82 Stinking Smut or Bunt in W'licat. 



returned, found that all his fifty pigeons were laying, with the exception of 

 the pair fed on smutty wheat, even although they were now being fed on 

 clean wheat. 



Legislation Eelating to Plant Diseases. 



A cargo of wheat was shipped to Victoria from Tasmania in which not only 

 every grain was densely coated with the spores of stinking smut, but the balls 

 containing millions of spores were freely scattered through it. Although 

 there was plenty of smutty wheat within our own borders, it was not deemed 

 advisable to admit it from a neighbouring State, so it was refused admission 

 under the Health Act as being unfit for use as human food in that condition. 

 But the importers, taking advantage of the absence of legislation on the 

 subject, labelled it as " Fowl's feed," and there was no law to prevent this. 

 Here was evidently a case where it was necessary to protect ourselves against 

 the introduction of grain which was proved to be injurious even to fowls, not 

 only as regards their general health, but seriously interfering with their 

 laying capacity. Accordingly a proclamation was issued under the authority 

 of the Governor in Council, whereby this particular disease was brought under 

 the Vegetation Diseases Act, and thus any further importations of that nature 

 were rigidly excluded. 



This instance clearly shows the necessity for each State having the power 

 to protect itself, and prohibit the importation of diseased plants or parts of 

 plants, and not only so, but for the Commonwealth to have the power of 

 excluding any plants which might be the means of introducing disease into 

 Austraha. There are at present legal means in existence for accomphsh- 

 ing this end — the Vegetation Diseases Act in each State and the Quarantine 

 Act for the Commonwealth as a whole. 



Summary — Answers to Questions. 



This particular smut has been treated at some length, because it is the 

 form with which the farmer is most famihar, and it appeals to him as the type 

 of smuts in general. Therefore, it has been deemed advisable, by way of 

 summary, to conclude by clearly stating a number of questions which he 

 often, consciously or unconsciously, asks himself, and answering them as far 

 as observation and experiment will permit. 



It is of fundamental importance for him to realize at the outset that the 

 smut plant is a fungus which develops from spores that are the equivalent of 

 seeds in other plants so far as the propagation of the species is concerned, and 

 that this plant grows as a parasite within the wheat plant until it reaches 

 the grain, and there produces its fruit or masses of spores (ball smut), similar 

 to those from which it started. In order to grow and develop properly, this 

 smut plant is dependent on surrounding conditions, just as much as the wheat 

 plant itself, and if we understood those conditions, it w^ould explain why the 

 spores sometimes germinate and sometimes do not, why the smut plant some- 

 times reaches maturity and forms its spores, and sometimes does not, just 

 as the seed-wheat may or may not germinate and the seeedhng may or may 

 not reach maturity. 



It is also of prime importance to remember that the wheat is only infected 

 in the seedling stage, just as the young plant emerges from the seed beneath 

 the surface of the soil. Consequently, no infection can come through the 

 air, unless, indeed the grain germinates upon the surface of the ground, and 

 when it is properly planted, only the spores adhering to the seed or smut- 

 balls adjoining it can produce the disease. The farmer sometimes sees, or 

 fancies he sees, smut spores upon his fences, and when he has treated his wheat 

 after a fashion, and the smut still appears, he tells you that it was blown from 



