Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1912-05-16
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REMEDY FOR RUST.
BY n. L. BoIIey, Botanist,
North Dakota Agricultural
College.
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College. +
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There is no known remedy for the
prevention of the rusting of cereal
grains. Such rusting is produced by
/ parasitic growths which are wind
blown from plant to plant by means of
small seed like structures called
spores. 1t there is not enough mois-
ture in the air to form dew on the
leaves of the grain, or if there are no
showers, rust does not form because
the spores cannot terminate and bore
their way into the crop plant. This &C
counts for the reason that wheat straw
in irrigation districts is usually very
bright in color. If rusts cause trouble
in irrigation districts it is because too
much water is used, bringing about a
heavy foliage growth, associated with
heavy dew formations. In regions
where the lands are apt to be wet, eff
fective drainage therefore is always
etfectual in preventing excessive rust
conditions. Our experiments have also
shown that there is some tendency to
transmit the rusting conditions, or
possibly the rust, by means of the
seed. We have found that very often
threshed grain is internally infested
With rust, and we have accumulated
much evidence and made many OBJ
servations, which, taken together, tend
to indicate that possible rust infection
by way of the seed is not uncommon.
At any rate we have learned that
great benefits so far as increase of
yield may be obtained by selecting
the plumpest wheat grains and thus
discarding the black, pointed grains
from a rust crop. 1t would seem the
best policy for each farmer to raise
his own seed, have it graded to plump,
heavy wheat and SOW it each year.
crop rotation, which will bring about
a larger separation of wheat fields,
will largely tend to reduce the destruc-
tive effects of wheat rust, etc. Our
breeding experiments indicate that in
continually selecting the best plants
from a rusted crop, one may eventually
secure types of wheat and other
cereals which are less liable to rust
and which actually produce heavier
yields under rusting conditions. This
part of the work is not now wholly a
matter of theory, as we have for a
number of years been carrying on fax
and wheat breeding experiments, and
we have been able to produce strains
of flax which do not rust under any
conditions, when surrounded by other
flax plants which are badly rusted
throughout the season, We have also
under such conditions procured wheat
plants which are able to mature es.
sentially plump seed in a rust year
and which, when increased and placed
in the hands of farmers and other
growers, produce yields very consid.
erably in excess of any Of the various
types of wheat with which they have
been associated. Whether in the next
few years we will learn just exactly
how we have obtained these types of
grain and learn how more certainly
to improve them remains to be worked
out. My advice to farmers is that they
raise their own seed grain on their
own land, sticking to a. single variety
of the type which they like best to
grow. Each year they should grade
their seed until it is the plumpest pos
sible, and of the heaviest weight. The
seed should be treated by means of
the formaldehyde treatment before
sowing. Do this every year and con-
duct as wide a serted rotation as pos
sible, avoiding the old habit of putting
wheat after wheat, fax after fax, oats
after oats, etc, as far as possible. This
will tend to break up the extensive
fields of wheat and similar cereals
which are now growing in this region
into smaller fields, separating fields
S 'that the lands are less liable to car
ry disease from field to field. The 70.
tation, religiously carried out, will al
low the different kinds of disease to
die out OF the land. Flax wilt ap-
parently likes to grow and kill only
fax plants and wheat rust likes to
grow only on wheat plants, oat rust
likes to grow only on oats, and so
down through the list. This is not al
ways the case, but is essentially the
rule. Let us rotate our crops, not so
much because the land needs a rest as
because it prevents the introduction of
disease into the land. Let us use all
of the soil fertilizers that can be
made on the farm, but do not use
wheat straw to make fertilizer for
wheat, unless you are going to com
post it, or flax straw to make fertilizer
for flax, unless you are going to com
post it to kill the diseases. Let us
learn better where to put the fer
tilizers so that they will not introduce
] disease into the following crop.