Accession No
6662.21
Brief Description
folder of 46 paintings, drawings and photographs labelled "Sugar Beet," no. 21 of 35, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, English, 1930s
Origin
England; Cambridgeshire
Maker
Dillon Weston, W. A. R.
Class
natural history
Earliest Date
1932
Latest Date
1938
Inscription Date
Material
paper
Dimensions
365mm x 250mm
Special Collection
Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston Collection
Provenance
Inscription
Many pages have typed notes; see Description Notes.
Description Notes
Folder of 46 paintings, drawings and photographs labelled "Sugar Beet," no. 21 of 35, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, English, 1930s
NOTE: all objects have been transferred into archive folders for conservation purposes; original folders were photographed (see Images) and are stored separately.
6662.21.a -- "SUGAR BEET."
A watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.21.b -- "Sugar Beet Blackleg. Phoma Betae"
Four watercolours of infected sugar beet seedlings, with a description of the fungus and measures for control.
6662.21.c -- "Sugar Beet Blackleg. Phoma Betae"
Three watercolours of infected sugar beet seedlings, cut and pasted onto the page.
6662.21.d -- "Sugar Beet Blackleg. Phoma Betae"
Three watercolours of infected sugar beet seedlings, dated May 1933.
6662.21.e -- "Sugar Beet Blackleg. Phoma Betae"
Four watercolours of infected sugar beet seedlings cut and pasted onto the page.
6662.21.f -- "Sugar Beet Blackleg. Phoma Betae"
Two watercolours of infected sugar beet seedlings.
6662.21.g -- "Sugar Beet Blackleg. Phoma Betae"
Three watercolours of infected sugar beet seedlings.
6662.21.h -- "Sugar Beet"
A large watercolour of a sugar beet seedling, with a smaller one cut and pasted in the bottom corner of the page.
6662.21.i -- "Blackleg."
Two watercolours of infected sugar beet seedlings with details about the farm of origin.
6662.21.j -- "Blackleg."
A watercolour of a sugar beet seedling with description of the condition and methods of control.
6662.21.k -- Sugar Beet Blackleg.
Two watercolours of infected sugar beet seedlings.
6662.21.l -- "Sugar Beet Blackleg."
Three watercolours of infected seedlings with description of the condition and methods of control.
6662.21.m -- "Sugar Beet Phythium sp."
Two watercolours of infected seedlings.
6662.21.n -- "SUGAR BEET Phythium de Baryanum."
Three watercolours of infected sugar beet seedlings.
6662.21.o -- A watercolour and pencil sketches of infected sugar beet material and suggestions as to the cause of the trouble.
6662.21.p -- "BLACKLEG."
Several drawings of sugar beet seedlings, labelled A-G, some pasted on the page and others drawn on. The text describes the disease and each specimen.
6662.21.q -- "SUGAR BEET."
An unlabelled b&w photograph of two sugar beets has been mounted on the page.
6662.21.r -- "Sugar Beet BLACKLEG."
Two watercolours of infected seedlings with a description of the farm of origin and the specimens. Dated 28 June 1933.
6662.21.s -- "BLACKLEG"
Two watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with descriptions of the farm of origin and specimens.
6662.21.t -- "Sugar Beet Blackleg."
Four watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with description of the soil conditions.
6662.21.u -- BLACKLEG OF SUGAR BEET.
Eleven watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with a description of the specimens.
6662.21.v -- BLACKLEG OF SUGAR BEET.
Four watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with a description of the specimens.
6662.21.w -- "SUGAR BEET BLACKLEG."
A watercolour of a sugar beet specimen and typed description.
6662.21.x -- "Blackleg of sugar beet."
A watercolour of a sugar beet plant and typed description of the specimen.
6662.21.y -- "SUGAR BEET."
Three unlabelled watercolours of seedlings.
6662.21.z -- SUGAR BEET."
Two watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with a description of the specimens.
6662.21.aa -- "BLACKLEG OF SUGAR BEET."
Two watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with typed description of the problem. Note that much of the first paragraph is crossed out in pencil, including a possible name for the new fungal strain causing the condition: Phoma betae (strain Dillon Weston).
6662.21.bb -- "SUGAR BEET. Waterlogging"
Five watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with typed description of the farm of origin and specimens.
6662.21.cc -- "SUGAR BEET. Waterlogging"
Four watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with typed description of the farm of origin and specimens.
6662.21.dd -- "SUGAR BEET. Phoma Betae. Stringy Root."
Six watercolour drawings have been pasted onto the page, all showing root sections of sugar beet seedlings, labelled No. 1-6.
6662.21.ee -- "Sugar Beet. Lime deficiency. Stringy Root."
Eight small and one large watercolour of sugar beet plants; typed description describes the farm of origin and soil conditions.
6662.21.ff -- "THE PIGMY MANGOLD BEEETLE (Atomaria linearis)"
Four watercolours of damaged sugar beet seedlings, with descriptions of the beetle and measures for control.
6662.21.gg -- "Pigmy Beetle injury to sugar beet."
Three watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with descriptions of the beetle and measures for control.
6662.21.hh -- "SUGAR BEET. violet root rot. Helicobasidium purpureum."
Watercolour of an infected sugar beet with typed description of the fungus.
6662.21.ii -- "VIOLET ROOT ROT OF THE SUGAR BEET. Rhizoctonia crocorum (Pers.) DC."
Two photographs cut and pasted onto the page, with typed description of the disease, prevalence, progression and measures for control.
6662.21.jj -- "VIOLET ROOT ROT OF THE SUGAR BEET. Rhizoctonia crocorum (Pers.) DC."
Watercolour of an infected sugar beet.
6662.21.kk -- "VIOLET ROOT ROT OF THE SUGAR BEET. Rhizoctonia crocorum (Pers.) DC."
Watercolour of an infected sugar beet with typed description of hte fungus and references to academic articles on the subject.
6662.21.ll -- "SCAB OF SUGAR BEET." Actinomyces tumuli, Millard & beeley"
A watercolour of a sugar beet plant, with typed description of the scab.
6662.21.mm -- "SCAB OF SUGAR BEET." Actinomyces tumuli, Millard & beeley"
A watercolour of a sugar beet plant, with typed description of the scab.
6662.21.nn -- "SCAB OF SUGAR BEET." Actinomyces sp. tumuli ?"
A watercolour of a sugar beet plant, with typed description of the specimen.
6662.21.oo -- "SCAB OF SUGAR BEET." Actinomyces sp. tumuli ?"
A watercolour of a sugar beet plant, with typed description of the specimen.
6662.21.pp -- "Sugar Beet. Crown Gall. Bacterium tumefaciens."
Watercolour of an infected sugar beet plant.
6662.21.qq -- " Crown Gall. Bacterium tumefaciens. Smith and Townsend."
A Watercolour of an infected sugar beet plant with typed description of the fungus.
6662.21.rr -- "Downy Mildew of the Sugar Beet. Peronospora Schachtii, Fuckel."
A watercolour of a sugar beet leaf and typed description of the fungus, with prevalence and methods of control.
6662.21.ss -- "DOWNY MILDEW OF SUGAR BEET. Peronospora Schachtii, Fuckel."
A photograph of an attacked sugar beet plant and typed description of the fungus, with prevalence and methods of control.
6662.21.tt -- "Beet Rust. Uromyces betae"
A watercolour of an infected beet leaf with typed description of the fungus.
References
Events
Description
Dr. W.A.R. Dillon Weston spent all of his professional life in Cambridge. After obtaining his degree in Natural Sciences at St. Catharine’s College, Dr. Dillon Weston gained employment as a mycologist (an expert in the study of fungi) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Ministry Pathologists at that time were stationed at universities, where teaching and supervision of students were included as part of their duties.
During the 1930’s, Dillon Weston produced nearly 1,000 watercolour paintings of plants suffering from a wide variety of afflictions: mostly various fungal infections, but also pest attacks, nutrient deficiencies, and bad farming practices. These drawings were produced in connection with his position at the Ministry, which he described as forming a “link between the farm and the research station.” Farmers would send samples of afflicted crops to the Ministry, and Dillon Weston would diagnose the problem and offer solutions. This work was an example of the emerging school of “New” or “Economic” Botany, in which economically important plant diseases were studied with an eye to increasing crop yields.
Typed notes accompanying the paintings suggest that many of them were depictions of samples received by Dillon Weston at the Ministry, though it is unclear why he made them. Like his glass fungi models, also held by the Whipple (Wh.5826), the paintings may have been a hobby undertaken during bouts of insomnia. Some of the paintings are demonstrative or didactic in nature, and Dillon Weston may have used them in his lectures at the university, which he endeavoured to make “as interesting as possible,” according to a 1952 profile in Varsity, the Cambridge student newspaper.
The paintings demonstrate a careful attention to detail and a desire for accurate representation, which sometimes led Dillon Weston to push up against the limits of flat, two-dimensional representation. For example, he used painted cotton stuffing underneath layers of paper to imitate spores bulging up underneath a scab on an apple tree (Wh.6662.28, Wh.6662.29), and splashes of blue watercolour paint to demonstrate how far fungal spores can be spread by raindrops (6662.10).
12/09/2018
Created by: Matthew Green on 12/09/2018
FM:47345
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