The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-11-04

diagram.
| Now [ have spent six minutes telling
you about this rust of wheat and have
| left only one minute in which TO tell YOU
! the most important part. namely, how 10
!. prevent rustS.
/ Wheat with the rust can be sprayed
| with bordeaux Mixture and the rust
! killed, but this is not practicable. There
is at present but one practica BILE and ef-
| ficient preventative that l can recon-
| mend. That is plant breeding by selec-
F, ton.
If you select a sound wheat plant.
which has no rust on it from a rusted
field of wheat, the offspring of this plant
Will, undoubtedly, have a tendency 10
resist rust Then the seed from this
plant are planted and plants selected
from these which have no rust you will
after several years obtain a rust re-
sistant variety. This variety may have
some rust but if the selection of these
plants which have no rust is continued
the farmers need not fear any serious
damage from rusts.
The next paper presented was by
Cadet S. W. Foster. Of Rockingham,
whose topic was:
SHUTS OF CEREALS
Before going into detail about smuts
let me tell you something of the damage
| caused by this disease. While listening
to these figures l ask you to bear in
mind that many farmers look upon this
as disease of little consequence.
The total loss caused by smuts in the
United States is over $4,000, 900 annual
ly. In the State of Ohio it is about $780,
eco annually and in our own State In the
year 1899 the damage to the wheat and
oat crop alone was nearly $1,000 600 The
damage will average over 100000 annu-
ally.
Now suppose this money, which is
actually lost, was saved and devoted TO
agricultural education, what would be
the condition of our State? Why, we
would have the best agricultural State
in the Union and the best educated men
to keep it so.
These sr1uts grow on all of the cereals,
doing more or less damage to all of them.
The two principal crops affected are
wheat and oats. Corn is also affected
with smut which does considerable dam
age, but there is no way known OF pre-
vomiting on this plant. while there is on
wheat and oats. The average per cent
of damage caused by smut in North
Carolina is about ten to twelve in wheat
and fifteen in oats
Smut practically destroys the crop for
it affects the kernels causing them to
be a mass of smutty looking substance
instead of sound kernels. 1t also affects
, the stalks, causing them to be dwarfed
: and lacking in VigOr. Many farmers
, who know some manifestations of smut
often overlook the fact that this dwarf
ing and impaired vigor is caused by
! smut. Hence they underestimate the
damage done by this disease They go
, through the field looking for smut end
, notice only the stalks that have the
smutty kernals They never take any ac-
, count of the littde dWarfod stalks only
; one-fourth or one-half SO high as the
others Each of these smutted plants
however takes nourishment from the
soil, occupies space in the field, and
costs just as much to grow healthy
ones Besides being worthless, such
stalks do a great deal of damage by pro-
: ducing more spores with which to spread
its infection.
' The vital question now Is how to pre-
e vent this damage. Before we can intel
ligently attempt prevention we must
know somethin gof the nature of smut
. You may then ask the question, What
9 is smut To this | would answer
! Smut is a very small parasitic plant
. that is, plant which feeds some
: other plant as host and grows upon OF
inside of it. 1t comes from spore
which may be compared to the seed Of the
higher plants. This spore sprouts, the
: sprout grows and produces a plant the
:, same way as any other plant. Thhe
black masses so noticeable when the
. grain is ripening are not the smut plants
! but countless numbers of minute rlpen
: cd spores, which are the fruit of The
: parasitic plant which has been growing
;, within the wheat all summer. These
! spores are often blown fro mthe oat OF
: wheat head as soon as they are ripened
but sometimes they remain in black, dis
= agreeable masses. These spores arr
), very small in size; so small that yol
. cannot see one spore by itself They
. average about .666 of an inchh in di
:, amter When these spores are blown
! about by the wind in the field they ligh
, on healthy grains and stick to them. Il
e this way they are planted with the grain
d While the oat and wheat spores are ger
:. ninating and growing the smut spores
e are doing the same thing only in littl'
e different way. Each terminating spor'
n sends out minute tube which penetrate
e the little plant before It reaches IN
n surface. But there IS no evi
dence of its being present until tn
j. heads are forming. At this time tn,
:, young kernels are filled with thes
branching threads which rob them o
their nourishment and ripen counties
numbers of new spores with which to Re
produce the next year Thus wha
: should have been a head of grain turns
: to be what is much worse than nothing
a mass of dusty spores.
r Now since this parasite robs its hos
i of so much nourisnhment the latter il
!. naturally weekend and only part of th
n Smutted plants attain the average heigh
of the healthy ones. Thus it is that th
It casual observer sees only the high smu
g and concludes that the crop is onl,
t Continued on Page Four}