164 INDIAN COKN. 



also a reddish-brown species of rust that sometimes 

 shows itself on the leaves of maize. This, however, 

 has seldom been known to extend 'so far as materially 

 to affect the grain. In some instances, but more 

 rarely, this rust has been known to fix itself on the 

 stalk, and is then liable to produce more serious in- 

 jury, and if it extends to the ear can hardly fail to 

 diminish the product of grain. 



This disease is attributed by Mr. Loraine, and some 

 others, to the same cause that is supposed to produce 

 the fungus, namely, the bruises inflicted by an incon- 

 siderate cultivation. Others ascribe both this and the 

 fungus to an atmospheric influence, or some peculiar- 

 ity of the season. 



But from whatever cause these maladies may pro- 

 ceed, the effect seems to be, on the whole, compara- 

 tively trifling, and the injury resulting has thus far 

 proved too limited in amount to create any consid- 

 erable apprehension. 



This comparative and almost total exception from 

 disease is one cause of the greater certainty of the corn 

 crop, and is so far an argument of some weight in 

 favor of cultivating it more extensively and more 

 thoroughly. For the greater the degree of certainty 

 in any crop the farmer raises, the less risk he incurs in 

 staking upon it a more elaborate and expensive mode 

 of culture. 



