CORN THRirS : TULIP-ROOT. 



99 



" White-eared Wheat." — In 1888 a good deal of attention 

 was attracted by a disease or attack to Wheat which gave it 

 the appearance of being prematurely ripened, and soon 

 became known as "White-eared Wheat." The heads were 

 barren, and the top of the stalk within the sheath (in the 

 advanced stage in which specimens were sent for examination) 

 was usually severed across about three or four inches above 

 the uppermost knot ; so that though the injury did not show 

 externally, yet by holding the lower part of the stem and 

 gently pulling at the ear, the stem came out of the sheath, 

 leaving a stump behind of a few inches long attached to the 

 highest knot. This stump looked flaccid and shrunken, and 

 at the point of severance, in almost all the specimens sent, the 

 straw was shrunk. 



The injury extremely resembled that caused by the maggot 

 of the American Fly, the Meromyza americana, but there 

 were no signs of this being present. 



The cause of the disease could not be made out with 

 certainty, but subsequent information from American obser- 

 vation of a very similar attack known as ** Silvertop " in Hay, 

 points to Thrips-attack being very likely the cause of the 

 injury. (See Report of the Entomologist and Botanist, 

 pp. 59 — 62 of Appendix to * Eeport of the Experimental 

 Farms, Canada, to the Minister of Agriculture, 1889.') 



Tulip-root, or Segging, caused by " Stem Eelworm." 



Tylenchus devastatrix, Kuhn. 



" Tulip-rooted " Oat-plant. 



The disease known as " Tulip-root " in Oats takes its name 

 from the swollen appearance of the base of the stem, which 

 bears some resemblance to a Tulip-bulb, though still more to 



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