Accession No
6662.30
Brief Description
Folder of 28 paintings, drawings and photographs labelled "Apple Various Disorders," no. 30 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 28 paintings, drawings and photographs labelled "Apple Various Disorders," no. 30 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.
6662.30.a -- "WHITE ROOT ROT (Rosellina necatrix)
Watercolour of a rotting apple root.
6662.30.b --
Unlabelled watercolour of a tree branch.
6662.30.c --
Unlabelled watercolour of a tree branch.
6662.30.d -- "Bark Beetle."
Watercolour of an infected branch with typed notes on farm of origin and dated 31 January 1935.
6662.30.e -- "Damage by tar distillate spraying."
Watercolour of a damaged tree branch with notes on farm of origin and dated March 1934.
6662.30.f -- "Scorch"
Two watercolours of scorched leaves with notes on the problem and farm of origin, dated May 1933.
6662.30.g -- "Scald."
Watercolour of a brown apple with notes on farm of origin.
6662.30.h -- "SCALD"
Watercolour of an apple.
6662.30.i -- "SCALD"
Watercolour of an apple.
6662.30.j -- "frost damage."
Three watercolours of damaged apples. Dated 7 July 1933.
6662.30.k -- "Capsid damage. Apples."
Two watercolours of branches cut & pasted on the page. Three drawings of stunted shoots with typed description.
6662.30.l --
Unlabelled watercolour of an apple branch.
6662.30.m -- "APPLE. Die-back"
Watercolour of an infected apple branch. Typed description of the disease and prevalence dated February 1937.
6662.30.n --
Unlabelled watercolour of an apple.
6662.30.o -- "ALLINGTON PIPPIN. SPOTTING"
Watercolour of a spotted apple with typed note on farm of origin dated 1 January 1934.
6662.30.p --
Unlabelled watercolour of a branch with leaves.
6662.30.q --"Pimpling of Cox's Orange Pippin Shoot"
Watercolour of a tree shoot, with typed description of the specimen dated 30 April 1934.
6662.30.r --
Two watercolours of damaged branches, with typed description of the problem, specimen, and further reading; dated 7 March 1933.
6662.30.s --
Two watercolours of damaged branches, with typed description of the problem, specimen, and further reading; dated 7 March 1933.
6662.30.t -- "BLUE MOLD (Penicillium sp.)
Two black and white photographs of apples. Dated September 1933.
6662.30.u -- "Blue mould of stored apples. Pencillium sp."
Watercolour of an infected apple.
6662.30.v -- "Crown gall. Bacterium tumefaciens."
Watercolour of an infected branch, with typed description of specimen, dated 14 January 1934.
6662.30.w -- Unlabelled drawing of an infected branch, typed description of specimen dated 5 May 1934.
6662.30.x --"Apple and Pear Canker. Nectria galligena, Bres."
Four watercolour of infected branches, and two pencil drawings of spores. Typed notes describe the specimen and the disease.
6662.30.y -- "Apple and Pear Canker. Nectria galligena, Bres. "Eye" Rot"
Two black and white photographs of apples on the branch with typed notes on specimen.
6662.30.z --"Apple and Pear Canker. Nectria galligena, Bres."
Two black and white photographs of apples on the branch with typed notes on specimen.
6662.30.aa -- Apple and Pear Canker. Nectria galligena, Bres"
Three watercolours of infected apples on a card pasted on the page. Calligraphic writing on the card, "FUSARIUM AND PERITHECIAL STAGES OF APPLE CANKER. NECTRIA GALLIGENA" and a signature, probably Dillon Weston's (seems to read "DDW"). Dated 1924 (!).
6662.30.bb -- "Apple and Pear Canker. Nectria galligena, Bres."
Several watercolours of small spurs, and two drawings on cards pasted in the corners. Typed description of the specimens and disease.
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:47354
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