, this disease 

 most abounds. On the contrary, if it is cool and 

 dry, and northern winds prevail, we see very little 

 of it 2. The prevalence of rust depends much 

 on exposure ajid luxuriance of growth. If the 

 field is much sheltered from drying winds, the air 

 in a measure stagnant, or the growth of straw lux- 

 uriant, as on the site of dung heaps, the rust-fun- 

 gus is pretty certain to ajTpear ; but it seldom shows 

 itself in open exposures, where the growth of the 

 straw is moderate, or has not been stimulated by 

 recent or too abundant manures, except the season 

 is hot and humid. Upon M. Fee's theory, all sea- 

 sons and all soils would produce it alike, provided 

 the soils were once impregnated with the seeds. 

 Its appearance only in certain seasons and in cer- 

 tain locations, can readily be explained on Sir Jo- 

 seph Banks' theory. In the seasons and locations 

 in which rust is most prevalent, the atmosphere is 

 comparatively light and stagnant, and the epider- 

 mis of the grain soft, spongy and moist. Now as- 

 suming what M. Fee asserts, and we have no rea- 

 son to doubt his correctness, that the seeds of the 

 rust-fungus are as subtle as smoke, they might 

 readily be wafted by this light atmosphere to the 

 leaves and stems of the grain, which would be in 

 an excelleiit; condition, under such circumstanceK, 

 to receive and nurture them. But when the atmos- 

 phere is dry, and the air in brisk circulation, it^ 

 specific gravity is too heavy for these seeds to float 

 in it, and the leaves and stems of the grain are 

 less fitted for its reception. When the atmosphere 

 is light, smoke lingers upon the earth's surface ; 

 when it is dry and heavy, smoke immediately rises 

 to the upper regions. 



If our views are correct, liming, or even paring 

 and burning, would effect little towards the preven- 

 tion of rust and mildew. The best preventives, in 

 our opinion, are, to apply the manure intended for 

 wheat, to a previous hoed crop, that the heat of fer- 

 mentation, which causes a strong and protracted 

 growth of straw, may have subsided ; and to sow 

 upon dry grounds, or if flat and retentive, to lay 

 the land in ridges, that all surplus water may read- 

 ily drain oflf. These precautions, added to clean 

 and thorough tillage, we think, will be as efficacious 

 as paring and burning. Liming wheat lands, we 

 have no doubt, is beneficial in many respects ; but 

 that it will prevent rust, we have no facts before ue 

 that will justify us in asserting. — Cidtivator. 



Prodigious. — A cow, the property r. Mr F. 

 Kent, of West Springfield, during sixty days, be- 

 ginning June last, has given 134(5 quarts of milk ! 

 averaging 22 1-2 quarts a day. Largest yield, 11 

 quarts in morning and 16 in the evening ! 



