136 FARM AND SCHOOL PROBLEMS. 



Smut. 



Smut of grain has been pronounced by various experiment 

 stations to be a parasitic disease. 



Smut is easily distinguished as a dark mass of powder, found 

 on the head of wheat, oats, barley and other grains. 



It may be in the form of a compact ball or as a loose pow- 

 dery collection. 



In corn it is found on the leaves, tassel, and other parts as 

 well as on the ear. 



Fungi reproduce themselves by means of spores. Like bac- 

 teria they are plants but are very different from bacteria. 



SUMMARY OF FACTS ABOUT SMUTS. 



1. Smuts are of different kinds. 



2. Each kind is a distinct disease. 



3. Smut of one kind of plant will not infest another kind of plant. 



4. Smut is a parasitic plant that propagates itself by the addition 

 of spores. 



5. Five thousand of these spores placed side by side would make a 

 line an inch long. 



6. A spore is a single round cell with walls that protect it from 

 drying and injury. 



7. When spores encounter favorable conditions they will germinate 

 and reproduce. 



8. Spores get food from the plant. 



9. The smut cell produces a threadlike growth in the grain-plant 

 and grows in length and produces branches. 



10. The stems and branches break up into cells or spores, each of 

 which is again capable of reproduction. 



11. The addition of millions of these spores will thus produce a 

 smut mass. 



12. Each spore can produce a thread which may start the disease in 

 another plant. 



13. Smut spores may be carried by the wind, in seed, in manure, 

 or be left in the field in refuse or in the soil. 



Some of the fungus diseases that cause great loss to our farmers are : 



1. Loose smut of oats. 



2. Stinking smut of wheat. 



3. Corn smut. 



4. Potato scab. 



