Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1904-09-22
A STATE BULLETIN
on RUST QUESTION
Prepared by an Expert After
Careful Study OF tho De.
structive Epidemic.
THE AUS AND EFFECT
Not Believed Rust Will Be Destructive
Next Year to Wheat, Unless
Weather Conditions Arc
Favorable.

por'ant pulictln on wheat rust and 1t
causes has just been issued by Pro
lessor w. a. Wheeler. botanist of tn
South Dakota experiment station, con
nected with the state agricultural col
lege at B%rookings. AS rust this sea
son caused damage amounting to mil
mons OF dollars to the wheat crop O
South Dakota, the bulletin will be o
special interest at this time. The bull
ietin ls the result of Il careful investi
alton by one of the leading experts O
the country. and is in part:
The year 1904 has been an especial
~ disastrous one for the wheat Gro,
or South Dakota and neighborint
states. Tine season. which opened yer,
favorably for the growth of wheat ant
other small grains. promising fair re.
turns. ended disastrously through Tx
ravages of rust.
The Inquiries which have come to
the experiment station concerning The
many phases of the rust problem show
inns to be true. The newspapers ant
agricultural papers have published va
RED accounts of the rust, some OF
which have been wholly or in part cor
rect while others have been absolutcl,
false. Many facts in regard to the life
history of rusts In general are vel
known tc scientists. Many others are
however, doubtfully understood, and
solved.
trusts, smuts. mildews and. in fact
nearly all plant diseases. are caused
by small parasitic plants living de-
pendent upon other plants for their
existence. The powdery mildews per-
haps exhibit this dependence OF one
plant upon another more clearly thar
rusts or smuts.
"All species or kinds of rusts are bet
ter known upon the wheat plant thar
are h other host plants. and many
facts still remain to be discovered as
to the relations between the various
kinds of wheat rust and their other
hosts.
THE black stem rust of wheat may
be discovered early in the season upon
he stems Of the wheat and exhibits
itself as red lines upon the surface of
the wheat plant. These red lines are
formed by the breaking of the covering.
OF h leaf or stem and the forcing out
of red spores OF reproductive bodies of
the rust plant, which is living within
the wheat plant. This stage is COM
monty called the red rust. The red
rust spores. or summer spores, may be
scattered by the vim from one wheat
plant to another. or to thousands of
other wheat plants. They lodge upon
the leaves and stems of the wheat. and
under favorable conditions of heat and
SASN NAAS
Ing new threads which enter the plant
through small pores in the surface of
the leaf and stem. AS o as the
threads nave gained an entrance to the
new plant they grow very rapidly. TAX
Ing up nOurishment from the wheat
plant. and in n short time they are able
to project new red rust. or summer
spores, through the surface Of the plant
in which they grow.
These red rust spores may then In
turn be blown to other wheat plants,
ana > o OF through the summer season.
From these same threads growing with
In the wheat plant are produced late in
the season, or as the wheat is beginning
to ripen. masses of black spores. The
from the Sits In the surface OF the
leaf or stem from which the red rust
spores arose.. Or they may arise from
new Sits in the surface of the plant.
The black spores do not blow about as
do the red rust spores. as they are
fastened firmly to the threads of rust
in the wheat plant by short stalks.
These black or winter spores do not in
any way that Is known infect other
wheat plants. They have been known.
however, to live through the winter
and bring about infection the next
year on Burberry bushes. They do not
infect Burberry bushes directly, but
germinate upon the old wheat stems
where they arc formed. producing sew
eral small spores. which may be blown
to the leaves Of the Burberry bushes,
thereby bringing about infection much
the same. a. the red rust spores bring
about infection upon the wheat plant.
ssWhere winter wheat IL grow in.
warmer climates the threads Of the
rust N the leaves or stem Of the wheat
plant live through b winter and pro-
0N6A rA6 Rr14t anOpo4 the fnI10viuu aoo.