RUST IN WHEAT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2786, 22 May 1890, Page 3

RUST IN WHEAT.

♦ Wk are indebted to Messrs Can , .Johnston and Co., of Auckland, for placing at our disposal a copy of the Australasian Trade Review, containing the recommendations of the conference on Rust in W heat, lately held in Melbourne, and at which delegates from the colonies of New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland were present :— The conference of delegates from the different colonies which have suffered from the pest of rust in wheat was brought to a conclusion on the 12th March. The conference, which was presided over by Mr Dow, Minister of Lands, consisted of tho'following delegates, viz. :—Victoria, Mr A. N. Pearson and Mr D. Martin; New South Wales, Mr H. 0. N. Anderson and Mr H. D. Coker; South Australia, Professor Lowrio and Mr George Inglis; Queensland, Professor Shelton and Mr P. McLean. A committee of the conference, consisting of Mr Pearson, Mr Anderson, Professor Lowrie, Professor Shelton, and Mr McLeaD, drew up a report on the best means of minimising the pest. The report was adopted by the conference, which was as follows :— " Whereas this conference, viewing with alarm the continued ravages of the fungus pest in wheat, and believing that it is the duty of the various Australian Governments to use every legislative means to eradicate or provide a remedy, submit the following recommendations: — "1. In view of the very general experience that early-sown wheat frequently escapes entirely free from the rust at times when late-sown crops are greatly damaged thereby, and that in almost all cases it is attacked considerably less than latesown wheat, this conference recommends that early sowing be adopted in all cases where applicable. In making this recommendation the conference does not overlook tlio fact that in some years, owing to unseasonable woather, early sowing is impracticable, but it recommends that it be adopted in many cases where late sowing is at present practised. "2 (a). This committee, fully believing that no such cereal as rust-proof wheat has yet been discovered, but that by experiments already carried ont by importing different varieties from countries outside the colonies, and by careful salection in the colonies, some kinds have proved to be constitutionally able to resist, to a. considerable extent the ravages of this post, recommends the continuance of this work with a view to securing a list of those varieties most likely to prove remunerative to the wheat farmers of the various colonics, (m). From evidence submitted to this conference it has been found that certain varieties of wheat believed to be rustresisting when grown in one part of the colony have succumbed to the pest when grown in another part of the same colony. Tins committee therefore feel that they would not bo justified in specifying auy one variety as possessing rust-resisting qualities under all conditions. "3. Resolved that the advisability of growing wheat upon laud previously fallowed or in succession u> crops of u different order, such as maize, sorghum, or peas, is earnestly recommended to all fanners, on the ground that wheat thus grown has enjoyed a greater immunity from the attacks of the pest than that succeeding wheat, oats, or like graminaceous plants, and upon broader grounds of sound practical farming. Tho general tenor of the many facts laid before the conference is to the effect that better farming, the practice of rotation, fallowing, and tho use of farm-yard minute indirectly by applying it to the plants which precede wheat in the succession has' not only resulted in better crops of wh' at, but noticably lessened damage from ,he rnst scourge. "I. That this conference, recognising that the locus of the resting spores of thu rust fungus is uhiefly the straw of the infected crop, suggests or advises that where practicable all infected straw tailings or stubble, and all grasses immediately adjoining thereto, be carefully burned, and that where infected straw must necessarily be fed to stock or used for bedding, all the manure therefrom be carefully treated and applied to land about to carry a non-cereal crop. "5. This conference is of opinion that each of the Australian Governments should institute as early as practicable a series of j experiments on as many of the following subjects as circumstances will allow, such experiments to bo continued over a succession of years, and the results to be published periodically for fiee distribution among all concerned:—(a) application of manures; (b) treatment of soil with lime, ferrous sulphate, and salt; (c) treatment of affected crops by the Strawsoniser with ferrous sulphate, salt, sulphate of copper, nnd other approved antiseptics ; (d) trial of different methods of cultivation ; (e) value of drainage, and its economic application ; (f) expediency of using affected straw; (g) efficacy of burning all straw, weeds, and other plant growth in the infected Held, and of using other disinfecting agencies with a view of destroying spores (h) relative values of different kinds of seed ; (i) different kinds of sowing; (j) different modes of sowing; (k) investigation regarding plants that act as intermediary hosts, and all those- that are affected by rust in the different colonies ; (I) climatic conditions most favourrble to the development of rust; (m) improving and maintaining the standard of seed ; (») inferiority or superiority of rustshrivelled seed as compared with other "(';, The conference affirms the value of publishing every autumn in each colony a map indicating the whole of tho wheatgrowing districts, and illustrating the extent to which each has been affected, and giving all data possible as- to tho climatic conditions of the past season. "7. This conference recommends the issuing of a series of questions to all far''lners and others interested throughout the different colonies with a view to eliciting as much individual experience as possible, and thence deducing general laws for future guidance." It was resolved that the conference should meet again in Sydney as soon aa possible after next haivest.