EUTHALLEPHYTA—EUMYCETES— SMUTS 215 



Mr. J. J. Jolliffe in the Drovers' Journal of February 7, 1902, says: 

 I have never had any bad results from smut. I have watched the stock eat ears that 

 seemed 75 percent smut, and they devoured them apparently with as much avidity as sound 

 ears, never affecting the health or appetite in the least. 



We have seen cattle die in fields where there was no smut whatever on the stalks and 

 also in some fields that had previously been cleaned as good as one could clean them from 

 this smut; the cattle died in spite of this precaution. Often the owner of the neighboring- 

 fields, in which large quantities of smut were found, did not believe this theory and allowed 

 his cattle to run in the stalks promiscuously without suffering any losses. 



At the Illinois Experiment Station about sixty pounds of corn smut were 

 fed to a grade Jersey steer, with grain and hay as follows': 



From December 13, 1889, to January 2, 1890, 120 pounds of grain, 105 pounds of hay, 

 JO pounds of smut, and 371 pounds of water were given. From January 2 to January 24, 

 1890, 176 pounds of grain, 135 pounds of hay, and 39 pounds of smut were fed and 366 

 pounds of water given. When the experiment was begun, December 13, 1889, the steer 

 weighed 560 pounds. January 2, 1890, he weighed 551 pounds, and January 24, 555 pounds. 

 No evidence of disease was discovered. 



Dr. Kilborne records two experiments to test the effects of corn smut. 

 In the first case the smut used came from a field in which several animals had 

 died within five days after they had been turned into it. Three two-year-old 

 steers were fed exclusively on smut-laden stalks and free smut mixed with a 

 small quantity of a mixture of corn meal and wheat bran, for seven days with- 

 out ill efifects. He concludes : "It is safe to say that these animals consumed 

 a much greater quantity of smut than the animals which died in the fields." 

 In the second case, two heifers were fed in addition to corn and hay, sixteen 

 quarts of smut morning and evening for sixteen and a half days. This feeding 

 continued for several months. The animals appeared healthy at the termination 

 of the experiment. 



Dr. N. S. Mayo records the experience of a farmer near Manhattan, who 

 gathered the smut from the field and placed it within an enclosure. The cattle 

 broke into the enclosure one night where the smutty corn was thrown and ate 

 all they wished, but no injurious effects were observed. 



Usiilago avenae (Pers.) Jens. Oat Smut 



Sori found in the spikelets forming a dusty olive brown mass, usually 

 destroying the whole of the inflorescence or only a part ; the spore mass at first 

 covered by a membrane which later breaks, thus allowing for the scattering 

 of the spores; spores olive brown, lighter colored on one side, spherical to sub- 

 spherical or somewhat angular, minutely roughened, 6-9 M in length. Spores 

 germinate readily in water; infection takes place at the time of germination 

 of the oats. 



Distribution and hosts. Found wherever oats (Avena sativa) is cultivated 

 also on wild oats, (A. fatua). 



Poisonous properties. Probably not any more injurious than corn smut. 

 When present in large quantities it may produce a sore throat, because of 

 irritation. This fact is mentioned by White. The following note from Dr. 

 White refers to another species found upon grass : 



The inflammation affects almost exclusively the face and genitals. It begins upon the 

 former with a violent itching in about twenty-four hours after contact with the reeds, which 

 is followed by a uniform redness, especially marked about the orifices, and swelling of the 

 eyelids. The appearance of the patient strongly resembles that of erysipelas. Later small 

 vesicles develop, terminating in persistent excoriations. 



Upon the male genitals it begins also with itching, followed by general swelling, with 

 intense redness of the scrotum, and later by vesicles filled with a yellow serum, terminating 



