166 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



great measure whether the elaborated nourishment shall be turned 

 into a crop of worthless golden rust, or go its natural way and 

 produce a harvest of grain. 



, The Corn Smut — ( Ustilago maydis). 



The smut in Indian corn, which has long been an annoyance to 

 farmers, is a fungus, and therefore a minute parasitic plant, which, 

 instead of growing from the soil and elaborating its own food, 

 vegetates in the growing tissue of the corn plant, and robs it of 

 its nourishment. It is difficult for any one to tell, owing to its 

 minuteness, just when and where the smut plant begins its growth 

 upon the corn; it may be that the spores, as particles of the smut, 

 cling to the grains of corn and are planted with them. As the 

 moving air is known to be constantly carrying invisible fungus 

 germs from one place to another, it is more probable that they first 

 reach the corn plant in this way, and enter it by germinating upon 

 the surface and sending the young threads into the substance of 

 the stem and leaves. After growing for a time, the parasite pre- 

 pares for the production of a new crop of spores, by means of 

 which the smut plant is perpetuated. This it does by first accu- 

 mulating a mass of threads in certain favorite portions of the 

 plant, usually the young grains of growing corn. At first the 

 affected grains are noticed of unusual size, followed shortly by a 

 darkening of the interior, together with a constant increase in 

 size, until at last the grain has assumed large dimensions, is soft 

 throughout, and made up almost entirely of black spores. On 

 account of the ears of corn being covered with husks, the early 

 stages of the smut are not seen, and the first that is observed is 

 the black, worthless mass that is the final stage of the parasite. 

 The production of spores is not entirely confined to the grains, but 

 they frequently make their appearance in the male flowers, situ- 

 ated at the top of the stalk, and comprising what is commonly 

 known as the tassel. The number of spores that a single smutted 

 ear will produce is almost beyond computation. Corn smut is 

 injurious to animals if eaten by them to any considerable extent ; 

 it acts both as a poison and mechanical irritant. Moist seasons are 

 peculiarly favorable to the development of .the smut plant; there- 

 fore it is much more common one season than another. A large 

 number of the plants belonging to the grass family are more or 

 less affected by various kinds of smuts. Specimens of smut upon 



