BP RNS ag ag ( aut 
manure may spread infection. A direct demonstration of this point 
~ by Morini is quoted by Sorauer. Bran with which Corn smut spores 
. were mixed was fed to acow. The dung in which the spores were 
; 
P 
found germinating was put upon apiece of land with cornseed. The 
- resulting growth of corn was, as a whole, smutty. Of thirty others 
z 
‘ 
“¢ 
dampened with gum water and covered with ungerminated spores 
only four plants were smutty. Thisshowstheinjury that may come 
from spores germinating in manure. It does not prove that passing _ 
through the animal makes them more active. In Brefeld’s experi- 
-*. ments, on the contrary, nearly all spores sown in a nutritive solu- 
4 
y 
/ 
J 
tion in the spring germinated within twenty-four hours. It shows 
that every precaution should be taken to keep the smut away from 
stock and out of manure piles. Burying the smut deeply suggests 
itself as a convenient and efficient means of disposing of it. Burn- 
ing is effective, but care must be taken that spores shall not: be car- 
ried away and scattered by currents of air about the fire. Rotation 
of crops should be practiced for evident reasons. 
In Iurope two other species of smut occur in Corn and both are 
most prevalentin Italy. Ustilago Fischert, Pass., attacks the cob, and 
in Italy, especially about Parma, sometimes destroys half the crop. 
Ustilago Reiliana was introduced into Italy on sorghum from 
_.. Egypt, and in the former country it grows also on corn, attacking the _ 
flowers of the tassels. 
15.—CORN RUST. 
Puceinia Maydis, Carr. 
(Plate XVI.) 
(a) HISTORY. 
Mention of the Corn Rust is conspicuously absent in the works 
of leading mycologists in the early part of this century. Probably 
it was not common in Kurope at that time and it may have been con- 
founded with other species. 
The only mention of it in those early years, so far as known, was 
by an Italian writer, Carradori,+ whose-name is scarcely known 
otherwise to mycologists. He described it in 1815 under the name 
Puecinia maydis. Schweinitz{ (1834) is the next to mention it, and 
the first to record it as American under the name of Puccinia sorght. 
Later several European botanists gave it names, each one supposing » 
that he had found it for the first time. It causes less injury than — 
* When stable or barn-yard manure is used as a fertilizer a possible prevention of 
smut might be found in David’s powder (see page 328). ; 
Immediately previous to planting, the seed-corn should be wet, and while in this 
with the naked hands. —F. L. 8S. 
ie eee di Fisica, ete., del Brugnatelli, 1815, Vol. VIII. See Just. Jahresbericht, 
76, p. 152. 
i Syn. Fung. Am. Bor., p. 295. 
Biba St Sebo 
condition thoroughly raked over in the powder; or, a spoonful of the powder ~ 
should be dropped along with the seed in each hill. Avoid handling the powder 
