The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1926-07-15
GOVERNMENT AGENTS
LOOK FOR BARBERRY|
FOUR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
ARE WORKING OUT OF
SAUK CENTRE
FARMERS COOPERATING
ABOUT SIXTY BUSHES WERE
LOCATED. NEAR ST. CLOUD
AND AVON


Christgau of the University Farm,
and R. H. Bamberg, of the University
of Mississippi arrived in Sank Gen.
tire Tuesday and will spend some
time in Western Stearns searching
for common barberry bushes. They
report that farmers, and city resi-
dents too, are generally giving them
highly gratifying support in their eff
forts to eliminate centers of black
stem rust infection in this vicinity.
The young men recently completed
several days work out of St. Cloud.
They report to the Herald they found
81 bushes in the vicinity of st. Clouo
and about 80 near Avon. They ex-
pect to make this city their headquar-
tiers for about two weeks, and will 60
from here to Paynesville.
Property owners usually see the
necessity of removing their common
barberries. The connection between
this bush and stem rust of grains is
now well understood, especially in the
rural sections. When farmer is
doubtful about the relationship, the
scouts frequently can show him in
many instances how grain is much
more severely rusted in the vicinity
of common barberry than it is at
greater distances from the bushes.
When barberries are found on 9
certain property the owner usually
does not know that his bushes are of
the rust spreading variety. Conse-
quently man is encountered who has
never heard that black stem rust gets
it's start on the barberry. In either
case, instead of being annoyed by
the visit of Uncle Sans experts, pro-
perty owners generally are glad to
cooperate in any effort that will re-
duce the farmers losses from black
stem rust and do away with the waste
of land and labor charged to the
ravages of this most destructive Of
plant diseases. -
There are two widely planted kinds
of the barberry. One is the common
barberry, which spreads rust, and the
other is the japanese barberry, which
is harmless and should MT be de-
stroyed. As a means of distinguish
ing between the two shrubs and iden-
tifying the one that should be Grad
icated, literature of the United States
Department of Agriculture describes
them as follows:
Common barberry is tall, erect
bush, usually to 8 feet high, but
bushes 80 to so years old may grow
to a height of IL feet. The bark is
grayish and there are spines along
the stem, usually in groups of three
or more, though sometimes only one
or two occur. The leaves occur in
clusters, are green or purple. and
have saw-tooth edges. The yellow
flowers and red berries are in long
dropping clusters like currents. The
flowers are small and inconspicious
but the red berries are numerous and
easily seen, usually remaining on the
plants throughout the winter.
The Japanese barberry is low,
gracefully spreading shrub, usually q
or 3 and seldom more than or s
feet tall. The bark is reddish and
the spines are smaller than those of
the common form. They are usually
single, though sometimes in two and
threes. The edges of the leaves have
no teeth, this being one of the i'm
portant things to remember in COM
pairing the two bushes. The flowers
are yellow and the berries red, like
the common barberry, but both the
flowers and the berries are in very
small bushes of two or three, like
gooseberries, and not like currents.