Accession No
6662.23
Brief Description
folder of 43 paintings, drawings, and photographs labelled "Sugar Beet Pests" no. 23 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 43 paintings, drawings, and photographs labelled "Sugar Beet Pests" no. 23 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.
6662.23.a -- "LEAF MINER DAMAGE"
Two watercolours of damaged sugar beet leaves. Typed description of the life cycle of the pest and methods for control, dated 30 June 1933.
6662.23.b -- "Injury to Sugar Beet by Cutworms"
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant with methods of control and similar species listed in the typed notes.
6662.23.c -- "GROUND BEETLE DAMAGE."
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant with a typed description of the beetle and damage caused.
6662.23.d -- "Sugar Beet Ground Beetle Damage."
Three watercolours of damaged sugar beet plants with typed description of the pests and damage caused.
6662.23.e --"STRANGLE"
Three watercolours of strangled beet plants with type description of the problem.
6662.23.f -- "Sugar Beet Ground Beetle Damage."
Black and white photograph of a sugar beet plant mounted on the page.
6662.23.g -- "Sugar Beet Ground Beetle Damage."
Black and white photograph of a sugar beet plant mounted on the page.
6662.23.h -- "GROUND BEETLE DAMAGE."
Watercolours of a sugar beet plant with a typed description of the farm of origin and dated 14 June 1933.
6662.23.i -- "Sugar Beet Millipede Damage."
Black and white photograph of a sugar beet plant mounted on the page.
6662.23.j -- "Sugar Beet Millipede Damage."
Black and white photograph of a sugar beet plant mounted on the page.
6662.23.k -- "Slug Damage."
Watercolour of an eaten sugar beet leaf, dated 30 June 1933.
6662.23.l -- "Slug Damage."
Watercolour of an eaten sugar beet leaf, dated 30 June 1933.
6662.23.m -- "Snail Damage."
Watercolour of an eaten sugar beet leaf, dated 30 June 1933, with typed description of the snails.
6662.23.n -- "Sugar Beet. Crow damage."
Two watercolours of damaged sugar beet plants with typed description of the crows and specimens.
6662.23.o -- "Sugar Beet. Crow damage."
Two watercolours of damaged sugar beet plants with typed description of the crows and specimens.
6662.23.p --"Sugar Beet. Crow damage."
Three watercolours of damaged sugar beet plants with typed description of the crows and specimens.
6662.23.q -- "Sugar Beet Damage by Hares."
Black and white photograph of a sugar beet plant mounted on the page.
6662.23.r -- Sugar Beet Hare damage."
Watercolour of a damaged sugar beet plant, dated June 1934.
6662.23.s -- "Sugar Beet Strangle."
Watercolour of a strangled sugar beet plant.
6662.23.t -- "Sugar Beet Strangle."
Watercolour of a strangled sugar beet plant.
6662.23.u -- "Sugar beet Leaf Miner damage."
Watercolour of a damaged sugar beet plant, dated 30 June 1933, with typed description of the pest and methods of control.
6662.23.v -- "Sugar beet Wireworm damage."
Watercolour of a damaged sugar beet plant and typed description of the pest, dated December 1933.
6662.23.w -- "WIREWORM DAMAGE TO SUGAR BEET."
Four watercolours of sugar beet plants with typed descriptions of the specimens.
6662.23.x -- "WIREWORM DAMAGE."
Four watercolours, two of sugar beet plants and one of the wireworm and a beetle, cut and pasted on a smaller sheet (120 x 250mm) of paper.
6662.23.y -- "Wireworm damage to Sugar beet."
Four watercolours of sugar beet plants with typed descriptions of the specimens.
6662.23.z -- "Sugar beet Wireworm damage."
Two watercolours of a damaged sugar beet plant and typed description of the pest.
6662.23.aa -- "SUGAR BEET Wireworm damage."
Two watercolours of sugar beet seedlings with a typed description of the pest.
6662.23.bb -- DAMAGE CAUSE BY THE MANGOLD PIGMY BEETLE."
Large watercolour of a sugar beet seedling pasted onto the page.
6662.23.cc -- "Sugar Beet Injury by Pigmy Beetle"
Black and white photograph of two damaged sugar beet seedlings, mounted on the page.
6662.23.dd -- "sugar beet pigmy beetle damage."
Two watercolours of damaged sugar beet seedlings, with typed description of the specimens, dated 4 June 1933.
6662.23.ee -- "Sugar Beet Cutworm damage."
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant with typed description of the specimen and pest.
6662.23.ff -- "Sugar Beet Cutworm injury."
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.gg -- "CUTWORM DAMAGE. Sugar beet."
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.hh -- "SUGAR BEET. Aphis damage."
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.ii --"SUGAR BEET."
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.jj -- "SUGAR BEET."
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.kk -- "SUGAR BEET. Strangle"
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.ll -- "SUGAR BEET. Strangle"
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.mm -- "SUGAR BEET. Strangle"
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.nn -- "SUGAR BEET. Strangle"
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.oo -- "STRANGLE."
Three watercolours of sugar beet plants with typed description of the cause of the problem and methods of control.
6662.23.pp -- "SUGAR BEET. Strangle"
Watercolour of a sugar beet plant.
6662.23.qq -- "WIREWORM DAMAGE TO SUGAR BEET"
Four watercolours of damaged sugar beet plant with notes on the pest and symptoms. Dated 30 July 1933.
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:47347
Images (Click to view full size):
