24 



Smut on cereals has always highly interested the farmers, and, no 

 doubt, this is the first disease they have noticed. To my knowledge 

 Fabricius (1774), Troyel (1791) and H0egh (1797) are the first to 

 mention Tilletia caries, but they record it as an old and well=known 

 disease of Triticum. 



Hans J0rgen Christian H0egh, rector of Gentofte, but at the 

 same time an interested agriculturist and author of a book of more 

 than five hundred pages "Vejledning for en Bonde, som har faaet 

 sine Jorder udskiftede af Faellesskab" (Guide for a peasant who has 

 had his fields allotted from joint cultivation) which was pubhshed at 

 the expense of the Royal Agricultural Society, has in this work (97 ^'"') 

 described the experiments he made with limed and unlimed seeds of 

 wheat. He also made excellent observations on Urocystis occulta, 

 which deserve to be quoted as it is no doubt the first time we find 

 an account of an observation which states that this disease may be 

 transferred by the grain. He writes (Heegh 97 ^^°): "Rye may be 

 infected by smut at the base of the straw and yet have good corn 

 in the ear; the smut is only felt during the thrashing when the black 

 dust from the straw is set free and covers the flail and the face of 

 the thrasher; it is not advisable to sow such rye; it will be diseased 

 next year." Also peasants such as Abraham Olsen (1791) and Niels 

 Remmer, a smallholder of Terp in the parish of Skivholme in Jutland 

 (1818), write on smut on wheat and the proper treatment of the grain. 



Among the agriculturists of the beginning of the century who dealt 

 with the diseases of the agricultural plants because they understood 

 their economical significance, Sbren August Fjelstrup also ought to 

 be mentioned. He was one of the most skilful farmers of his age, and 

 author of many articles in periodicals on the different agricultural 

 questions. He was born at Hersholm Sept. 2. 1773, began to study, 

 but deserted his studies to become a farmer, and in 1815 bought the 

 farm Sindinggaard in the west of Jutland; he was a member of the 

 Jutland Consultative Chamber 1836—46; he died Sept. 5. 1859. His 

 experiments on the treating of wheat (Fjelstrup 1817) were very well 

 established, lots of treated and untreated corn being laid out next to 

 each other to control the effect; he was also (1844) very interested in 

 Phytophtora infestans when first it began to appear and tried several 

 remedies against this pest. 



What has appeared in Denmark concerning phytopathology from 

 the cessation of the Barberry War to the first appearance of Rostrup 

 is of very little importance. Most of what was written was merely 

 translation from foreign works; S. Drejer (1839) translated Wieg« 

 mann's book, and P. Heiberg (1862) translated de Bary's book on 

 Phytophtora infestans. 0rsted's papers on phytopathological questions 



