THE FUNGI OF FORAGE PLANTS. 413 



their habits and determining their natural history we sluill at 

 once know which of the old and well tried remedies to adopt. 



CHAPTER XVIL 

 THE FUNGI OF FORAGE PLANTS. 



BY WILLIAM TRELEASE, D. SC. 



Grasses afford a nidus for the development of a large number 

 of fungi, so that they are a favorite collecting ground with stu- 

 dents of these plants; but the greater number of species are 

 found on dry stems and leaves, which they seize upon, as a rule, 

 only after their death, and though the number of truly parasitic 

 species is by no means small, there are but few that seriously 

 injure valuable grasses. The number of noxious species on clo- 

 vers and other forage plants of the pea-family is also small ; 

 hence this chapter includes a few which are of such frequent oc- 

 currence as to attract general attention. 



For the most part the fungi of forage plants are directly inju- 

 rious by weakening them and appropriating to themselves the 

 food needed for making a good growth; but they likewise lower 

 the nutritive value of the crop that is produced. In cases where 

 seed is an object, the loss is even greater, since the yield of dis- 

 eased plants is greatly lessened, while the quality of their seed is 

 always poor. The annual loss in our meadows and pastures due 

 to these causes cannot be stated, from the lack of reliable statis- 

 tics, but in some seasons a moderate estimate places it in the 

 millions. 



Besides these direct injuries to the crops the fungi of grasses 

 are the cause of a very considerable loss to the farmer in another 

 way. Ergot and corn-smut have long been known to possess ac- 



