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ANOTHER WORD ON THE CAUSE AND CURE 

 OF SMUT IN WHEAT 



Messrs. Editors : — I am an old Farmer, have been 

 in the business of cultivating wheal for more than 

 thirty years, and I have heretofore raised a large 

 quantity of smut. At times my wheat crop would be 

 one-third smut. I have tried all the preventives that 

 I have seen recommended in the Farmer, without an 

 entire cure ; but for the last ten years I have raised 

 no smut. I will now state my former practice when 

 I did raise srnut, and my present practice, and hope 

 other farmers will try the experiment, and I think 

 they will give up the practice of steeping their seed 

 wheat in any solution whatever ; neither will they 

 need a sieve to separate the large seed from the small ; 

 if it is ripe and sound it will not bring smut. 



I will now say that I formerly harvested my wheat 

 very green, or in other words, before it was fully ripe, 

 and made use of the same for seed, and from that 

 seed I always raised plenty of smut. At length my 

 bump of causality whispered to me, " You cut your 

 seed wheat too green," and from that time I have 

 selected the part of my wheat-field that ripens the 

 cvenest, and let it stand in the field until it is dead 

 ripe and until the heads appear weather-beaten, and 

 I have raised no smut since I followed the above rule. 



Some seasons my wheat does not ripen even, and 

 if I find a green head when I am cutting my seed 

 wheat, I throw it out : for I am fully of the opinion 

 that a small, unripe grain of wheat, if it vegetates at 

 all, will bring smut. Such a grain contains but a 

 very small particle of vitality, and a strong solution 

 of salt, vitriol, or lime will sometimes destroy that 

 vitality, so that the grain does not vegetate ; and 

 here is where farmers are mistaken — they suppose 

 they destroy the smut, when in fact it is the unripe, 

 sickly grain which produces smut, that they destroy. 



I say again to my brother farmers, t^y it, and my 

 word for it you will not be sorry. Jacob Loop. — 

 Pontine, Oak. Co., Mich., May, 1860. 



Several articles have appeared in the Genesee 

 Farmer, taking opposite views as to the origin of 

 smut. Without any endeavor to invalidate the the- 

 ory of J, H. H., it may be well and profitable to 

 examine the subject yet farther ; and for that pur- 

 pose the following facts and ideas are collected for 

 the consideration of farmers and others afliicted with 

 smut. 



There are various groups of plants too minute for 

 notice by casual observers, possessing a degree of 

 vitality, under the most unfavorable conditions, and 

 for a period, which claims our surprise. Of this class 

 are mosses, which may be dried and laid by for years, 

 and then if exposed to moisture, will, even in the late 

 winter months, spread out their leaves and push up 

 the seed vessels amid frost, and rain, and snow. 

 They are sometimes so completely dried by drouth 

 as to escape nolice ; and when in time they are mois- 

 tened by rain, they appear to clothe suddenly a spot 

 where they were never seen before. Another group 

 of plants, more simple than the mosses, is seen in 

 our far northern latitudes, but are noticed here to 

 convince my brother farmers of the necessity for 

 deeper study of our profession before we adopt any 



theory which has not the sanction of time and coien- 

 tific inquiry. I allude to a greenish or reddish slrnie 

 often seen on damp parts of hard surfaces, which, 

 when examined with a microscope, is found to con- 

 sist of minute cells, hardly connected, but imbedded 

 in a sort of jelly. It is this substance which some- 

 times appears on the surface of snow, tinging exten- 

 sive tracts with a deep crimson, and hence called 

 red snow. This sometimes appears so suddenly and 

 extensively as to induce the belief that it had fallen 

 from the clouds : but its growth and productiveness 

 are so rapid as easily to account for its appearance. 

 This plant exhibits probably the very simplest form 

 of vegetation ; it obtains its nourishment by absorb- 

 ing the fluid around, and grows and comes to matu- 

 rity by means of the air and moisture with which it 

 is in contact. 



Now, this red snow seems but one step lower than 

 the Fungi — a tribe of plants which includes mush- 

 rooms, toad-stools, puff'-balls, blight, mildew, mould, 

 and smut. These fungi differ, however, in their 

 habits and characteristics, and have been heretofore 

 too little heeded or observed by farmers. One char- 

 acteristic is, that they will not grow unless fed with 

 decaying animal or vegetable matter. And again, 

 there are particular species which will appear only 

 on particular substances — for instance, there is a 

 species of mould, or fungus, which grows only on the 

 surface of the dung of cats ; it is peculiar, and no 

 where else to be found. Many ethers might bo 

 named, but it is only necessary to say that tribes of 

 plants have their peculiar species of mould, or rust, 

 or smut. 



The oft repeated appearance of the most simple 

 fungi, such as mould and smut, upon all spots favor- 

 able to their development, has created the belief that 

 they were spontaneously produced ; but it is more 

 reasonable to account for their production and diftu- 

 sion by the means which nature has provided and 

 ado])ted. 



The fungi seem to direct all their energies to re- 

 production ; their size is diminutive, but the number 

 of germs are almost beyond computation. This is 

 strikingly the case in the puff ball when ripe ; the 

 dust which issues consists entirely of germs for re- 

 production, each and all ready to develop a new 

 fungus when meeting with a fit resting place. 

 When the puff-ball is broken, countless numbers of 

 these little seeds or germs are driven by the breeze 

 or float in the air. By an attempt to count the num- 

 ber of germs in a ball, ten millions were computed ; 

 but this was probably only an approximation. 



Not less minute are the seeds oi smut when exam- 

 ined by a powerful magnifier — the germs are distin- 

 guishable as easily as those of the puff-ball. Let 

 larmers examine smut for themselves, and if they 

 find the facts as above stated, is it not rational, nay 

 most rational, to believe that the seed thus profusely 

 produced is readily communicated from one plant to 

 another by adhesion of these minute seeds to the 

 grain when it is threshed, also entering into the 

 growing plants by their many pores, and surely it 

 must be liroaght in connexion with the seed when 

 sown, by the water of the soil trickling through it 

 and carrying with it the countless millions of fungi 

 seed which may have fallen from previous infected 

 crops. 



It may be objected, tljat the grain we sow can not 

 take up solid matter, such as seeds ; but when we 

 examine water which to the eye is clear, we find it 



