HOW TO GROW GOOD CORN. 201 



into ear and advancing to ripeness before the* aphis 

 has increased its countless broods ; so then we should 

 recommend early wheat sowing, wherever and when- 

 ever practicable, as a preventive of the pest ; in fact, 

 the being in good time with all farm work has every 

 advantage. 



5. The two affections of the grain in our table are 

 widely different in their modes of attack, but both 

 tend to lessen the quantity of produce. The first, the 

 Ear- Cockle ( Vitrio tritici) is an affection of the grain, 

 which at starting it will be well to distinguish from 

 smut or bunt. In the latter, the grain is filled with 

 what appears a black powder, the grains of which the 

 microscope shows to be a fungus;* whilst in the 

 cockle the seed, which is purple externally — hence 

 called " purples " — is filled with what appears to be 

 white cotton wool. This, under the microscope, has 

 the appearance of a multitude of eels. These are, 

 indeed, minute infusorial worms, and are exceedingly 

 curious ; the smallest portion of the cottony substance 

 taken on a pin's point and just moistened with water, 

 often showing thousands of the eels under a good in- 

 strument ; for drawings and descriptions of which and 

 good drawings (after Bauer), we should recommend 

 the reader to consult " Curtis's Farm Insects." A 

 damp season favours the production of these ; hence 

 drainage and such conditions as increase the effects 

 of damp and cold are to be guarded against, 



The Corn Moth is best known by the presence of a 

 small, slightly hairy maggot, which is found to eat 

 the flour from the grain ; this is the larva of a small 



* See ante, p. 183. 



