DISEASES AND PESTS OF THE MAIZE CROP 411 



X. 



to affect 2 per cent of the plants in several crops of maize ; chap. 

 2 per cent on a 10 muid per acre yield means a loss of 2 muids 

 from every 10 acres, or 20 muids from I OO acres, which at 8s. 

 per muid amounts to £S. The general average of infected 

 plants in the United States crops is said not to exceed 1 or 2 

 per cent ; but Prof. Brewer reports having heard of cases of 



,'1 



; 4g 



■■ . :•,■ I 





Fig. 15S. — Maize smut or brand on the ear. 



16 per cent, and Prof. Bessey states that in a garden where 

 sugar maize had been grown for several years in succession, 

 66 per cent of the crop was destroyed by smut in one season 

 {Weed, 1). 



Maize smut is quite a different fungus from the smut of 

 wheat, oats, etc. ; it gains access to the plant in a different way, 

 and is not controlled by dipping seed in bluestone or formalin 

 solutions but by destruction of infected plants. Most people, 



