226 GRASSES OF IOWA. 



many, France, England, Astria, Hungary, Belgium and Chili.* 



Damage Done. — In warmer countries it is said to be much 

 more severe than in colder countries. It appears that climate 

 greatly influences the amount of smut present. I havef 

 reported on the abundance of this disease in Philippine island 

 corn grown on the college grounds. It occurred on every plant, 

 not only affecting ears, but a large number of nodes had 

 smut boils. The same thing was again observed in 1897 on 

 some corn from South America and Mexico, cultivated on the 

 college grounds. 



Henry states that in the vicinity of Madison, "Wis., in 1881, 

 there was a loss of 5 to 25 per cent. This could not have been 

 general but was most probably an unusual condition, occurring 

 only in some fields. In 1882 personal observations showed very 

 little smut in many parts of Wisconsin. The loss is often 25 

 per cent in sweet corns grown in gardens, and in fields where 

 rotation has not been practiced. 



Halstedt states that in 1886, the college corn field had sixty- 

 two hundredths of 1 per cent. B3ssey§ states that one year in 

 one field 66 per cent of loss occurred. In this case the field 

 had been in corn for several years. He further obs9rves 

 that 15 per cent is not uncommon. Brewer || observes that in 

 1879 there were cases in which there was a loss of 16| p3r cent, 

 but in most cases there was less than 1 per cent. 



Maize smut not injurious to cattle. — It his been held by many 

 that corn smut is injurious to cattle. This has been a common 

 belief in some quarters. In some kinds of smut a small amount 

 of ergotine is found. Professor Power of the Welcome 

 Research Lab}ratory, England, found this true for the smut 



♦Chill. Saccardo. Syll. Fung. 7: 472. 

 Fischer De Waldhelm Ustllagineffi. 217. 

 Germany. De Bary. Die Brandpilze. 4. 

 Sorauer. Planzenkrankhelten. 201. 

 Frank. Die Krani^helten der Pllanzen.llO (Ed. 2.) 

 Winter. Die Pllzs. 97. 

 Tubeuf. Pllaneenkrankheiten. 291. 



Austria. Thumen. Hekampfung der Pllzkrankhelten. 29. 

 Italy Comes, D O. Crittogamla agrarit. 75. 

 Penzlg. Fungi Agrumlcoll. 



France. Jean Loverdo. Les Maladies cryptogamlques des cereales. 6C. 

 Tulasne. Mem Les DstUaglneai 84. 



England. Smith. Diseases of Field and Garden Orops. a54. 

 tPammel. Fungus diseases of Iowa forage plants. 4 

 :!:Bull. Dept. of Botany Iowa Agrl. College. 1886: 16. 



SBull. Dept of Bot. Iowa Agrl. Coll. 1884; 127. Also Bull. Neb. Agrl. Exp. Sta. 11: 

 25. 



11 Cereal Production of the U. S. Tenth Census Rep, 3: 107. 



