RUST IN WHEAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1892, 15 May 1890, Page 7

RUST IN WHEAT.

MR SMITH ELLIS' SPECIFIC.

As has a'ready been announced by cable, the Victorian Minister of Land has completed the agreement entered into with Mr Smith Ellis for the testing of his specific for the destruction of xm,i in wheat. Under tho agreomnnv; Mr Sinitb Eilia U to looeive £10,000 from the Government if at Hie tmd nf threo yotvtij ifc haa boea proved to the satisfaction of a committee of experts that Mr Ellin' speciho is capable of porfoimintf al! thhb its invent ir .. t ys it will do. Tho agreement was aipiod yt vied >-y, and Mr Dow will pmceaii with <>o i,p{,m"nUiisral of the comijiillop w •joou a- i)vi rioipJiVoi-rr p; colonies havo been .jcmiruiit'.f-.Uc] v% itli. Njvt South Wales in to he r^ktd to nominate tv,-<i members of the comrnifUiP, aii.i S ;iih ->n traiia aud Queensland will be reiirsfcnt' <1 b/ r.n equal uumbor of mrmbors. TL<) following m a statement of tha specific, as described by Mr Smith Ellis :-

WHAT IS HED RIJ.ST IN WHFAT?

The piiesta of oIJ o'oclared to the ancient wheatgrowers that tuch dieeaaos as rust and.

mildew were Bcourgea Bent by God. We live in an age of progress, and I am confident that the day is at hand when such diseases will be accounted as vanquished enemies by t^e modern wheatgrowers. Rust in wheat is aa internal parasite fungus that constitutionally affec'a tho wheat plant. It ia propagated an.i aUaius maturity in tho sap vessels of the leaves of the plant, aad on arriving at maturity it bursts forth, rupturing the womb of its foster molher, and at the same instant escapes into the atmosphere in the form of a pale fyellow smoke. I shall hereafter denominate it, for want of a readier term, " rust smoke," the thing that we call rust being only the shell or after effect of the parasite. ITS SECONDARY OB DESTBUOTITfI PROPAGATION.

Every wheatgrower knows the meaning of " rusty weather," warm, moist and oalm, the atmosphere is heavy, the escaped rust smoke, which ia the germs of the parasite, float in the moist atmosphere until they have absorbed sufficient moisture to cause them to sottlo on tho ground or other place, or on the leavos of another wheat plant ; if on the latter they at once strike into it, and recommence their work of destruction by absorbing the sap of tha plant and multiplying themselves indefinitely, agftin burstiug open the Bkin of the leaf to procepd on another round of destruction, JYom close observation 1 have reason to believe that a new generation of the parasite is produced in about every 48 hours. I mean that the production is continuous in already affected plants but as regards healthy plan's nowly inoculated, they produce a new generation of the matured parasite in about that time. I am also of opinion that it is! ouly while the sap of the wheat plant vi in a strUe of '* incipient fcrmcatation," carded by the combined heat and moisture, the parasite ia enabled to propagate itself so destructively Tfiic opinion ia confirmed by the fact that tho work of destruction ceases on the ocounenc9 of a fall of temperature of tho weather. However, whether lam right or wroi:g in my conjectures, they aro of small importance to tho whoatgr owf v. 1 , because they have no control over the conditions of this stage of its propagation, which for diotiuctiou I call its "secoadrvry propagation."

ITS PRIMARY PROPAGATION,

The question will arise as to where tho " ruet umoko " is located, and where to be found after harvest, The shortest answer is this : Anywhere and everywhere in and around every wheatgrowing district ; but I will endeavour to answer it more clearly by asking a parallel question — "Where is the smoke to ba fouad that issued out of the chimneys of any one of our cities in tho month of November last ? " We know that chimney smoke is composed of minute particles of soot, and that we should see it distributed in and around that city were our eyes keen enough to see it. It ia tho same with the "rust smoke." Again, let us suppose that the soot was derived from gum wood, and that each partiole of soot was endowed with ihe active conditions of lifo wherever it came in contact with the kind of tree that produced it. Should we not then see the gum trees around our city attacked by their parasite soot ? The cases are parallel, with tho addition that the " rust smoke " is endowed with active conditions of life whenever it cornea in contact with the plant, in any living shape 01; form s that produced it, or rather nursed it, and that whenever that contact is accompanied by the necessary adjuncts of warmth and moisture, causing " incipient fermentation," the " ruat smoke," or germ, forthwith strikes or rises into its foster mother, which, in this instance, is the germ of the seed wheat itself, aud thus commences the " primary propagation " of the parasite ; the hidden secret of Nature that has puzzled and perplexed wheatgrowors for thousands of years.

MILDEWED SEED WHEAT.

Every wheatgrower' should ba warned that his crop is liable to be de&troyed by rust if even the smallest portion of his sood wheat is mildewed, as that state is to a certainty tho predisposing causa of the attack of tho parasite. I Jo assert that mildewed seed will produce rißt afffjctad plants under all circumstances, because the germs of the parasite rnr.y not ba peesnt at all times to take the opportunity of striking the seed ; but I do a^ert that I have proved by experiment that the conditions that produoo mildow, namely, incipient fermentation, are tho pame conditiona th'it ouable the pfirusito to strike the seed ; and by the term " incipient fermentation " I mean the com mencoment of fermentation aud to stop at that BUgo. Those are conditions over which wheatgrowers have full ooatrol over tho propagation of tho parasite. Tho necessary precautions, to provent fermentation of their seed, cost them absolutely nothing, and if they neglect to take the necessary care of their seed, ib is to their lobs ; they have themselves only to blame.

NATUBAL TEST FOB SEED WHEAT.

Wheatgrowers desirous of testing their seed to ascertain whether it has or has not been struck by the parasite may take a quart of heed from that portion of the bulk most likely to have attracted mildew ; the human eye is unable to detect any difference in these grain 3 of wheat, so we will refer them to Nature's unerring decision. Open a drill in the gardon ; if tha soil is at all dry water the drill until it is wet Bin deep at least. Sow, cover in at ouce, and watch (he blades as they appear above gioimd, if auy of them have boon struck by ib.., paraEito they will show a spit about tho siz.) of the head cf a piu, and the exact colour of the coinnam ga -den imrigo'd, quite distinct from the pr.'e yellow of tho blade. If no such PiKilfc appGar on any cf the three first blades, tho t-r ol may bo depended on a 8 sound ;if tb^y d) appear the seed is unfit to be unen o; 1 cold fot- i-ced. Oaly one spot may appear in this sample ; one match starts a bush fire.

SIGNALS OF DISTBKSS

Those spots ar>s Nature's signals intimating that the parasite has frimmily propagated itself into ihoso plants. A magnifier shows that the spots are situated in tho interior of tLe blade, and that tb.3 akin of the blade on each Bide iR uninjured. Those yellow spots will gradually gulp rge thanj&olvea and change to a brown colour, and on close exarniuaiion it will be found that the leaf at tlu'ee spots has lost its vitality ; tho parasite has entered, with thd reaction of the tap, into tho constitution of its fostor mother, and will remain there invisible, excepting the i-ecurreucs of the spots on every new luif, until that mother either vvi'.hess »id dies \n dry v.cr.thcr or Jives on •.iiiiii tLe cicomrencc of mafcy weatlur permits tho pf.Uihitfl f.o 6K.t'j'. - ijpou its secondly propa gj.ion, buist fuztii, a*(d spned destruction wturoter it can fjll upon rv wJ.e.tt plant to dpiitrcy. laaitI aaiti t bo stu-o ih^t t) o pro;oncd of tho ycli-j w *.po(, in (,Le infanc plan*, 13 ucmistakeablo t-jvid ,'uco of the pnsenca of ruafc in th.i crop thca h..d i a crop giving fucli evidence I would ai. 01 ci procutd to plough I': in and how tha land with ioma other kiud of ciop.

THE YELLOW SrOT HXPERIMKKT,

Havii-f; cejidcd to v.ateh tLe dovdopiront of tho yellow spof, I destroyed all my experimanLJ ra:.rcriale ; then procured the dirticefc Mainpla of whoat tb»t I could fisd. Soino of tho prraius had got maltod. Instead of sowing in drills, as in former experiments, I planted in one live four chains in length, and dibbled in the seed, a single apparently sound Beod at each space of lyd, and marked each site with a stick. Before the plants bad put out their third blade the spot

had shown itself on nearly one third of their number, and I marked them by tying worsted to their stioks The orop stooled out surprisingly, and when it had got about 30in high dry weather Bet in, and soon after that some few of the spotted odos withered, and died without any apparent cause ; the remainder grew on until rusty weather came on. I had carefully examined them all nearly overy day for many weeks, and observed no difference between the spotted and the unspotted ones ; but now the spotted ones were showing rust ruptures, the unspotted ones none. On the third day after that the unspotted ones showed them also, having caught the contagion, and in a week after that time the whole row was red with rust. My mind was at rest, I had mastered the whole secret.

HOW TO GROW A PRIMARILY RUSTED CROP.

Adopt the following courses, or half of them, andyou will certainly succeed : —

1. Heap the wheat, hof.iro 11 ia ripe, whilo the skin of the grain is thin, tho " iusL smoke" will penetrate it more easily.

2. Stack the wheat on the ground, or on n rubbishy stack bottom that will set up an " incipioifc fermentation." (Was it instinct that taught our grandfathers to ntaok the seed grain over the cart sheds years before pillars were thought of ?> 3. Winnow the grain slovenly, rs it is only for aeed; loose chaff ia an excolleufi vehicle for bringing the " rust smoke " into close contact with the seed.

_ 4. It there is a short supply of bags, the seed can lie on sail cloth on the ground for a time; or the bags of seed may bn placed on an earthen barn floor supposed to be dry, or they may be placed on planks that lie flat on such a floor until seed time, and by that time the parasite will have got well into the seed.

5. S >w on a too dry seed bud, rain may comi soon, but the " rust mhoUp" Ues there ready to strike the seed at once brtore the rain comes.

K. Permit wheat; or other cereals, wild oats incluied, \o grow a3 werds on your holding. Those weeds sow their se^ds on a dry seed bed, too, and are sure to spread rust broadcast; in its secondary propagation. It ia most, likely that this was Us original way of propagation.

HOW TO AVOID A BUST AFFECTED OROP.

Every intelligent v/heatgrower will carefully abßtajn from adopting any of the beforementioned courses. Hs will sac clearly that naed whoat, from the day that it is reaped to the hour that it sprouts to produce a crop, should never, under any conditions, be subjected to a state of fermentation, because that state is the parasite's opportunity. Sow early if you can, but not until after the rains have well soaked the soil; tha "rust smoke" poriahea in water. While on this question I cannot avoid referring to the subject of careless, slovenly neighbours. A man may be a careful, good manager, paying attention to every detail necessary for the production of a clean crop, aud after all his care he may have the intense mortification of seeing bis crop destroyed by the carelessness of others. Such a man has the sympathy of every right thinker, and in my opinion he should be protected by law. Local inspectors could be appointed — intelligent, upright men, who are themselves personally interested in the success of the wheat crop of their district ; they should have the power to examine and test any wheat, seed, or crop, and, if necessary, declare in some newspaper that su«h seed is unfit for such purposes, and ako to order and enforce the immediate cutting of any infected green orop to prevent contagion and the increase of the parasite. We have the Scab Aot, and know how effective it has been in stamping out scab in sheep. We have tha Thistle Act, and why not an extension of that aot for the extermination of parasites affecting cereals and other seed producing plants, for it is a fact that this rust parasite can adapt itself to almost any kind of seed. Such, at least, ia my opinion, and in confirmation I may state that when making my experiments I accidentally inoculated some cauliflower seed with the parasite, and it pestered the gardeners of the district by attacking their cauliflowers saved for seed with milk-white spots for years afterwards. Again I ask you in the interests of all, to act promptly and unitedly in the endeavour to stamp out rust in wheat.