HOW TO GROW GOOD CORN. 185 



germination when the seed is diseased or ill-formed ; 

 but if perfect seed be always employed, no pickling 

 at all is necessary, it being strictly true that a 

 diseased progeny must result from an imperfect stock 

 in plants no less than in animals. 



We have said that bunt is not peculiar to any 

 climate: we have, however, always observed that 

 employing seed from a warm district on a cold one, 

 or using the finer white wheats in cold, exposed, or 

 ill-drained situations, is sure to produce a large 

 quantity of this fungus. Autumn-sown wheat, too, 

 is less liable to the infection than spring wheat, 

 which we attribute to the fact that many of the 

 weaker plants will succumb to the cold rain and 

 frost. 



3. TJredo rubigo (Red-rust, Red-rag, Red-robin) 

 makes its appearance in the inside of the chaff-scales, 

 and ultimately in the green epidermis of the growing 

 grains of wheat. Its first appearance is that of oval 

 pustules, caused by the raising of the skin, which, 

 ultimately bursting, shows the orange-coloured spores 

 of the epiphyte. This must not be confounded with 

 Cecidomyia tritioi (wheat-midge), the larvas of which 

 are of a bright orange-colour ; in the latter, the living 

 moving worms may be easily detected by any common 

 pocket lens or magnifying glass. Both these pests, 

 to which we would apply the distinctive terms of 

 livedo rubigo (red-rust) and Cecidomyia tritici (red- 

 gum), are exceedingly common in some seasons, and 

 not unfrequently in the same crop. Good deep cul- 

 tivation is the best remedy for the rust; but the 

 treatment of the fly is a different matter. "We would 

 suggest the burning of smother-heaps on calm days, 



