20G 



DIVISION OF BOTANY. 



SMUT IN SMALL GRAIN. 



The great damage by Smut to the immense wheat crop of the Domi- 

 nion during the year 1891 has caused much enquiry from farmers. 

 The Department of Agriculture for Manitoba has just issued a timely 

 bulletin upon the subject. In a letter from Mr. A. Mackay, Superin- 

 tendent of the Experimental Farm at Indian Head, he says : " I think too 

 much cannot be known regarding Smut, and anything you could put in 

 "^i"^^ >.2^_ our papers cannot but be of value to the farmers. I think every bushel 

 of seed will this spring be treated for Smut, and it is important that 

 the best way should be known how to treat it effectually." In com- 

 pliance with the above suggestion, I immediately wrote the following 

 letter to the Farmer's Advocate, which has a large circulation in the 

 North-West Territories and Manitoba. 



There are two kinds of Smut which 

 attack wheat. These are shown at 

 Fig. 9, which is the Loose Smut of 

 wheat, and Fig. 10, which shows a 

 smutted grain of wheat attacked by 

 the Hard Smut of wheat, also known 

 as "Bunt" or "Stinking Smut." 



B 

 X-5 ^^-"^ 



Fig. 10. 



" Central Experimental Farm, 



" Ottawa, 19th March, 1892. 



"To the Editor, Farmer's Advocate. 



" Dear Sir, — The constant enquiries which come to me from farmers 

 as to the best way to treat grain for Smut make it advisable to draw 

 attention, through your columns, so widely read, to a well-known but 

 effectual remedy. By the time your next issue appears farmers will be 

 preparing to sow their seed-grain. During the past season wheat, barley 

 and oats in naany parts of Canada were seriously attacked by the fungous 

 diseases known under the general head of 'Smut.' These diseases are 

 all due to the attacks of parasitic plants, and are propagated by means 

 of the minute grains of black powder of which the Smut consists. These 

 email grains, which are the fi-uctification of the Smut plant, are called spores, and 

 are bodies analogous to the seeds of more highly-organized plants. The diseases are 

 transmitted by means of these spores or 'seeds,' which adhere to the grain and are 

 sown with it. They then begin to grow, penetrate the tissues of the growing plant 

 and in time destroy the seed. The above being the case, and the crop grown in 1891 

 having been badly infested by these enemies, there is every probability that the crop 

 of 1892 will also be largely destroyed unless means are adopted to prevent it. 



"There are several kinds of Smuts, and botanists recognize those which attack 

 the various small grains as different species. For practical purposes, however, they 

 may be considered by farmers as identical, because they all can be overcome by <he 

 same remedy. Theie are many reme lies recommended, and for this resi^on many 

 farmers do not try any. I advise the follQwing, which I believe from all considerations 

 to be the best: 



Fig. 9. 



