216 DISEASES OF FIELD & GARDEN CROPS. 



growths, as at A, B, C, D, twice or three times as long and 

 stout as the normal rye seeds. In old times the ergot was 

 supposed to be an unusually large and diseased rye grain. 

 If it grew on w r heat it was considered a somewhat large grain 

 of wheat, just as the galls known under ear-cockle were 

 at one time supposed to be unusually small and cockled 

 If we remove an ergot from a spike we shall see 



X 5 X 



FIG. 98. 



Ergots of Rye, and section. Twice the size of nature. 

 Lodicule of Eye. Enlarged 5 diameters. 



that its production has not materially injured the spike of 

 grain, and that its growth has been confined to the spike- 

 let from which it was taken. On looking at ergots with 

 a lens we see them, enlarged to twice their natural size, 

 as at Fig. 98. We notice that they are longitudinally 

 corrugated and minutely granular, often slightly split both 

 transversely and longitudinally, the cracks often showing 



