PURPLERS IN WHEAT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1168, 1 July 1911, Page 8

PURPLERS IN WHEAT.

THE DISEASE AND ITS .TREATMENT. A recent telegram staled .the.' disease, known as purplcrs had appeared 'in farmers' wheat-crops* Purplers has been known in the Dominion to, the Government Biologist for tho la.'t eighteen venrs. In a leaflet issued in 1599, Jlr. T. W. Kirk stated that the disease had not assumed grave proportions. The,leaflet proceeds:— "In an affected crop wc may notice in a number of ears certain purplish, or almost black,' galls in some of the places Tvhcro grains of wheat should be. If one ..of these is moistened and.a section cut, 'it will be found to contain a mass of faint-,yellow-coloured material. This consists of great numbers of eel-worm larvae, many about half-an-ineh in length each.

"If these galls ov peppercorns arc sown with', the grajn, the tiny worms which peopled to.have .been dried up come to life, .the. case. cracks, and the small creatures pscape into"the:ground, where they rapidly; maker their way to the germinating grain and get into -the leaf-sheath, or tho bud. -As the, plant grows they rise With it, get into the ear, and distort and fiwell the ovary. Thus the galls take'the place of grains.. The worms being now-full-grown, lay many hundreds of eggs, which produce the larvae found in the 'cockle.' ' ■ : ■

"These larvae ore very, tenacious,of life, and I have ,produced .live worms' from 'cockles' which had'-beoii corked up in a, bottle .for two years in my laboratory. This worm is spread principally bv sowing the 'cockles' with grain. It is, however, . very easy to prevent this, as, if grain is thrown into water and stirred, the galls .will ri.e to the top, and should llien be skimmed off and burned. If the grain is steeped for Smut, the two operations may be combined."