WHEAT AND ITS PESTS. 5 



and sieved and screened, and if it is still warm and cannot 

 be disposed of it must be sacked. This generally gets over 

 most troubles. Mites, it is interesting to note, are hardly 

 ever known in winter wheat, i.e.. wheat sown in the winter. 



Grubs and Rodents. — C4rubs are almost unknown to the 

 wheat merchant. When wheat is once threshed and kept in 

 modern granaries, Bishop Hatto's experiences also are unknown. 

 Stored, as many thousands, not to say millions, of quarters 

 were stored in the open in Australia, the ravages of mice and 

 rats were quite considerable, but we never had any such 

 experience at home. 



Grasshoppers. — The grasshopper or locust is still a problem 

 in some of the great wheat-growing countries, specially in the 

 Argentine but it is rapidly disappearing before the advance 

 of civilisation 



Black Rust. — Perhaps the most serious pest is what we 

 call black rust — this is, I believe, a small fungus probably 

 dormant in many kinds of wheat, which only becomes active 

 under certain climatic conditions. It occurs generally only 

 where there has been a long period of wet weather after the 

 wheat has got to the milky stage, and when it ought to be 

 ripening, which wet weather is succeeded by abnormally hot 

 weather, when the temperature rises possibly to 90 degrees. 

 The mischief appears to be very rapidly done, and in 48 hours 

 it would seem that the soft inside of the berry is turned into a 

 black and somewhat slimy substance. Black rust, as far as 

 I know, is only found in any quantity in spring wheat, i.e., 

 sown in spring ; but that may be only because climatic con- 

 ditions synchronise with the ripening of spring wheat. 



But to return to the weevil and Australia. In passing 

 I may add that the weevil in India has, in its time, managed 

 to dispose, of quite appreciable quantities of wheat. This is 

 probably due to tin' primitive way in which the Indian farmers 

 store their wheat. The crop of wheal is gathered in India in 



