WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
April, 1918 
Eliminate the Barberry and In- 
crease the Food Supply. 
Copy of Circular Issued by The 
State Council of Defense, Dr. 
E. D. Ball, State Entomolo- 
gist. 
Introduction. 
Secretary of Agriculture, D. F. 
Houston, has requested the Gover- 
nor of Wisconsin and the State 
Council of Defense to join the 
surrounding states of the upper 
Mississippi Valley in a campaign 
for eradication of the tall bar- 
berry. The black stem rust of 
wheat makes its first appearance 
in the spring on this bush and 
spreads from it to the wheat, oat, 
rye and barley .fields. In this 
wa; widespread epidemics of rust 
diserse have caused enormous 
losses to the farmers in past years 
and materially reduced the food 
supply. 
The stem rust is the most se- 
vere disease with which the grain 
grower has to contend. In 1916, 
for example, the estimated short- 
age of the wheat crop in the Unit- 
ed States was about 180 million 
bushels. Of this loss over 100 
million bushels were directly at- 
tributed to rust injury. 
Disease is Spread by the Wind. 
The disease is known to spread 
long distances by germs or spores 
carried by the wind. These spores 
start new infections from which 
the disease is later distributed to 
still more distant points, so it 
may travel over a wide area af- 
ter it has once been started. To 
control it effectively, therefore, 
the barberry should be eradicated 
at the same time from all parts 
of the spring wheat area of the 
Upper Mississippi Valley. 
Eradication Has Been Success- 
ful. 
In Denmark epidemics of black 
rust used to occur at intervals of 
a few years before the barberry 
was destroyed. Eradication of 
these shrubs was begun in 1904 
and within a few years they were 
so completely eliminated that the 
rust epidemics have ceased to ap- 
pear. Due to the success of the 
work in Denmark, the central Eu- 
ropean countries started barberry 
eradication several years ago. 
Eradication in This Country, 
The state of North Dakota prac- 
tically wiped out the barberry last 
year and has prohibited the grow- 
ing of this plant within the state. 
Much progress already has been 
made in Iowa in reducing the 
number of these bushes. Minne- 
sota has made the eradication of 
the barberry a war measure and 
will eliminate it from that region 
during the coming season as a 
patriotic act to increase the food 
supply of the world. Two Can- 
adian provinces are reported to 
have passed eradication measures 
and the Canadian government has 
reguested the cooperation of the 
United States government in a 
joint effort to eliminate this seri- 
ous disease. 
Wisconsin’s Share in the Fight. 
The state of Wisconsin produces 
oats and barley and is. planning 
to increase the wheat acreage the 
coming season by about 40 per 
cent. An active campaign at this 
time, resulting in the elimination 
of the barberry from the state, 
would be of material assistance 
to the producers in their patriotic 
struggle to increase our food sup- 
ply. Wisconsin will join loyally 
with her sister states of the upper 
Mississippi Valley to eradicate, 
quickly and effectively, this men- 
ace to food production. 
Two Kinds of Barberry. 
There are two kinds of barberry 
commonly planted in Wisconsin; 
the tall green or purple leaved 
bush called the European bar- 
berry and the low spreading red- 
dish one or Japanese barberry. 
The Dangerous Barberry The Harmless Barberry 
