158 Kaxsas Academy of science. 



Sept. 11. Cloudy and foggy, and a moderate wind from the south in the morning; 

 clear, and the wind moderately strong from the south and south-southeast in the 

 evening. 



Sept. 12. Cloudy, and a slight breeze from the south in the morning; a very 

 strong wind from the north in the evening, and hence no observation recorded. 



Sept. 13. Heavy frost; in the evening wind from south-southeast. 



Sept. 14. Slight breeze from the south in the morning, which continued through 

 the day. 



Sept. 15. No wind. 



Sept. 16. Strong breeze from the east in the morning; no breeze in the evening. 



Sept. 17. Gentle breeze from the south. 



NOTES ON SORGHUM SMUTS. 



BY W. A. KELLEEMAN AND W. T. SWINGLE. 



Sorghum is now an important fodder and sugar plant of our State, and one that 

 is generally supposed to be comparatively free from the attacks of vegetable para- 

 sites. It is therefore a matter of interest to record the fact that two species of 

 smut have been found this year at Manhattan — one not previously noticed here 

 nor hitherto reported as occurring in the United States — [Ustilago Reiliana.) It 

 will undoubtedly cause serious loss if it becomes prevalent over the State. It attacks 

 not only sorghum, but Indian corn, and even sugar cane also. The other species 

 {Ustilago Sorghi), con&ned to sorghum, is more abundant and likewise a destructive 

 species. The following brief accounts are given of the two species : 



I. Utsilago Sokghi (Link.?) Passerini, in Thiim. Herb. myc. oec. n. 63. ( ?Spor- 

 isorium Sorghi Link. Sp. PI. II, p. 86.) 



This species, which has been reported from Washington, D. C.,^ Madison, Wis.,^ 

 New York,^ and Lincoln, Neb.,- on sorghum grown from imported seed, was found 

 by Mr. H. M. Cottrell on the College Farm, Manhattan, Kas., in small quantities, on 

 sorghum raised from seed received from the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The 

 seed had been obtained through the U. S. Consul at Calcutta. It was found later 

 by Prof. G. H. Failyer, on sorghum grown by the Chemical Department on a differ- 

 ent part of the College Farm, from seed received from Dr. Peter Collier. The seed 

 in this case had been imported from Africa and not previously grown in this country. 

 One variety grown by the Chemical Department that was attacked, was received 

 under the name of Huansa Byn, and the others (designated by numbers) were Ran- 

 goon varieties. Many of these were badly attacked, and in some cases as many as 

 one-fourth the heads were smutted. The smutted varieties grown by the Farm De 

 partment were very unlike the preceding. Of these there were three numbers 

 quite similar in appearance, and they may have been one and the same variety. 



Mr. A. A. Denton, of the Sterling Syrup Works, Sterling, Kansas, has recently 

 sent us a specimen of this smut. He says that in some lots about half of the seed 

 heads were affected. Several varieties of sorghum (vulgare?) were attacked, but all 

 were grown from foreign seed. 



This species, unlike the following, attacks only the individual grains, or seeds, in 

 the panicle. They become abnormally large and elongated, and completely tilled 

 with the mass of spores. 



(1) William Trelease, Preliminary List of the Parasitic Fungi of Wisconsin, p. 34. 



(2) H. .J. WeUber, itusts and Smuts of Nebraska, Bulletin of the Agr. Exp. Sta. Nebr., No. 11, p. 69; 

 also Catalogue of the Flora of Nebraska in Report of the Botanist, p. 74, Extr. from Report Nebr. State 

 Bd. Agr. for 1889. 



