1882.] FUNGI IN.JIJIUOUS '10 VKOKTATION. 181 



1 liavo yet in find a man wlio nnyn Uiat lie lias over found tliat 

 il provcntH Hinni. Tlioy HoinoliniCH do it for a time, bccaiiKe 

 in tJio Kanie rcj^ions ilioy Koak wheat in tlial way. And, 

 fit ft lierniore. it })u1h Hk; corn in Kiich condition that the worniH 

 (Jo not eat it, and llje crown, if they pull it \\\) at all, will pull 

 np hut \'(ity little of it. 



^Vhen it comes to muni iji wh(;ui, 1 think i\\<M-ii is no (jues- 

 tion whatever that the disease is ()ropag'ated Ihroujjh the need. 

 I do not myself b(;li(n'(; that it is affected l*y ihe weather, I 

 have not found that the wealhfjr makes any dil'erence. 'J'hose 

 rej^ions of the United States that have; no wot weather wh(;n 

 the wheat is coming to perfection are th(; regions that are 

 liahle 1o suffei- from sniut. On the diy hills of Virginia, in 

 the Middle Slates, and in (California, snmt is an exceedingly 

 common disease in wheat. In California, the lains generally 

 cease ahoui the time the wheat is heading, and tlnjy have to 

 blue st^ojie it to protect it from smut. 'J'herc have h(!(;n 

 abundant cxfKiriments; they have been trying them for two 

 hundred years liow. It is two hundred years ago this vary 

 year that they began to soak wheat in brine as a preventive 

 of snjut. In some places they use fii-st strong brine and then 

 lime. 1 IJiink it has been pretty well demonst,rat.ed that 

 lime does not help the matter. It helf>s the wheat to grow, 

 but does not have much 'elfect on the smut. You may soak 

 wheat in water and then roll it in lime and sow it, and the 

 snuit will scarcely be checked at all. Jiut if you soak it in 

 sti'ong brine arid then njll it in liine, the lime does the young 

 wheat plant good, but it does not have any very great effect 

 upon the smut. 



1 may say here, that special schedules were sent out last 

 year from the census bureau to the principal grain-growing 

 countries of the United States, and what 1 say now is from 

 information derived from the answers to those schedules. It 

 appears that the most common remedy for smut is blue stone, 

 sulphate of copper, and two or three ounces of salt to a 

 bushel of wheat, and where that is practised, it is reasonably 

 effective in preventing smut. 1 do not mean that there is 

 not a smutty head to be fouiid. 



