()6 OUR FARM CROPS. 



not for the ready consumption of that (in this case) useful 

 panary compound called gingerbread, there would be 

 great difficulty in working up this infected grain; as it is, 

 however, both the dark colour and the offensive smell are 

 covered up by the treacle and condiments which give 

 gingerbread its distinctive character. 



These two forms of diseases resemble each other so much 

 in their individual characters and mode of attack, that 

 the same remedy has been recommended for both namely, 

 that of steeping the grain previous to sowing, so that we 

 may, as far as possible, prevent the chance of sowing the 

 seeds of the crop and of the disease at the same time. 1 The 

 various steeps used have been already described (page 23), 

 and we have now to consider their modus operandi. 



The sporules, or seeds of the fungus, infinitely minute 

 in themselves, are attached together by an equally minute 

 filamentous process (mycelium), and are covered by a 

 substance of an oleaginous character, which attaches them 

 to anjrthing with which they come in contact, at the same 

 time probably acting as a preservative to them while in 

 the soil. By immersing the seed-corn in a steep solution, 

 either the germ of the sporule is destroyed, as is probably 

 the case with the mineral solutions (those containing blue 

 vitriol, arsenic, &c.) ; or, if an alkaline steep is used, the 

 oily matter which attaches the sporule to the grain is 

 saponified and dissolved, and the grain is freed from the 

 germ, which is either left in the steep solution, or, if any 

 portion be carried out with the grain, it rarely vegetates, 

 but, being deprived of its oily covering, undergoes decom- 

 position itself in the soil. 



Steeping seed-grain probably acts beneficially in another 

 way also, by destroying the germinative powers of injured 



1 Steeping does not appear to be so effective in the first as in the latter case, 

 probably owing to the earlier maturity and dispersion in the soil of the sporules 

 of the U. segetum. 



