Hints regarding the agricultural state of the Netherlands, compared with that of Great Britain : and some obsevations on the means of diminishing the expense of growing corn; of preventing the mildew in wheat, the rot in sheep, and the introduction of other improvements into British agriculture / [Sir John Sinclair].

  • Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet
Date:
1815
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hints regarding the agricultural state of the Netherlands, compared with that of Great Britain : and some obsevations on the means of diminishing the expense of growing corn; of preventing the mildew in wheat, the rot in sheep, and the introduction of other improvements into British agriculture / [Sir John Sinclair]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    [XXXV] II. Of the Rust. The rust is a yellow powder, of the colour of iron-rust, which is seen on the stalks and leaves of a great number of vegetables, and particularly from the month of April on those of wheat. This dust forms upon them lineal and parallel spots ; it is also combined in little tubercles, formed by the dilated epidermis, and when they burst, it spreads outside. It readily sticks to the fingers, and has no per¬ ceptible taste or smell. When seen through the micro¬ scope, it appears to be composed of spherical or oval glo* bules, larger in general than those of smut. For a long time naturalists did not agree in opinion as to the cause of the rust. Messrs. Tessier and Tillefc attri¬ buted it to the influence of fogs. The former thought it was caused by the total suppression of transpiration from the corn, in consequence of its being enveloped by this humid atmosphere ; the latter supposed that it was occasioned by the acrid particles of the fog, acting upon the leaves and stalks, and thus, by rupturing their delicate texture, causing the extravasation of a juice, which, on becoming dry, was converted into a sort of dust. Other observers thought that the rust was produced by the superabundance of the nourishing juice, resulting from a vigorous vegetation. M. Rozier imagined that dung manure contributed to the rust, but that dew was the principal cause of it. All these hypotheses, however, are erroneous ; and it is now clearly proved that this disease of corn, is produced by real in¬ testinal plants, is similar to those of the smut, and of the genera Uredo and Pucinia. The seeds of these parasitical vegetables shoot out like those of the smut, in water, where they may easily be per¬ ceived. If adhering to grains of coi n, at the lime of their