LOOSE SMUT OF WHEAT 213 



Swingle, Year Book, U.S. Dept. Agric., 1894, p. 414. 

 Close, JV. York State Stat. Bui. 131, p. 441. 



LOOSE SMUT OF WHEAT 



(Ustilago tritid, Jensen.) 



This fungus attacks the grain and also the chaff, 

 destroying the whole, and forming a loose black, dirty 

 mass, which usually disappears before harvest-time, leaving 

 only the stalk of the ear. The powder is not foetid. 



Var. folicola (P. Henn.) develops on the leaf and leaf- 

 sheath of wheat, and is not uncommon in Egypt. 



PREVENTIVE MEANS. A difficult disease to combat, the 

 ordinary hot-water method not being effective, neither is 

 the bluestone method. Kellerman and Swingle state that 

 certain forms of hot-water treatment are effective, but 

 these injure the germinative power of the seed. The 

 safest method is to obtain seed from a locality free from 

 the disease. 



MAIZE SMUT 



(Ustilago mays zeae, Magnus.) 



This disease appears to occur wherever maize or Indian 

 corn is cultivated, and has received attention from 

 scientists for a long time past, Brefeld, however, having 

 contributed most towards a correct knowledge of its life- 

 history. The disease usually appears first on the leaves, 

 and not before the plant is about a yard high ; afterwards 

 at the junction of leaf-sheath and blade ; finally the ear of 

 corn is attacked. In some instances one or other alone 



