Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1858-08-27
farmers Column.
rust IN oats-whnt is IT.

Throughout the whole southwestern
portion of the Union, the oat crop has
suffered from a terrible blight, which
from It's resemblance to the fungus sub
stance that sometimes attacks wheat by
that name, has been called rust, SO far
as we are informed, rust in oats has hith-
orto been unknown. W. have :sscsyySSS
heard or read Of anything Of the kind,
in any section of the country. Tho fac.
that i is thus unusual opens q wide and
interesting field to the naturalist. and, in
this case, to the etomologist, as it invites
investigation in channel, so far as we
can ascertain, heretofore unoxplorc3.
While in West Tennessee, n short
time since, we took occasion to examine
the blade of the oat under a microscope
Ckindly furnished us by the Baily troupe)
and were greatly surprised by the phe-
nomenon which the grass revealed -
Since then we have followed up those
examinations, by the aid Of more pow
erful instruments, at the Medical College
in this city, in company with several sci
entiGc gentlemen, among whom werc
Drs. Briggs and Buchanan, Of the mrdi-
cal faculty.
The cause Of all this destruction Of tho
oat crop is living worm, too small to DO
plainly seen with the naked eye. A sin
gle blade or leaf Of the cat sometimes
contains hundreds Of them. They lie
encased in the tissues of the leaf or blade
where they have been terminated be-
meath the epidermis or thin pel!icle over
the exterior portion Of the blade, and as
they progress in development, the skin
Of the leaf is raised into curious puffy
blisters. The growth Of the worm sub
sequently ruptures these, and it escapes
TO feed on the plant When first re-
leased from their covering, they are Of q
beautiful, clear, red color, almost trans
parent but soon begin to change color
and form getting more Opaque aud dark
in appearance until in the course Of trans
formation, they become q black bug.
with legs aud wings, and they attack the
head or grain Of the oats Under the
microscope, the dust which remains on
the leaf closely resembles that on the
wings Of butterflies.
How this iunumerablc army Of infni-
tesimal worms originated is yet tnys-
terry. Il is a singular fuct, however.
THAT wherever the eyeatest quau'ify Of
rain has faiian. there tho cat crop has
Jared tho worst In cur recent trip
through Vest tennessee, VIC say but .
single field Of oats, between the Missi3-
sippi and Tennessee riyets. which was
not \ failure, or in~ which it would not
be folly to put ascytbe blade Thatf9ld
was near Denmark, in Madison county.
and was s0wn very carly. It is well
known that moro rrin has fallen in West
Tennessee this season than in any other
part Of the State, hence the extreme wet
weather must have had some agency in
the production Of this animolcule. II is
also well known that moisture and heat
will produce and multiply animal life,
millions per hour, and therein VIC Judge
is the secret Of this destruction Of the oat
crop. It is one Of those cases Of natu-
raj phenomena which occur only at 4
certain stage in the growth Of plants,
and under peculiar states Of temperature
and weather. IL may happen next sea-
son, Or it may not occur again for many
seasons, Southern Homestead.