The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-04-06
BARBERRY RUNNING WILD

BARBERRY RUNNING WILD
"In 1920. South Dakota lost about
$500, 900 bushels Of wheat, $500, 900
bushels of oats and 1,500, 900 bushels
of barley as a result OF black stem
rust" testified w. s. Hill, president
OF the South Dakota farm bureau. this
week before the senate subcommittee
on agriculture in Washington. Mr..
Hill asserted that although lin 1919
the South Dakota Legislature passed
a law making ii a misdemeanor to
harbor common barberry bushes, yet
further funds are necessary to supple
ment the educational work IL he
bushes are to be eradicated. | do
not believe that our farmers generally
realize that the common barberry
bush is the necessary link in the life
of the fungi which produces the rust,
nor do they recognize the bush when
they see it."
Mr.. Hill was one Of a committee
which was in Washington to urge that
the federal appropriations be increas-
ed from STAT, 900 to $780, 600 annually
for the next three years to eliminate
the barberry bush and thereby save
farmers from terrific losses. 1t was
shown that at the present rate with
which the work is being conducted,
it will take about II years to clean up
the barberry bushes in the Ii states
of the middle west which lose an aver
age of 125, 600, 900 bushels Of grain
each year. The other members OF The
, committee were: j. f. Reed, president
of the Minnesota farm bureau; c. w.
Hunt, president of the Iowa farm bu-
reau: Harrison Fuller, secretary CT
the conference for prevention OF grain
rust; DR.. e. C. Stakeman Of the Uni
versity farm, st. Paul; Gray Silver,
Washington representative OK the
American farm bureau federation;
Senator c.. A. Rawson Of Iowa; Sena-
tor Frank B.. Kellogg Of Minnesota;
Representative Halvor Stevenson Of
Minnesota and Representative VIII
liam Williamson of South Dakota.
Representative Williamson Of South
Dakota testified that he had given par.
~ticular attention to the spread OF
wheat rust by means Of barberry
bushes but that he had yet to ftud or
recognize the plant. II believe many
farmers are in the same predicament
as | am, so they should be helped to
locate the plant for l understand there
are hundreds of thousands Of them in
my own state. The department OF
agriculture claims that there Is not a
farm in the state that is removed
more than Is miles from barberry
bushes"
Arguments were made to the effect
that it is urgently necessary that this
menace to the wheat crop be removed
in the near future for the barberry in
the grain states is now growing wild
and spreading rapidly. The witnesses
asserted that the spores do not con-
fine themselves to state lines, but
have been found by airplane as high
as 10, 900 feet in the air; that a single
bush may infect 1000 square miles
or more Of grain growing territory and
that unless the plants are dug out
more rapidly the whole wheat grow
ing area of the nation is ~jeopardiaed.
DIR. Stakeman of Minnesota, an au-
thority on rust, said that the barberry
bush is becoming a wild plant N the
central west in the wheat belt. 1t was
first introduced into this country as
an ornamental shrub and cultivated
to some extent for its berries. The
colonial states found it necessary to
legislate against II because of the
spread Of rust. A survey covering
81, 900 square miles made by the de.
partment of agriculture in the western
grain states has located thus far more
than 5,S00.000 bushes. In Colorado
1t found $4,000; in Illinois $4,000: in
Indiana $1,000; in Iowa 731 900: In
Michigan III. 900: In Montana $500:
in Nebraska $4,000, In North Dakots
$4,000; In South Dakota $4,000; IN
Wisconsin 3.04S,0O0 and in Wyoming
! 1000.
Y Gray Silver. Washington represen
Y tative Of the American farm bureau
federation, assured the committee thai
J the federation h very much interested
! In furthcring the work OF oarbe ~
J and favors . larger appropriation FOL
2 THAT purpose.
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