File:The story of a grain of wheat (1903) (14765993372).jpg

Identifier: storyofgrainofwh00edga (find matches)
Title: The story of a grain of wheat
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Edgar, William C. (William Crowell), 1856-1932
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
infested centres. Under favour-able climatic conditions, this epidemic may spreadand involve the entire plant and even cause a lossof the crop. A study of this disease has shownthat, in one of the stages of its development, theparasitic growth lives for a time upon anotherand entirely different plant, the barberry, and ifthis barberry be not at hand, the cycle of growthcannot be completed. Outbreaks of black orsummer rust have been directly traced to the bar-berry, and it is well established that this fungusgrowth lives part of its life on this plant just asthe trichina and tape-worm spend part of theirexistence in the body of some animal such as thepig. Having discovered the cause of this de-structive enemy to the wheat family, science findsa cure in removing barberries from wheat-grow-ing sections. The family of wheat is not only subject todisease and sickness, but it has an army of ene-mies ready at all times to seize upon a favourableopportunity to attack and if possible overcome
Text Appearing After Image:
The Enemies of Wheat. Chinch-bugs in different stages of growth. A single egg is shownin a, and others on the roots and a lower leaf ; in b is shown avery young bug, and in c, d, and e the later stages, while fshows the adult and mature insect. The natural size of thebugs is shown on the stems of the plant. 20 THE STORY OF A GRAIN OF WHEAT 21 it. Grasshoppers, chinch-bugs, army-worms, andfrit and Hessian flies are its most destructiveravagers. Here again science has interposed togood effect between wheat and its insect enemies.The deadly grasshopper is kept within bounds,and outbreaks of this kind are far less numerousand ruinous than in former years. Large areas ofwheat are saved by means of a machine termed inAmerica the hopperdozer. This rakes over theground, collects the grasshoppers and introducesthem to kerosene oil which destroys them. Whenthe eggs of the grasshopper have been laid, theland is ploughed and the egg-case is inverted, con-sequently the infant insect is not able to

Note About Images