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WHEAT RUST ATI) BERBERRY REST.
Tiie theory lias long been prevalent among
practical agriculturists, that the proximity of Ber
berry trees produces rust in Wheat. Men of sci
ence, unable to trace herein the sequence of cause
and effect, long derided the idea, and placed it
among the prejudices of the agricultural mind.—
The facts of the farmer have, however, been too
j|rong for the science of the botanist, and experi
ence has won the day over theory. Let us t/ace
for a moment the history of the inquiry. The
first reference to the injurious influence of the
Berberry on corn, appears in Krunitz’s “Ency
clopedia,” published in 177 L Marshall, in 1781,
speaks of t lie Berberry having been extirpated in
Norfolk for this reason, and Schopf, in 1788, men
tions the same idea as prevalent in New Eng
land. Other writers of the same period give
similar testimony; and, in 1806, Sir Joseph
Banks writes thus in the “ Annals of Botany
“ It has long been admitted by farmers, though
scarcely credited by botanists, that Wheat in the
neighborhood of a Berberry bush seldom escapes
the blight. The village of llollesby, in Norfolk
"where Berberries abound, and Wheat seldom suc
ceeds, is called by the opprobrious appellation of
“ Mildew-Rollesby.” Some observing men have
lately attributed this very perplexing effect to the
farina (pollen) of the flowers of the Berberry,
which is, in truth, yellow, resembling, in some
degree, the appearance of the rust, or what is
presumed to be the blight in its early state. It
is, however, notorious to all botanical observers
that the leaves of the Berberry are very subject
to ihe attacks of a yellow parasitic Fungus, lar
ger, but otherwise much resembling tlie rust in
corn. It is not more than possible that the para
sitic Fungus of the Berberry and that of Wheat
are of the same species, and that the seed is trans
ferred from the Berberry to the corn.”
The acute suggestion thrown out by Sir Joseph
Banks, at a time when so little was accurately
known of the structure of Fungi, was not follow
ed out for half a century; it was reserved for the
German fungologist, De Barry, within the last
few years, to establish the truth of his theory, and
to prove the existence of the phenomenon of Al
teration of Generation among Fungi. The re
searches of Steenstrup and others have made us
familiar with this remarkable phenomenon among
the lower forms of animal life, but had hardly
prepared us to meet with it in the vegetable king
dom. It appears probable, however, that the
SOUTHERX CULTIVATOR.
phenomenon is by no means mcommon here al
so —affording another instance of the law that it
is in their lowest forms that the animal and veg
etable kingdoms approach one another most
nearly—and that whole tribes of Fungi hitherto
considered distinct are but different phases of
one another. This remark applies especially to
the two genera of minute parasitic Fungi, iEci
diran and Puccina, to which the rusts in question
belong, both belonging to the family Uredinese
The well-known orange-red spots so common on
the leaves of the Berberry are produced by the
iEcidium berberidis, while the rust of Wheat
and other cereal crops, but found equally on
some other species of grass, as the common
Couchgrass or Triticum repens, is the Puccini a
graminis. In the volume for 1860 of the “ Mo
natsbcrichte derkon, preuss. Akademie der Wi. -
senschaften zu Berlin,” is a paper by Dr. De Bar
ry, giving an elaborate account of his experi 1
ments on the propagation of these two Fimgi
in which, if his experiments are reliable, he clear
ly proves the correctness of Sir Joseph Bank’s
suggestion, that they are one and the same spe
cies. The experiment was tried, with due precau
tions, of inoculating the leaves of the Berberry
with the spores of the Puccinia, the result being
the production, not of the same Fungus, but of
the -sEcidium, while the sowing of the spores of
this latter Fungus on the leaves of Couch or
Wheat, produced conversely the Puccinia. Bv
sowing the spores of either Fungus on the plant
on which it was itself parasitic, he failed alto
gether to re-produce the same plant; and this al
ternation of generation may serve to account for
the fact, which has often been noticed, that rust
is apt to appear, not in successive, but in alter
nate years on the" same crop .—Gardener's Chron
icle and Agricultural Gazette
•«sb»—
OSAGE OKAXGE AS FEED FOR SILK WORMS.
Spanish Four City, Utah County, Utah Ter
ritory, September 15,1870.— Dear* Sir Since
I commenced feeding the JBofribyx mori on osage
orange, the fact has become so familiar to myself
and neighbors, that I did not suppose it would
be doubted. If any additional testimony is ne
cessary to confirm my statement, I can give the
names of as many responsible persons, undei'
as may be required, as the facts are quite
familiar to all the inhabitants of this town, and
the greater part of the county.
This season I have fed upwards of ten ,thou-
