Flag Smut of Wheat. 257 



The straw from a diseased crop, if practicable, should be burnt; 

 at any rate, it should not be fed to the cattle, as the resulting manure 

 will contain smut spores, which are quite capable of causing infection. 

 The same is true of the very dangerous practice of allowing the 

 diseased straw to rot in the cattle kraals, in order to augment the 

 supply of manure, which is afterwards ridden back to the wheat lands, 

 often to prove a very doubtful blessing. Infection may be spread in 

 many other ways; spores may be blown about by the wind, or they 

 may be carried about from one place io anothea- in the mud or 

 the soles of one's boots or on animals' hoofs, or by irrigation water. 

 Up to the present the only means which can be recommended to 

 check the disease is to refrain from planting wheat for several seasons 

 in soil which has borne a diseased crop; that is, practise crop rotation. 

 As wheat is the only cereal attacked, as far as is known, by the smut, 

 other cereals, besides other field crops, can be grown without danger. 

 Further, wlien a wheat land is known to be free from the smut, no 

 effort should be too great to see that land remains clean, and on no 

 account should manure be applied to it which might possibly be con- 

 taminated with the spores of the fungus. 



Conclusion. 



The reason why flag smut has failed to cause the consternation 

 amongst wheat-growers which, from the possibilities for destructive- 

 ness it seems to possess, one might have expected, is owing possibly to 

 the insignificance as regards appearance and to the dwarfed and 

 withered growth of the diseased as compared to the healthy plants. 

 It is sincerely to be hoped that every precaution will be taken to pre- 

 vent the spread of this disease, otherwise it may become a very 

 serious pest in our wheat districts. 



Agricultural Co-operation in England. 



An interesting feature of agricultural co-operation in England is 

 the great strides made during the past year. This is referred to in 

 an article on the subject by the Secretary of the Agricultural Organiza- 

 tion Society, London, who shows that the conditions which prevailed 

 in England shortly after the war, such as the unstable market in 

 farmers' requirements, uncertainty as to results following decontrol, 

 the prospect of keen competition in imported food, etc., caused appre- 

 hension among farmers for the future of their industry. As a conse- 

 quence a campaign for greater agricultural co-operation was started, 

 which, under the prevailing circumstances, met with instant success. 

 Indeed, the progress made is described as being little short of 

 phenomenal. Agricultural co-operation is, of course, not new in 

 England, but its growth since the war almost entitles it to be described 

 as a new movement, and one which is certain to affect very consider- 

 ably the future of agriculture in that country. 



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