The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1864-06-22
The Rust of Wheat and its Remedies.

Commissions OF Agriculture, we extract
the following remarks in relation TO rust,
The oldest Of our histories the Bible,
frequently alludes TO it as common among
the Jews, and represented il as one Of
the puhisbments inflicted on that disobs-
dent people. They were warned that
diSobedence would be followed with
blasting aud with mildew; and when
thus punished, the prophet Haggai says.
| smole you with blasting, and with
midew, and with hail, in all tho Iabors of
your hands; yet ye turned not to me,
saith lhe Lord The Hebrew name for
rust yorcoon, meaning yellow color
caused ay moisture, is indicative of the
cause aud appearance of the disease then
as we find them now The Grecian and
Roman writers have transmitted TO us like
names and causes. The Greeks call il
erusitee, and the Romans yuJigo. Ovid,
describing the rubigalia, religious festi-
val established BY one of the earliest
rulers OF Rome, makes the priest say, If
the sun feryently heats the moist stalks
then, o dread goddess, is the opportuni-
ty for thy dread wrath. Be mercful, I
pray, aud withhold thy rusting hands
from the crops In all times, and among
every civilized people, this disease existed,
and moist stalk heated by hot sun is
the cause of it; hence heavy dews, percip.
itaied by clear, cold nights, succeeded by
a hot sun during the day, soon develop
the disease now rs it did in the most an.
Gent periods. 1t was not until the mi
croscope was invented that the true nature
of the disease was known. There is a
species Of plant which lives on the sap
Of other plants, called parasite The rust
and smut are plants of this character
The microscope shows the fact that rust
is perfectly formed plant, having roots,
stems and producing seed too small for
the unaided eye to discover. These exist
in innumerable quantities ip The allnos-
phere, awaiting the condition essential
to their termination and development -
What these are we have already seen. In
the language Of Ovid, they are the sun
fervently beating on the moislened stalks.
When this moisture proceeds from show
cry weather, no danger need be appre-
hended but when from dews precipitated
by cool nights, then the rust develops it.
self Whether the moisture in driving so
rapidly causes contraction of The outer
portion of the stem, SO induce splitting,
or whether the GOODNESS of the night
causes it, is not certainly ascertained.--
Be this as it may, the result is the same
AN imperceptible splitting of the straw
through which the sap oozes out. The
invisible and mutitudinous seeds Of the
rust attach themselves to this sap, and
burying themselves in it, rapidly vegetate,
striking their roots into the openings of
the straw, thus diverting to themselves
the sap Of the plant, which should 60 to
filling out and ripening OF the grain.--
Hence it so rapidly shrivels, and becomes
worthless.
"Wbat is the remedy against this
evill The Romans sacrificed red bitch
on the altar of the Goddess Rubigo, The
priest entreating her to withhold her rust
ing hands. II the farmers could be pur-
suaded to sacrifice all bitches to the god
dess, then an altar ought to be erected TO
her on every farm, for the indirect benefit
to the wheat crop by an increased sheep
husbandry would more than compensate
all losses from the rust.
"The Jewish prophets regarded the
blasting and mldew as punishment for
the sins Of the people. When people
by rebellion, under such high condition of
prosperity as exhibited by the census Of
1860, seeks its own and the destruction Of
Others, and the overthrow Of the best
government the world has seen, blasting
and mildew of the wheat crop will not
stay their impious hands. But, regarding
the remedy Cor rust, through the micro
scope, wo find that is is in all stages of
the growth of the plant that the straw is
liable to split under heavy dews and a hot
sun. 1t is not in its growing state but
in its ripening stage only that this result
il produced. Hence, whatever rapidly
shortens the ripening stage lessons the
danger. For this purpose there is moth
ing equal TO stable manure, the precise ef-
fectS of which on the soil and on the
wheat crop will be stated under the head
Of mapures. Another remedy is in i'm
mediate harvesting when the crop is al.
fected by the rust. The following in
structiye experiments on this point l find
in Mr.. Klipparts essay on wheat Mr..
George D. Hendricks, Of Preble county,
Ohio, writes Mr.. Klippart as follows -