56 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



fungicides were applied to the soil in such quantities as to be practically prohibitive 

 in ordinary practice without destroying the fungus or reducing the disease. The 

 preventive measures suggested are rotation of crops, removal of diseased plants, 

 avoidance of the spread of the disease by means of cattle, tools, etc., and care of the 

 compost heap. Probably the most hopeful means for combating this disease is to be 

 found in the resistant races of cotton. Experiments with a number of varieties have 

 shown that some are much less subject to the disease than others. Experiments 

 in this line are to be continued. 



Formalin and hot water as preventives of loose sraut of wheat, J. 0. Arthur 

 {Indiana Sta. Rpt. 1900, pj). 17-24)- — The loose smut of wheat is said to sometimes 

 cause losses amounting to 50 per cent of the crop, and quite commonly 10 per cent of 

 the crop is destroyed year after year. Earlier experiments have seemed to indicate 

 that the loose smut is more difficult to eradicate than the stinking smut, and experi- 

 ments were conducted to test this subject. Smutted seed wheat was treated with hot 

 water and various strengths of formalin, after which the seed was sown and the 

 amount of smut in the subsequent crop ascertained. These experiments were repeated 

 several years, and from the data at hand the conclusion is reached that the loose 

 smut of wheat can not be removed from a crop by the treatment of the seed with 

 formalin or hot water even when the treatment is so severe as to kill one-third or 

 more of the seed. As indirect methods of preventing loose smut, it is recommended 

 that seed should be sown only from fields known to be free from the smut and upon 

 land that had not l:)orne wheat for 2 or 3 years. In addition, it is recommended that 

 wheat used for seed should be thoroughly screened, using a strong blast which would 

 dislodge or blow out a large portion of the smut germs. 



Formalin as a preventive of millet smut, W. Stuart {Indiana Sta. iv/><. 1900, 

 p. 25). — In the s]jring of 1899 the author treated millet seed from a badly smutted 

 field with different strengths of formalin to test its value as a preventive of the smut. 

 As a result of his experiments, the efficiency of formalin as a preventive of millet 

 smut was established. Where the seed was treated for 1 to 2 hours in a solution of 

 1 lb. of formalin to 45 gal. of water there was no smut in the resulting crop. Where 

 a weaker solution was used a small percentage of smut was noticed, but in no case 

 was the disease as prevalent as in the check plats. 



Inoculation experiments with grass-infesting ergots, R. Stager {Bol. Centbl., 

 83 {1900), No. 5, p. 145). — According to the author there are 5 species of grass-infesting 

 ergots, namely, Claviaps purpurea, C. microcephala, (J. wilsoni, C. pusilla, and C. setu- 

 losa. Inoculation experiments were conducted by means of ascospores and conidia 

 with the first three, and a preliminary report is given of the results. It was found 

 possible with ergot on rye to inoculate the following: Rye, Anthoxanthum odoratum, 

 Arrhenatherum elatius, Phalaris arundinacea, Poa pratensis, P. alpina, P. sudetica, P. 

 hyhrida, P. cxsia, Hierochloa borealis, Bromus sterilis, Dactylis glomerata, Hordeun^ 

 murinum, barley, Briza media, and Calamagrostis arundinacea. 



It was found impossible to inoculate Lolium sp. or Bromus erectus with C. purpurea 

 from rye, although reciprocal inoculations were made between Lolium and Bromus. 

 On this account it is claimed that the C. purpurea reputed to occur on Lolium and 

 Bromus is physiologically different from that of rye and other grasses and must be 

 considered as a distinct biological species. 



Ascospores of C. microcephala from Phragmites communis regularly infected Nardus 

 stricta, and from Molinia ccendea they were successfully transferred to Nardus stricta, 

 but all attempts to inoculate the grass hosts of C. purpurea with C. microcephala 

 failed. C. v-ilsoni from Glycerin ftuitans is said to be a distinct species readily infect- 

 ing its host plants, but withstanding all attempts to transfer it to other species of 

 grasses. 



Damping off of beets in the field, J. C. Arthur {Indiami Sta. Rpt. 1900, pp. 15, 

 16). — The author's attention was called in May, 1900, to a serious trouble which 



