BUST AND MILPRW IN INDIA. 8 



We may next proceed to attempt to guess the magnitude of the 

 loss sustained in India in wheat alone, leaving out of consideration 

 the loss from other crops known to he similarly affected. In an in- 

 teresting article on this subject, by Mr, W. C. Little, in the Journal 

 of the Royal Af/rirultttral Society of England, he writes: — ,g Among 

 the numerous diseases which affect the cultivated crops of this 

 country, there is probably not one which is more disastrous to the 

 farmer than wheat mildew is in those parts of the country where it 

 is frequently prevalent." He then goes on to estimate the actual 

 money loss sustained by the farmers of the counties around 

 Cambridgeshire, of whom he was one, in 1881, a year of great rust 

 prevalence, over a cultivated area of 15,000 acres, and writes: 

 " If we estimate that throughout the districts of which I have 

 spoken, the wheat crop was damaged to the extent of £4 an acre, 

 we have an aggregate loss to the farmers of that district amounting 

 to £60,000 on the wheat alone, leaving out of sight the damage 

 done to other crops/' Mr. H. L. Bolley, of the Agricultural 

 Experiment Station in Indiana, writes*: — "It is quite common 

 for rust to be credited with damage equal to 50 per cent, of the 

 normal crop. However, few farmers would consider that rust 

 usually takes less than one-hundredth part of the wheat crop ; and 

 yet, doubtless, this is a very low estimate of the actual annual loss 

 occasioned to the wheat fields of Indiana- The state being among 

 the largest wheat producers of the country, it will be seen that our 

 farmers, even at this low figure, must stand in the aggregate an 

 annual loss of from 300,000 to 500,000 dollars. The average 

 annual wheat yield of the United States is placed at 512,763,500 

 bushels. Considering the value of this crop at 80 cents per bushel, 

 a loss of one-hundredth part by rust represents a total annual 

 loss to the wheat producers of our country of 4,102,108 dollars, 

 figures which in themselves are quite astonishing, yet must be 

 low." 



I have already stated that in Japan the crops on an average 

 suffer a loss of 20 per cent, from this cause. 



In Sleeman's article, already referred to, he writes : — " When a 

 crop is attacked it is often not worth the reaping 1 ' ; and again, " I 

 have seen rich sheets of uninterrupted wheat cultivation for twenty 

 miles by ten, in the valley of the Narbadda, so entirely destroyed 

 by this disease, that the people would not go to the cost of gather- 

 ing one field in four/' u I believe the total amount of the wheat 

 gathered in the harvest of 1827, in the district of Jubbulpore, 

 was not equal to the total quantity of seed that had been sown." 

 u The disease began first to manifest itself upon the leaves of the 

 wheat about the 10th of March, .1829, and from that time I 

 watched its progress till its work of destruction had been com- 

 pleted, about the end of the month." But I must again draw 

 attention to the fact that this was a very unusually severe 

 visitation. 



So much then for the general loss sustained by attacked areas : 



* &oc, ciU 



B 2 



