SMUT IN OATS. 217 



765. Salt or brine thus used should he applied on a 

 cloudy day, or just at evening. The solution of salt acts 

 almost instantaneously, where it touches the parts affected 

 with rust. 



766. Smut is a disease which attacks Indian 

 corn, wheat, harley, oats, millet, and some other 

 kinds of grasses. It derives its name from the 

 fact that where it exists the receptacle of the 

 seed is filled hy a dark, sooty or dusty mass caused 

 by an internal parasitic fungus. The first stage 

 of smut in an ear of oats is shown in figure 42. 



767. The farina or mealy substance of the 

 grain affected by this disease is decomposed, and 

 the whole grain and the husk are covered with 

 the black powder, and are often swollen to a very 



large size. Fi s- 42 - 



768. Smut, like mildew, prevails in every variety of soil 

 and in all localities and countries. But hot and moist 

 climates are more favorable to its development than cold 

 and dry ones. 



769. It less frequently attacks wheat, than corn and 

 oats. Its presence in wheat may be known by the 

 blackish color of the ear, or before the ear has burst 

 from its sheath, by yellow spots which appear on the 

 upper leaf, and the drying up of the point or end of this 

 leaf. An ear of wheat partly sound, and partly covered 

 with smut, is shown in figure 43, and another wholly 

 covered with smut, and dried up, in figure 44. In oats 

 the diseased plants are of a paler green, and generally 

 smaller than the rest. A head of oats wholly covered 

 with smut, is shown in figure 45, and an ear of barley 

 completely smutted and dried up, in 46. 



