The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-10-17
For the Dispatch.
Che wheat Crop-Enpuiry into the
Causes OF it's Frequent Failure.


The repeated failure of the wheat crops
OF Virginia for q series Of years-some-
times the almost total failure-naturally
leads &c an investigation Of the causes.
Under the full conviction that these are in
. great measure removable, and that with
proper precautions the culture Of wheat
may be rendered as safe and remunerative
in this climate now as formerly, few sug-
gestions are respectfully submitted to the
farmers Of the State.
Perhaps the greatest evil that wheat
growers have to contend with is the rust.
This, however, is no more incidental to our
climate (other things being equaD than to
any other where wheat is cultivated extern
sively. We frequently have superabund-
ance Of rain, but seldom so much as in
England, the success Of whose harvests
materially depends on few good days at
the period of maturity. Excess of rain
there is apt to produce sprouting in the
zelda disaster which seldom happens
here. If the English farmers can escape
this, and get their wheat housed or stacked
in good order, the country is seldom afflicted
by the calamity Of short crop. 1t may
be some times above and some times below
an average but the weight of the grain
- 1.-THE test by which it's quality is to be
iudged) is believed to be seldom or never
SO deficient as it has been with the greater
part of the Virginia crop for several years.
To avoid rust, the causes which induce
Il should be understood. Modern science
has shed much light on the subject. hust
is not the effect Of extravasation Of the sap
of the stem and blades, consequent on
pletnoric growth of the plant. 1t comes
81 Nth
in fact fungas, developed only at GER
tain season, and under certain atmospheric
conditions. The air is filled with myriads
of spores, undesirable to the naked eye
and these settling on rank growth of
wheat in sultry weather soon terminate,
and the fungus or parasite is developed as
if by magic. The black rust strikes its
roots into the stalk and blade, rupturing
the organislI and feeding on the juices OF
the plant; while the attachment Of the red
rust is SO slight as to yield partially to Il
hasty shower of rain. The latter is more
mer is destructive.
While there is no absolute preventive
against rust, it is very practicable, by judi
cious preparation of the soil and u judicious
selection Of varieties, to escape its effects
Al very great measure. PERSONS OF care
ful observation are aware that it does not
make its appearance-we are now speaking
particularly of the black rust-until about
the middle, say from the 10th to the 18th,
OF June, when the stalk has attained its
full growth, the grain just formed, and by
the time, or indeed rather before, any
change in color has taken place. The
ranker the growth the more liable is the
crop to be attacked. In wheat ripening BY
!. the 18th Of june the rust scarcely ever
81 makes its appearance; when it ripen,
later than the 10th it seldom escapes
rpening on or about the 2Oth, as it gen,
orally does in this climate, the weather 70,
several days previous is watched with in.
tense anxiety, as the safety of the crop il
dependent on clear skies and dry winds.
A kind of wheat. that would pretty uni
torm!y ripen by the 10th of June would BIZ
an lnestimable treasure to the wheat-grow,
ers of Virginia. We have had such varie-
ties In past times, and why cannot we have
them again ? Many persons, now living,
remember the old white May wheat, and
the early purple straw. They came to the
soythe in 8 very few days Of each other, the
former being little the earlier of the two.
The white May was sometimes cut in the
last week in May; generally the first week