\\ HEAT ( I I. TIKE. 





(■!i Early preparation oi the seed-bed to allow a proper decaj of old 

 stubble, on which the fungus will live, and with the object "i promoting 

 nination ami destruction of the spur.'-, before sowing. 



( l) Obtain seed from fjood reliable sources. It 9hould be plump and well 

 filled. A sample with many pinched grains should lie rejected. All seed 

 should he graded, hut it would lie unwise to use 

 plump seed graded out of a crop with much pinched 

 grain. 



(5) The use of superphosphate, 

 the acre should he used. 



At least 50 11.. to 



(6) Some success is hoped for by the selection and 

 breeding of resistant varieties, but nothing has yet 

 been done under Australian conditions. 



Ergot (Claviceps purpurea). 

 Hard, dark violet excrescenses, which usually 

 fracture easily and are white inside, make their 

 appearance from time to time upon the ears of cereal 

 crops and grasses. These excrescences are known as 

 Ergot, and as they occur most frequently upon rye, 

 the Ergot of rye is by far the best known. Ergot, 

 however, is found occasionally upon ears of wheat in 

 the form of black or dark violet protuberances, some- 

 times as large as a maize grain (Fig. 22.) These 

 replace the grain in the head and are thus a source 

 of definite loss. 



Ergots are really dense masses of fungus threads — 

 or sclerotia — intended to carry on the fungus from 

 \ ear to year, and capable of lying dormant for a 

 considerable period without germinating. They fall 

 from the wheat ears to the ground, and there remain 

 dormant for some time. When they do germinate 

 they give rise to a number of fragile stem*, each 

 terminating in a globular head. In each globular 

 head vast numbers of spores arise which ai'e usually 

 set free at the time when the cereal blooms. The 

 spores are carried by the wind, and some of them, 

 coming in contact with the open blooms, stick to 

 their stigmas and again cause infection of the em- 

 bryos. Ergots are very poisonous, and rye bread 

 much infested has produced serious disease. Wheat 

 affected with Ergot should on no account be given to 

 poultry or cattle, unless it has been stored some time, 

 when the poisonous qualities will have greatly 

 diminished. 



Fig. 22.— Ergot (fitaviceps 

 purpurea) on Wheat heads. 



The ergots or sclerotia will not germinate if sufficiently covered with 

 earth, hence the stubble of an infected crop should be deeply ploughed, so 

 that the ergots lying upon the ground are buried. Ergots or portions 

 thereof should be separated from harvested wdieat grain by sifting. 



