Accession No
6662.22
Brief Description
folder of 57 paintings/drawings labelled "Sugar Beet," no. 22 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; cardboard
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 57 paintings/drawings labelled "Sugar Beet," no. 22 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.
6662.22.a -- "Injury to Sugar Beet by Ground Beetles."
Three watercolours of sugar beet plants on cardboard. Typed notes describe the problem and methods for control
6662.22.b -- "Pigmy beetle injury to sugar beet."
One large and two small watercolours of sugar beet seedlings on cardboard. Typed notes describe the problem and methods for control.
6662.22.c -- "Blackleg of Sugar Beet. Phythium de Baryanum."
Three watercolours of sugar beet plants on cardboard. Typed notes describe the problem and methods for control
6662.22.d -- "Injury to Sugar Beet by Wireworms."
Five watercolours of sugar beet plants on cardboard. Typed notes describe the problem and methods for control.
6662.22.e -- "Strangles of Sugar Beet."
Three watercolours of sugar beet plants on cardboard. Typed notes describe the problem and methods for control.
6662.22.f -- Violet Root Rot (Helicobasidium purpureum (Tul.) = Rhizoctonia crocorum DC.)
Two watercolours of sugar beet plants on cardboard. Typed notes describe the problem and methods for control.
6662.22.g -- "LOSS OF CHLOROPHYLL."
Two watercolours of sugar beat leaves and a typed description of the problem.
6662.22.h -- "LOSS OF CHLOROPHYLL."
One watercolour of sugar beat leaves and a typed description of the problem.
6662.22.i --
Unlabelled watercolour of a sugar beet
6662.22.j -- "Leaf Spot of Sugar Beet. Cercoscpora beticola Sacc."
Watercolour of an infected sugar beet leaf with description of the specimen and fungus, its prevalence.
6662.22.k -- "SUGAR BEET. Mosaic"
A watercolour of a sugar beet leaf with typed description of the virus disease.
6662.22.l -- "Mosaic in Mangolds."
Typed page, with no illustrations, describing the disease and prevalence, etc.
6662.22.m --
Six unlabelled watercolours of sugar beet plants.
6662.22.n -- "ACID INJURY."
Two small watercolours of injured beet seedlings.
6662.22.o --
Two unlabelled watercolours of sugar beet seedlings.
6662.22.p -- "SUGAR BEET."
Unlabelled drawing of a yellowed sugar beet leaf.
6662.22.q -- "SUGAR BEET."
Unlabelled drawing of a yellowed sugar beet leaf.
6662.22.r -- "SUGAR BEET."
Unlabelled drawing of a yellowed sugar beet leaf.
6662.22.s -- "SUGAR BEET."
Unlabelled drawing of a yellowed sugar beet leaf.
6662.22.t -- "Leaf Brown or Leaf Scorch."
Watercolour of a discolored leaf with a typed description of the fungus.
6662.22.u -- "Leaf Brown or Leaf Scorch."
Watercolour of a discolored leaf with a typed description of the farm of origin and specimen.
6662.22.v -- "SUGAR BEET Leaf Brown or Leaf Scorch."
Watercolour of a discolored leaf wit a typed description of the problem. This has been crossed out with pencil and "Virus Yellow" written alongside.
6662.22.w -- "Leaf Brown or Leaf Scorch."
Black and white photograph of a leaf has been cut and pasted onto the page.
6662.22.x -- "SUGAR BEET."
A watercolour of a discoloured leaf.
6662.22.y -- "Leaf Brown or Leaf Scorch."
Watercolour of a discolored leaf wit a typed description of the problem.
6662.22.z -- "SUGAR BEET."
A watercolour of a discoloured leaf.
6662.22.aa -- "LEAF SPOT OF SUGAR BEET. Cercispora beticola, Sacc."
Four watercolours of infected sugar beet leaves with a typed description of the farm of origin, progression of the fungus.
6662.22.bb -- "Leaf Spot of Sugar Beet Cercospora beticola Sacc."
Four watercolours of infected sugar beet leaves with a typed description of the farm of origin, progression of the fungus.
6662.22.cc --
Unlabelled watercolour of a sugar beet leaf.
6662.22.dd --
Unlabelled watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.22.ee -- "MOSAIC"
Two watercolours of infected leaves cut and pasted onto the page, with a typed description of the farm of origin, dated 30 June 1933.
6662.22.ff -- "SUGAR BEET"
Unlabelled watercolour of a sugar beet leaf.
6662.22.gg -- "Leaf Brown or Leaf Scorch."
Two watercolours of infected leaves cut and pasted onto the page, with a typed description of the farm of origin, dated 30 June 1933.
6662.22.hh -- "SUGAR BEET Wind damage."
Two small cards with sugar beet drawings have been cut and pasted onto the page.
6662.22.ii -- "Sugar beet Wind Injury."
Four small watercolours of sugar beet seedlings.
6662.22.jj --
Unlabelled drawing of a sugar beet leaf.
6662.22.kk -- "Hail Damage. Sugar Beet."
Watercolour of a damaged sugar beet plant. Dated June 1933.
6662.22.ll -- "Hail Damage. Sugar Beet."
Watercolour of a damaged sugar beet plant. Dated June 1933.
6662.22.mm -- "Sugar Beet. Lightening Damage"
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.22.nn -- "Sugar Beet. Lightening Damage"
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.22.oo -- "Sugar Beet. "Fangy Roots."
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant with a typed description of the condition.
6662.22.pp -- "BAD SINGLING."
Watercolour of a twisted sugar beet plant with typed description of the problem, dated 30 June 1933.
6662.22.qq -- "BAD SINGLING."
Watercolour of a twisted sugar beet plant with typed description of the problem, dated 30 June 1933.
6662.22.rr -- "Loose Tilth"
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant with a typed description of the condition. 24 August 1934.
6662.22.ss -- "Sugar Beet Loose Tilth and Insect Damage."
A black and white photograph of a beet seedling mounted on the page.
6662.22.tt -- "SUGAR BEET Hollow Heart."
Two watercolours of infected sugar beet plants with a typed description of the problem and the farm of origin.
6662.22.uu -- "SUGAR BEET Hollow Heart."
Two watercolours of infected sugar beet plants
6662.22.vv -- "SUGAR BEET Hollow Heart."
Two watercolours of infected sugar beet plants
6662.22.ww -- "SUGAR BEET Hollow Heart."
Three watercolours of infected sugar beet plants.
6662.22.xx -- "SUGAR BEET."
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant with description of the farm of origin.
6662.22.yy -- "A DISEASE OF SUGAR BEET."
A watercolour and a black and white photograph of infected sugar beet plants. Typed description of the plants and speculation on the problem.
6662.22.zz -- "Sugar Beet Hollow Heart "
Black and white photograph of a sugar beet plant with typed description of the condition.
6662.22.aaa -- "Sugar Beet Hollow Heart "
Black and white photograph of a sugar beet plant with typed description of the condition.
6662.22.bbb -- "Sugar Beet Hollow Heart "
A watercolour of a sugar beet plant with typed description of the condition.
6662.22.ccc -- "A DISEASE OF THE SUGAR BEET"
Wawtercolour of a sugar beet plant has been pasted on the page, with a typed description of the problem.
6662.22.ddd -- "SUGAR BEET."
Two cards with watercolours of sugar beet plants have been pasted onto the page.
6662.22.eee -- "MANGOLDS. Slight strange followed by rot."
Watercolour of a mangold (?)
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:47346
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