Show H nal nfl IP b OF OF ur HUST nui R heavy losses may be caused by this disease STATUS OF TROUBLE GIVEN each of common cereals including corn subject to attack grasses have marked influence on prevalence of rust by 11 13 cereal ceceil pathologist united states department or of agri culture 1 A very serious epidemic of stem rust black rust of wheat which occurred the past season especially in the spring wheat suites states has forcibly blought bi ought to light the heavy losses which may be caused by this disease the alie following Is a brief description of the present staais status of 0 our knowledge of tile the cereal rusts and of the efforts which ilie being made especially by the department of agriculture to investigate vesti gate and combat them kinds of rusts each of the common cereals including corn Is subject to the attack of rust As viewed by the farmer this rust looks somewhat similar in all cases in reality however there are several different kinds of rust which are distinct from each other and which vary in it their virulence viiu lence of 0 attack wheat for instance is known to have la in this country three kinds of rust leaf rust stem rust and a yellow or stripe rust oats is commonly afflicted with both a leaf rusts rust sometimes also called crown rust and a stem stein rust barley and rye also have leaf and stem stein rusts on corn however A I 1 4 wheat heads and straw showing effects of rust Well mans fife smooth on left haynes bluestem no 51 velvet only one kind ot of rust is found and this is rarely sealous se set ilous lous the oat rusts are very commonly present and sometimes cause severe epidemics la in certain oat grawi growing alg states of the wheat rusts the most important one at the present time is the stem rust commonly called the black rust which was the cause of the epidemic of rust in the spring wheat heat states this year the leaf rust of wheat is almost always present every year and is familiar to most farmers as red rust and while it undoubtedly does at least a slight damage it seldom if ever causes a severe loss the yellow or stripe rust of wheat lias has only recently been discovered it in this country it also attacks barley and certain wild grasses and has been found in the western part of the united states but not as yet cast of tile the blocky mountains except in eastern castern wyoming it is a common rust i in europe and considered a serious disease if it continues to spread in this country and if it proves as serious an enemy to wheat liere here as it lias has in europe it is possible that it will add materially to the rust troubles of our cereals grasses as rust plants the life histories s of the rusts are sometimes com complex aex this is especially of the most important of the wheat rusts namely the baem rust it may pass a part of its existence on an ornamental shrub known as barberry Bei beils vulgarly paris garls where it produces i rust spores in may or june these rust spores way may infect wheat or other cereals the stem rust may also in its red and black blace stages live on many common wild grasses it is also a fact that the stem rusts of the other cereas cereals may also pass their spring stage on the barberry plant albl although tough the rust way may live over the winter on I 1 9 grass rass plants or may inny be brought up in the early spring from brorn the south without the intervention of barberry plants nevertheless barberry plants serve as an active means of spreading the rust in a very vigorous fa fashion chlon tim the com common mon barbeira barb eiry should not be permitted in fit the neighborhood of any brain growing groining farms and in fa tact et it would best be eliminated entirely from the grain growing states at the squall leaved ed barberry briels Berb Br bels cris thun bergli bergil called also japanese barberry is not attacked by the rust and may be safely planted rusted rusted seed since the cereal rusts may also live on oil grass plants a considerable study has been undertaken to find out lite exact relations inns between the rusts lound found on wild grasses and thoss those on cereals als the tl u matter la 14 found to be somewhat complex there can be no doubt that the grasses gra ases have a marked influence on the prevalence of rust and that wheat rust epidemics are considerably sider ably promoted uy by thoi the common wili wild grasses the different rusts tire arc found however only on certain kinds of grasses and these relationships together with the po possible sible effect of the glasses on the virulence of tin an epidemic are arc now being investigated rusted seed another extremely important question under investigation is that ol of rust in the seed it liaa has been known for some time that in badly rusted fields the rust if often present even on oil the tips of the heat seeds it lias has been thought by some that this rust might be tr transmitted by tile seed to the young seedling and thus start tile the epidemic again la in the following spring El evidence dence from field and greenhouse experiments conducted up to tins the present time does not support this view aut but conclusive evidence Is dependent on oil further investigation As far as Is known at the present time it is safe to take seed from a rusted field it Is necessary however that tile alie li lightweight shrunken kernels be removed and only the heaviest seed obtainable used from such a field much of the wheat from this years crop is of very poor quality and should he be thoroughly fanned and screened special effort should be made this year to provide for good seed wheat for next nest year germination tests of course should be made operative cooperative co work A number of state experiment stations are vitally interested in the rust work and are operating cooperating co with tile the cereal pathologist of the department the stripe rust in the western buttes its distribution and occurrence together with its life history and ie ic lations are at present under investigation there Is also considerable co opera tive work being done on the variety testing and breeding of cereals for rust resistance the major portion of this work nork Is devoted to wheat but oats is also receiving some attention in this work rust nurseries are maintained at four experiment stations where each year an artificial epidemic is becu secured red thus allowing for continuous rust ree records on oil any given variety and also insuring the most severe rust conditions possible work on oil spring wheat Is in progress at the minnesota station at the lona iowa st station on spring oats at the kansas station on soft winter cheats and at the tennessee station on soft winter cheats and winter oats the field trials on rust resistance are supplemented ted by greenhouse tests where both seedling and mature plants are artificially inoculated with rust and degree of infection noted testing and breeding the results on the variety testing for resist resistance luce up to the present time have demonstrated several general facts none of the common or so called bread spring Nh wheals eats is to any useful degree immune to tile the steni rust attack the most commonly grown of these susceptible vaile varieties ties of spring wheals are the fifes cifes blue stems and bearded cheats including such varieties as marquis power fife haynes bluestein prelude and pre preston on the other hand it has been abundantly demonstrated that certain varieties of durum and emmer are extremely resistant to the rust in con liast to the common spring wheals this fact has been very clearly demonstrated in the rust epidemic of the past season where the common cheats as well as many varieties of durum cheats were very heavily rusted while other ada adjacent rows of durum wheat were practically clean of rust in the field many farmers suffered severe lose los in their durum crop on account of the rust while others obtained yields of two to three times time as many bushels of better grade wheat than was obtained from the common bread cheats in the same vicinity this demonstrates very strongly tile the necessity for planting where durum durilin wheat is successfully grown only the resistant types fertilizers and rusts the results obtained particularly at the minnesota station in determining the effect of artificial fertilizers on lusts indicate that soil sail fertilize fertilizers is do not play tin an important part either for or against in a real field epidemic and that as a factor in farm practice the relations between the application of commercial fertilizers fertilizer 3 and the rust can largely be disregarded didieo added it seems highly improbable that any control of rust through the application of any reason reasonable uble amount of commercial fertilizers can ever be hoped for control measures it is well known that seed treatment has no effect on the rust soil treatment Is also almost ineffective except excel t insofar as is good soil practice will put the seedbed in the best condition and promote the most rapid and vigorous growth of the wheat plant of course spraying of grain fields is not only impracticable but use useless less as well certain farm practices us it for in instance the use of well drained land however should be followed in ill older that the crop may bo be given the best possible chance to escape an epidemic demic or to endure it early maturing varieties on well prep prepared ared land sox sown n as early in the seI season sOll as possible may assist in escaping tile the rubt ru t if the attack is late there can be no logical reason rev lson for maintaining common barberry plants plank anywhere in the vicinity of grain fields certainly no new ones should be planted and the old ones should be removed |