ON THE SMALL GRAINS 



erful enemy. It is conservatively estimated, for 

 example, that the loss to the wheat growers of 

 Australia is from ten to fifteen million dollars a 

 year. Yet Australia is relatively free from the 

 pest. In an old wheat country like Prussia, where 

 the rust has gained a more secure foothold, the 

 losses are enormously greater. 



It has been estimated that in a single season 

 the loss from rust on the various small grains in 

 Prussia alone was not less than $100,000,000. 



In America the losses from rust vary greatly 

 from year to year; but there is no season when 

 the destruction wrought by this pest would not be 

 calculable in millions of dollars. There are ex- 

 ceptional seasons when in entire r,egions the wheat 

 crop is almost totally destroyed and other seasons 

 in which the losses amount to a high percentage 

 of the total crop. 



All in all, the microscopic uredospore must be 

 listed among the most important and most menac- 

 ing enemies of our race. 



A pest that perpetually threatens our chief food 

 product must surely be so considered, notwith- 

 standing the individual insignificance of its 

 members. 



The Plant-Developer to the Rescue 

 It is obvious, then, that there is no single task 

 that the plant developer could undertake that 



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