94 



SMUT OF WHEAT, 



corn. If we take smutted ears of wheat, oats, and barley, and 

 examine them without a glass, we shall see them as at A, B, and C. 



The first point to 

 be specially noted 

 in the field is 

 that every ear 

 which springs 

 from one root 

 will be smutted. 

 This fact indi- 

 cates that the 

 disease springs 

 from the base 

 and runs up every 

 stem from the 

 ground line. If 

 further proof of 

 this method of 

 growth is needed 

 it will be seen 

 that the lower- 

 most part of each 

 ear is the part 

 that first shows 

 the disease. It 

 is common to see 

 the bottom of an 

 ear of wheat or 

 barley, or a pani- 

 cle of oats, badly 

 smutted and the 

 top sound. The 

 disease in these 

 instances has not 

 yet reached the 

 top of the plant ; one never sees the top of an ear diseased and 

 the base sound. It is an undisputed fact that in Smut the disease 

 orows inside the stem from the bottom upwards. 



The Smut Fungus. — Usfilago carbo, Tul., in 

 A, W/ieaf; B, Oats ; ami C, Barley. 



