EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 437 



NOTES UPON CORN SMUT. 



The smut of corn was more than usually abundant the present 

 reason, and particularly so upon the early crop. In whole fields it 

 was sometimes difficult to find a single tassel that did not show the 

 smut, and often so badly that the whole top of the plant drooped 

 because of the extra weight due to the smutted tassel. Soon after, 

 the smut followed in the ear, and as the group of leaves out of which 

 the ear grew was smutted, it seemed likely that the infection of the 

 ■ear was from the tassel above. 



The engraving (Plate IX.) shows an ear of sweet corn badly 

 smutted at a, an infested tassel at b, a mature stage of the smut upon 

 the stock at the joint at c, and the form often met with this year upon 

 the foliage is shown at d. 



THE BLIGHT OF CUCUMBERS. 



There has been much complaint of blight upon melons, particu- 

 larly the cantaloupes. An examination of the fields shows that the 

 plants were in apparent good health until the middle of August, 

 when the fruits were nearly full size. At that time the foliage be- 

 came first spotted with yellow, soon turned brown and coiled up, 

 leaving the fruit without any foliage to furnish them the sustenance 

 desired, and they consequently became shriveled and worthless. 



A microscopic examination of the leaves showed that the trouble 

 was primarily due to the cucumber mildew (^Plasmopara Cubensi^ B. 

 & C. ), which was favored in its growth and fatal developments by 

 the conditions of the weather. 



This mildew may be determined in a general way by the charac- 

 ters named above — that is, the yellow spots upon the upper surface 

 of the leaf, followed by the brown color and coloring of the foliage. 



There are other diseases of the melon tribe of plants, but none that 

 behaves in this way. That there is a remedy at hand is beyond 

 question, but the disease is so rapid in its growth that it needs to be 

 used before any signs of the trouble are manifest. For example, 

 during the present season a plot of cucumbers has been kept in full 

 leaf and vigorous growth, upon the Experiment Area, by the use of 

 soda-bordeaux, while a field of untreated muskmelons, not far away 

 and no more susceptible, was entirely ruined by the first of September. 



Several Experiment Stations have been seeking for remedies for 

 the melon and cucumber mildew, and all find a satisfactory one in 



