ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



163 



improved microscopes, the rusts and moulds 

 have been properly studied. W. P. Schimpcr, 

 ill 1848, in his llecherches siir /es JfouKSes, estab- 

 lished, by experiment, that tlic so-called Con- 

 fervacem are the pregerminal phases of the 

 leaf-mosses, notwithstanding which, they are 

 yet very generally considered as sea-wccds or 

 alga-, under a spurious nomenclature. Again, 

 each of the phases of the fermentative or 

 original zymotic fnngns have been separately 

 named by those who have paid no attention to 

 its development, as has been demonstrated by 

 Prof. Hallior, of Jena, Germany, and by Dr. 

 Ililgard, of this country; while the bread and 

 preserve moulds, the blue moulds on apples and 

 lemons, the cheese and stool ferments have all 

 been proved to be but ditlerent forms of one 

 species, by the latter gentleman. In our own 

 special department we might mention several 

 instances where closet-entomologists, with a 

 supreme contempt for larval or pupal charac- 

 ters, have fabricated two. three or more species 

 out of what upon more profound knowledge 

 have proved to be one and the same. 



Is it to be wondered at, therefore, with these 

 facts before us, that we prefer, rather than 

 accept the ipsitisima dicta of would-be savans, 

 to take the testimony of men who, having de- 

 voted years to the study of funguses, announce 

 that the Ked rust in wheat is but a form or stage 

 of the common Barberry rust. 



We attach more importance to a single fact, 

 based upon well conducted experiment, than to 

 ten thousand theories and "opinions" that have 

 no facts for their support, though they may be 

 acquiesced in by the so-called authority through- 

 out the land. We always intend to be " severe 

 on the superficial errors of the day,"' and are 

 especially down on scientific charlatanism. We 

 have the higiiest respect for our friend and cor- 

 respondent. Dr. Trimble, of New .Jersey, but 

 when, in speaking on this barberry-wheat ques- 

 tion, be simply asserts that " this is an old tra- 

 dition that 1 have heard from a boy, bnt there is 

 no foundation for the belief" ; and that " rust is 

 produced by another class of causes " — without 

 explaining what those causes are — his words 

 sound too much like hollow assertion, unsup- 

 ported by facts. Such words from the Doctor 

 appear the more astonishing to those who have 

 watched his strenuous eflbrts to overthrow an- 

 other superficial error, by demonstrating that 

 on some soils shallow plowing is to be preferred 

 to deep plowing, notwithstanding the latter has 

 from time immemorial been urged and recom- 

 mended, withAt qualification, by nil theorists. 



But we will not dwell any longer on this sub- 



ject at pr|sent. We have long since admired 

 the courtesy and ability with which the Coxintry 

 fientleman is conducted, and feel that the criti- 

 cism we have quoted, was made in all candor. 

 Calm and dispassionate argument and con- 

 troversy usually results in good, and if our 

 Albany friends will bring f'oi-th any argument 

 that is worliiy the name, in favor of their posi- 

 tion, wo may in future consider this matter at 

 greater leiiglh, and perhaps get our Botanical 

 Editor to give us his opinion, as it is really a 

 botanical matter. 



We shall defend the farmer whenever wc 

 think he is in the riglit, for as in the old Fable 

 of the Printer and the Lion, the scientific artist 

 in the city who is every day publishing descrip- 

 tions of men conquering lions in fair single 

 combat, has a great advantage over the poor 

 maligned agricultural lion in the country, who 

 publishes nothing at all, and confines himself to 

 the plain, practical occupation of gobbling up 

 as many men as lie can possibly get hold of. 



Whether or not the opinion that Pucctniu 

 j/raminis and ^Eridium berheridis arc the alter- 

 nate geiieratioiis of one species, is " sustained 

 with a tenth |'a; t of the witnesses who assert 

 that wheat is transmuted into chess," is a ques- 

 tion entirely Ibreign to the subject, the wheat- 

 chess discussion having absolutely nothing to 

 do with that of Wheat and Barberi y -.ust. And 

 as to the opinion that Barberry can not cause 

 rust in wheat because fine wheat has been 

 grown in close contiguity to such bushes, it 

 sounds too much like assuming that small-pox 

 is not coutiigious because a certain unvaccinated 

 person, living in a house where the disease pi'C- 

 vailed, escaped without catching it; lor as wc 

 may learn from the perusal of DeBary's pam- 

 phlets*, a certain condition of the atmosphere 

 is necessary to the proper germination of the 

 Wheat-Barberry fungus. Moreover, we have 

 never assumed, nor will any sensible person 

 ever assume, that healthy Barberry bushes, free 

 from rust, Avill produce any rust in wheat. 



•Xeue L'ntrrsiicliuiiKc-n ui-lier Irodinti'ii, ilishcKondei-c ilk' 

 KntwicklHiif? tier Piicchiia ffrnminis. A. )>cl!iiry, Berlin, 

 1!<G5. ZwiMlf MltthciUiiiK. isnil. 



"TnnKKis no branch of Natural History so 

 captivating as Entomology, and certainly none 

 so easily gratified: for its pursuit brings us 

 into immediate relation to Nature in her most 

 attractive dress, in the woods, the fields and the 

 gardens." — Morris. 



Eru.vtu.m. — Page 'J7, over the illustration, for 

 "Fig.M," read "Fig. r,9J." 



