RED RUST.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2781, 10 May 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

RED RUST.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —As Waikato along with many other places has suffered very much this last season from rusty wheat aud oats, the following letter from the columns of the " South Australian Register" of April 3rd, 18U0, may be interesting to your readers.—yours, &c., E. R. "As this is so important a subject, and as the remedy I propose is based on purely scientific principles, I feel the more confidence that you will do the public and myself the kindness to make it known. The cure involves absolutely no trouble; it involves virtually less thau no trouble. It involves a saving. The remedy is to sow rusty wheat. All plants and animals develop by evolution a power of resisting to a greater or lesser extent their natural enemies of all kinds. If it were not so they would be liable to come to speedy grief. And the more they are attacked the greater efforts they make, within the limit of their vitality, to overcome the evil. This power, to be of much use, must be transmitted to posterity, so to speak. As an illustration of my meaning from analogy of animals—the blood of animals corresponding to the sap of plants —and still more to enforce my argument by the help of good authority, I take the following paragraph from "The Science of the Day "in the Observer of the 22nd of March, written by a B.Sc. :—" It is a singular fact that the serum of the blood apart from the corpuscles has a powerfully destructive action on many microbes, but quite recently Charrin and Roger, two French experimenters, have pushed enquiries still further into it, and have found that the serum of the blood of an animal that has had a disease is more destructive to the microbes of the disease than that of an unaffected animal. It would appear that all the humours of a body that has ever been affected with a disease retain a lively grudge against the microbes of it, and can act as a virulent poison to them." This seems to throw a light on how the rabbits resist aggression. Not to digress, let me repeat some of that delicious information once more : "The serum of the blood of an animal that has bad a disease is more destructive to the microbes of the disease than that of an unaffected animal." By analogy it is here urged that the humours of a grain of wheat that has had rust are more destructive to the minute organisms that cause the disease than are the humours of sound wheat. It seems to be quite within the compass of Nature's power that the diseased grain of wheat should transmit to the stalk that sprouts from it a desire, so to speak, and an alert readiness to do battle with the particular enemy that has given that grain such an unpleasant time. Where annual plants are concerned, at least, this provision of Nature must necessarily bo handed on to the next generation, or it could not be of any use towards helping the process of natural selection to maintain the species. The practical experience of farmers seems to support this reasoning. Yon, Sir, have published more than one letter from farmers who have sown rusty wheat and have reaped healthy and abundant crops. Therefore I say, Sir, with due humility, let this thing be tried now that farmers have plenty of rusty wheat on hand to experiment with. It is worth trying, though I profess to be no infallible guide, but merely a scientific observer and an ardent well-wisher. Those of the public who are willing to act on these hints and give them a trial may perhaps be reminded of the words, " Within the limits of Iheir vitality." Wheat too far gone might not have sufficient germinating force left to produce a good crop, but both experience and sound reasoning go to indicate that rust-attacked wheat develops a power of resisting the evil. In this letter it will be enough to have dealt with rusty wheat. At another time I may take up the subject in its bearing on the diseases of potatoes and other plants, for my contention is that the same treatment will operate as a remedy against the diseases of both plants and animals generally.—l ain, Sir, &c— Edward M. Urcott.