774 
THE 2. GARDENERS. CHRONICLE. 
(DECEMBER 18, 1875. 
secs eee ee AND EXPERI- 
ON ERGOT. 
By A. STEPHEN SU LEA, OF NORTH KINMUNDY.* 
THE present paper does not propose any micro- 
scopic siege of ergot, or of the structure of the 
from it. Indeed the drawings and 
descriptions of t Talasne (Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 
T V" little regarding structure to be added. 
The f Tulasne's drawings is, that they are too 
ade a neater job of the Claviceps than 
Nature. has d опор; 2k or Aquis. A his yertical section 
Wheat and Barley are very rarely ergotised, = m 
none of the Pw ^g Oats (Avena sativa, L.), o 
fatua, L.), or the ма орй ‘on үч 
ve кү sterilis, L.), 
ы Dog's- 
ver afforded 
n the — bert. though it 
abords and is у up with we much ergotised. 
Various species of Bromus are also proof against ppe 
rs помо (Fournal xà 
of Engla 
iy, I mongst "e. 
ego Bromus secalinus, L. ; s, L. ; B. pratensis, 
Ehr., but wit itho ut stating. Dy oci where those 
a point which deserves 
iu t of 
tacles al коз but as these conceptacles 
are scattered irr ly over the head, no section can 
cut them all through the centres at equal distances 
apart. 
What is here intended is simply to set down such 
facts in the life-history of ergot as I to hold true 
ch they were o 
rdeen and Келде shires 
to, about twenty of the a 
usually ergotised. In what way ergot has come to 
be ially associated with es I do not know ; at 
a very spurs; some none. 
ergot t found by me on xe € on a plant of 
a great — 
But if in remote times, or in other localities, or 
other countries, е is or was much more prevalent 
on ave than in the places named, certain conditions 
must ifferent, Are these conditi 
Association, of м 
offered a prize P^ 20 guineas t for i c best essay on 
the recent a of 
and 
n Rye and other 
ONIS DA in ne 25 ERGOT. 
which are most liable to ergot are the 
lium perenne, 
tail- (Phleum pratense, L.), Soft-grass (Holcus 
Wage L. A hora дне; (Anthoxanthum odoratum, 
others. yceria fl 
sais 
are more affected the followin 
season than othe e same district. I have 
seen this grass thickly ergotised at one end of a ditch, 
and wholly free at the other, not a hundred yards 
apart 
TH T grass (L 1 
of Gels, on public 
situations—in waste 
rat md oa aor damp arii md a - 
UIS d 
much exposed to the floating spores. The 
grass of the hay crops is never affected in 
because it is past flowering reri the Cart 
ceps is ripe. 
Ti have found the Cat's-tail-grass аса amr 
much ergot along the margin of er Don. 
хора where the spikes have been ue "down to 
the e or panicle is to the 
nd, the more it is tised. This 
miy be pert of the explanation of the greater 
valence of ergot on the short 
Rye. 
The Vernal-grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum) is most 
otised in shady places, ‘on the north 
pre- 
-strawed Continental 
in woods, ог on the 
to be looked into, since, ЕР а USt ыны ther Bromus, 
Dog’s-tail, or cereal Rye—is ergotised in one country, 
and not in a — some important fact will come out 
in the explanatio 
RELATION TO SEASON, 
The time of the year at which the grasses begin to 
be ccce epends vn e time at which the 
i i 25, 1874, I found a great 
many e of Madre fiuitans | in the sides of a half- 
v z siis a few days began to show s of growth, 
ight were covered with tiful speci- 
mi e same ditch, an 
an early s having 
very a and ‘apparently рут too little tegens 
for vigorous growing. А few ergots of mollis 
Som em еы nearly ripe, ste 
of half = inch in length, were ly 
ed. A month bus; on July 25, they had 
stained ie e size, so: upwards of an inch 
n length, ide them was in flo ith 
eile of the tore Wee On June "t 1875, the 
itch was more than an inch in 
fungus i sam 
length, bur although the grass was then in бон попе 
of the pen seemed to be yet attacked. 
ould, мее, appear that in the north-east of 
co ergotising begins after the middle of [еде 
ket, «as the LIS of Spleen which I 
of S« ber, 
Claviceps t to maturity, shows that when the early part 
of the 3 is dam d warm, ergotising may 
take place s er than when it is dry. 
It is abiit baisia biy the case that ergotised spikes 
. or panicles have flower t^, 
of the Vernal-grass which come up early are ergotised, 
no spores ar floating abroa: ey are flowering. 
As already noticed, the hay crops are past flowering 
before the y sei ; but the spikes 
of Lolium perenne which come up late, and stand 
тезү le or in little | groups in field or road, are sure to 
To what cause the greater prevalence of ergot on 
parts of 
real Rye i the Continent is attri- 
butable is a question quite within reach дег 
Mac Tulasne observes that in 1852 i 
collect at Beaumont.sur-Oise and іп ‘the 
chalky oe Paris and Versailles, 9 of ergot- 
ised grasses, the ergots of eac them in all states 
а deprlopment in the middle “of summer; which 
would seem to that, in France, i e at which 
Scotland 
it тА ee or rif the ergot | a fort- 
i е i on Seat К 
It is то nthat in the me old - enn this 
fertilised at a later 
ier do at present. In Tusser'stime мы элын to be 
sown in September, but it was also in several 
ofthe following months, while Barley was sown as 
late as May ; but autumn and spring-sown are flower 
where the spring sowing 
certain that in the old hus- 
hich i the corn 
about the same time, unles ess 
than it is is now. Mele Ju 
fangi (ch. vi) The 
grass is one of those most subject to ergot. The large 
area of uncultivated borders ve waste pasture land 
in early times also afforded ater facilities for the 
undist ds d growth of t Eur ile the want 
of drainage afforded n7 hal dm, аи damp bed most 
ы чам to the growth o 
one question here A which circumstance is it 
which 3 is favourable to the тог growt ergot in 
New Zealand, and which is it that 8 its 
growth on the Continent ? 
t seems ad. a affords a starting 
ground for inquiry—wherever ergot is prevalent on 
any grass, there that py “fertilise simultaneously 
with the dissemination of spo t 
fungus. If a climate som 
Scotland brings the sporing of the ergot fungus and 
the flowerin c Rye essary contem- 
poraniety, there is probably no cure in that place for 
ergot up ye. Since, if in Scotland, wh 
cultivation has drained the land and laid hold of the 
waste places, there is still a great deal of е the 
for п ; much more are there nurser nd 
damp, uncultivated grass lands in countries of a less 
adva к agriculture, The ploughing do g 
lands every few years in the course of rotation buries 
a great ded of ergot, which is thus entirely destroyed. 
lee x Es is pe pas and the 
ind which throw up seed-bearing spikes, 
dc eb has full €— of multiplying. 
of the reason wh 
as mie — in ‘einer 
states of agriculture than in the present 
е Carruthers’ rr ar Бы ji ses is 
the differences of opinion which exist in 
regard to the kind of макі most productive ofi ergot. 
* Ed wa. arroll, шу! їп prd € ergot is 
more frequent in dry than in wet seas n 
Mr. Carruthers obs ine that this reversing of 
English and Continental experience is probably мад is 
the normally moist atmospl ere of Irela 
ually ripe. о 
required while the e fungus i is growing, in didai to bring 
itt urity at a certain date. If this moisture is 
rior: the date of maturity will be retarded ; but 
now when the fun, is ri 
со tacles have risen above the general кәк the 
rable to 
toge Apr nd 
of the Рет and "the agencies by which they are 
sca pesi 
ncep 
question whether or dry wea! is favo 
== enium of а Claviceps from the ergot of 
Giyeetia fluitans, of one-twentieth of an inch in 
oak sacs of needle-shaped poa Before the 
is ripe the surface of th 
ripens each conceptacle rises in a jane E the 
surface a height equal to the breadth of that of it 
which a rs asa brown papilla. This Santa is 
part an inch. The length is 
about eighty times the y sehen 
MODE ОЕ DISSEMINATION, 
ро об the modes of the dissemination s cage 
Cooke and Berkeley's recent 
mode pecu ИРАН | ме 
EI to others of the same character, 
differ a little from any of these. 
inferred that 
above the ground, cannot be conveyed by wa 
oor. егне is generally бе 
I placed a lace а шде number of ergots, with many ripe 
fungi upon them, in a clear bottle, on a piece 
of ome cloth, etin anak held them up in the bright mii ris 
ery soon a here and there began to 
deliver a shower of arrows right out into the air. 
cing a blac d to the а the flights 
of bright needles could seu г seen wi те 
eye, coursing through the A: like Rd 
nows in a clear pool; no the right, now to rahe 
left, then upwards or ams es if under the in- 
fl rces different from 
