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VOL XIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, NOV. 1,1884.
NO. 44.
WHEAT BUST.
Experiments   and    What   is   Known
About  It.
[ Paper read before the Marlon County Agricultural
and Horticultural Association at their October
meeting, by Miss Llllle J. Martin, teacher in the
Indianapolis High School.]
WHEAT RUST—ITS NATURE AND ORIGIN.
Plants called fungi are very numerous,
outnumbering in species tbe higher plants.
Nearly all the flowering plants have one
or more parasitic plant foes. Nor are animals free; thousands of fish,flies and other
animals are annually killed by fungi that
attack them. Even man Is not safe from
their ravages as the Investigations of Dr.
Koch on cholera and other contagious diseases have proven. Every form of organic
matter is attacked; milk is soured, grape
juice fermented and preserved fruit turned
musty by fungus parasites.
What is known of fungi Is scarcely a
hundred years old. Such knowledge has
been made possible only through the improvements that have been made In the
microscope. Not only cannot their spores
be seen by the naked eye, but even to distinguish their species is impossible. Frequently their presence ia only known
through the changes they produce ln
plants they attack—leaves or other parts
of plants become dissolved in spots or
wither away without apparent reason.
De Bary and other botanists have made
a careful study of wheat rust and Its life
history is now pretty well understood.
THE RUST IS A PLANT
that changes from plant to plant during
diflerent stages of development. Swollen
spots of what has been called barberry
cluster cups, or barberry rust, appear on
the leaves of barberry early in the spring.
The next stage, called the uredo stage, begins later in the season, usually after the
cluster cups have entirely disappeared
from the barberry. Pale yellow or whitish
spots appear first upon leaves, and a little
afterwards, upon the stems of wheat, oats,
corn, barley, grass, etc. Orange colored
spores will be found under these white
spots. These are called uredo spores. They
grow very rapidly, and soon make their
way through the epidermis, and expose
long orange-colored lines. These uredo
spores germinate so very fast that the
plant on which they are growing is often
destroyed before its full growth is attained. Farmers call this stage, I believe,
the red rust of wheat, oats, barley and
grass. The black rust is the third and last
stage of this fungus. Late in the season,
when the grain is nearly ripe, long black
lines of spores technically called telluto
spores, appear upon the leaves and stems.
Telluto spores appear in their greatest perfection on that portion of the stalk that is
left standing in the field. They remain
upon the dead stems through the winter.
The next spring they germinate and produce the whitish yellow spots on the barberry.
THE ABOVE VIEW OP THE BUST
was demonstrated by placing the spores of
barberry rust on barberry leaves that were
free from the rust. No growth took place,
but when these spores were put on leaves
of grass, oats or wheat the next stage developed.   To complete the work the spores
which developed on grass, wheat, etc.,
were put on barberry leaves and true barberry rust was produced.
THE EXPERIMENTS
as to the life history of rust were performed
by such a careful experimenter, De Bary,
that in Germany the origin of wheat rust
was considered to be settled. England,
however, still continued to have its scientific and practical skeptics. After experiments running through several months,
Er. Plowright declared he did not believe
there was any connection between barberry
rust and wheat rust. But when he made
another set of experiments a year later he
was able in every case to produce barberry
rust from wheat rust and vice versa. English scientific men no longer doubt. Would
that the practical skeptic, in the person of
the English farmer, could be converted!
He has for years granted that there was
quite likely some connection between barberry and wheat rust, and yet he continues to separate his fields by hedges composed of this shrub.
MANY FUNQI
called uredinese have a hi»tory similar to
that of wheat rust, though the life cycle is
by no means so extended in all. Sometimes two or even three stages merge into
one. The red rust which appears on blackberry in spring and causes the shoots to
become- curlnd and spindling in form is
not connected with any other form so far
as known.
Information is greatly needed as to the
best methods of avoiding and destroying
the fungi which attack cultivated plants.
Reports from botanists and faimers will
be the sources from which information may
be expected. The botanist will not aim at
"practical utility" in the early study of a
given plant. He will expect bis work to
be supplemented by that of the experimental station, and that it will serve only
as a ground work for future experiment.
Of course the conclusions arrived at at the
experiment station must be tested by reports from farmers in diflerent parts of
the country in order to ascertain if what
is true on a small scale is also true on a
large one.
WHEAT RUST
(Puccinia graminis) is the only rust that
has been studied in anything approaching
lo an exhaustive way. Not only has its
life history been investigated by De Bary
and others, but Dr. Lawes, Voelcher and
others have spent much time in order to
ascertain the conditions under which the
plant develops:
1. Many experimenters have found that
much moisture is necessary in developing
low plants in the laboratory. High plants
on the contrary are made "unhealthy by
moisture. Unhealthy plants, like unhealthy animals, are more liable to disease. Hence moisture favors the development of rust.
2. Dr. Lawes has laid down the law,
after many experiments, that plants sown
on soil containing organic matter,are more
liable to be attacked by animal and plant
parasites.
3. Dr. Voelcher made a series of interesting experiments. He analyzed four
quite different kinds of soil in order to ascertain the amount of nitrogenous matter
present. He then made a careful examination of wheat growing on each kind, and
found that rust varied as the amount of
nitrogenous matter. His next step was to
analyze clover which proved to have a
large per cent of nitrogenous matter.
From his experiments he concluded that
wheat should not be sown after clover.
In order to test the accuracy of a large
scale of conclusions that had been arrived
at in the laboratory, and also for the purposo of obtaining additional information,
the Secretary of the Royal Agricultural
Society of England sent out a list of questions to the British farmers. A great
number of answers was received. The
substance of theseanswers,as well as other
matters of interest in regard to wheat rust,
takes up about 50 pages of the Journal of
the Royal Agricultural Society. In regard to
ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS,
the farmers state that spring frosts, heavy
rainfalls, violent changes of temperature
and thunder storms are favorable to the
development of the rust. So also is un-
drained land. Again they say, that wheat
sown on
PEAT AND CLAY SOILS
is more attacked than that sown on gravel
and light land, and that wheat put into
newly broken land is always covered with
rust. The soils above which favor the development of rust have about three per
cent of mineral matter; those that are unfavorable, 97 per cent. This proves that
Dr. Lawes was correct in saying that wheat
sown on soil containing a great deal of organic matter would be very liable to attack from rust. Not only these, but many
other facts, gleaned from the farmers' answers are very striking on account of their
agreement with the conclusions of scientific workers. Dr. Voelcher's inference
that wheat should not be sown after clover
was verified by the experience of farmers.
They announce that wheat sown after
clover is much affected by rust. The immediate value of statistics like those gathered by the Royal Agricultural Society is
seen from the knowledge gained in regard
to sowing wheat after clover. Much that
is learned will have a future rather than a
present value. This will be felt, when experimental work needs to be substantiated by direct evidence. Untested statistics may even be of value in avoiding the
rust In lieu of something better.
NO REMEDY KNOWN.
At present the conditions under which
rust is developed aro very important,since
no remedy is known. Possibly this may
be so always, for low plants hold on to life
with such tenacity that some persons believe no remedy will be found, for whatever destroys the rust will also destroy the
wheat.
Would not a series of questions like those
which were put to the British farmers be
of use in this State? Doubtless much of
what would be learned by such questions
would already be known to the average
farmer. One fact brought out by the above
report has long been taken advantage of
here I am told; the earlier varieties of
wheat are now more sown, and they are
sown earlier than formerly because not so
much attacked by rust. The British farmers seem to think white wheats suffer
more than red. Is this one of the reasons
why red wheats are gradually supplanting
the white in this part of the country?
FALL FLO WHIG.
November is the Indian summer month;
and though Indian summer is not so
marked a feature of our climate as it was
when the burning of the leaves of vast forests and the grass of almost boundless
prairies filled the atmosphere with smoke
so densely that only the red rays of the
sun could penetrate it, often continued
weeks together, still, we have enough of
this grand featuro of an American autumn usually left to give us a month of
very favorable weather for closing up the
active woik of the farm for the year. The
first duty of the farmer in this period is to
secure the corn crop of the year, but it is
scarcely less important that timely provision be made for the crop of next year.
Fall plowing may, in common seasons, be
prosecuted successfully through the
months of October, November and till the
ground is frozen in December. In stubble ground this seldom comes before the
middle of the month. There often occurs
a thaw in January, giving ten days, or two
weeks, in which sod ground may be
broken, with good results.
In fall or winter breaking, the plow
should be set as deep as the capacity of the
beam will permit. If a three horse sulky
plow can be used, and a furrow ten inches
deep be turned, so much the belter; especially if tbe land be a clay soil well under-
drained. The effect of this will be to expose the lower portion of the soil to the
atmospheric influences, especially to the
full effect of freezing, which, by the expansion of the particles of water in becoming ice tends to detach the atoms of soil
from each other and when it thaws, leaves
them in this divided condition. In this
manner the soil is more finely pulverized
than is possible by any mechanical means.
The freezing of earth is merely the solidi-'
fying of the water it contains; and whatever change is made in its physical condition is the effect of that solidification.
There are chemical changes, however,
made in the soil by its free exposure to the
air and sunshine that are important in relation to its productiveness. Ground that
is deeply broken in the fall should be only
surface plowed in the spring. A good cultivator or spring-tooth harrow will do this
work sufficiently well. Of course, fall-
plowed ground must not be trodden by
stock after being broken.
0-B HEW STATE HOUSE.
The quarterly report of the State House
commissioners shows that the building is
now about ready for the iron roof. The
first installment of taxes for 1883 has been
collected, and there is now $93,101.44 to the
credit of the State-house fund. The expenditures during the last quarter amounted to $84,278.15, of which $36,686.82 was for
cut-stone work; J14.944.13 for brick work";
$5,197.15 for iron; $8,823.39 for copper, lead,
etc.; $13,206.47 for carpenter work; $1,216.-
44 inside finish; architects, per centage^
$1,327.86; commissioner's salaries,$l,667.2'>.
The total expenditures since the construction of the building began is $989,326.74.
The building looms up above surrounding
blocks and looks as though the heavy and
slow work was near completion.
A drunken woman severely injured several men by slashing with a knife, on a
train on the Wabash road, Thursday night.