64 OUR FARM CROPS. 



wheat are known by the names of "smut," "bunt/' 

 "rust," "mildew," &c. These are all due to the exist- 

 ence of a parasitic epiphytal fungus attacking the plant 

 in different parts of its structure 1 and at different stages of 

 its growth, each interfering with the healthy condition of 

 the plant, and, consequently, affecting more or less its 

 productive powers. 



"Smut" and "bunt" may be considered first, as they 

 more directly tell upon the produce of a crop, by destroy- 

 ing the seed in all the ears that are affected by them. 

 These two are very different in appearance and in their 

 mode of attack, though they are frequently confounded 

 with each other, the two forms of disease being indiscri- 

 minately known as "bunt" or "smut" in different parts 

 of the country. 2 



" Smut," or " dust-brand," as it is sometimes called, is 

 known to the cryptogamic botanist as the Uredo segetum. 

 This minute fungus, according to Brogniart, destroys the 

 ear by first occasioning a decay in the innermost part of the 

 flowers, whilst the pedicels become swollen and very fleshy. 

 The fungus then feeds on this fleshy mass, and at length 

 shows itself between the chaff-scales in the form of a black 

 or dark brown soot-like powder. 3 At first the form of the 

 ear is pretty well preserved; as the fungus matures, its 

 spores are cast off, and generally by the time the crop is 

 fit for harvest they are all separated and dispersed, the 

 stem standing erect without a single grain or seed upon 



1 " They affect every part of the plant which is sufficiently succulent to 

 admit of their mycelium. Not only the leaves and stems, but the flowers 

 themselves, the stamens, anthers, and the inmost recesses of the seeds, are in 

 turn affected." Outlines of Cryptogamic Botany, p. 320. 



2 This indefinite nomenclature is very unsatisfactory. Our great authori- 

 ties Berkeley and Henslow clearly define them, and describe their different 

 characters, while by practical men the term " smut" is universally applied to 

 the effects of the " bunt" fungus, U. fcetida. Science and practice ought to 

 understand each other better than this. 



3 Ad. Brogniart, Annales des Sciences, vol. xx. p. 121. 



