4 1 2 MAIZE 



CHAP, says an American writer, do not begin picking smutty ears until 

 it is too late, when the sooty spores have already begun to be 

 scattered by the wind and to infect the ground ; if the work is 

 begun earlier in the season, and all plants showing the small 

 pustules on the young tender parts of the plant are gathered 

 and burned, the enormous crop of spores which would other- 

 wise be produced will be prevented from coming to maturity. 

 The ear, when it is first affected, appears as a white malformed 

 mass, sometimes the whole ear, sometimes a part only of the 

 grains, being changed ; the white mass gradually grows darker, 

 finally becoming brownish-black and powdery ; on the tassels 

 the swellings are not so large, and on the stem and leaf their 

 size varies greatly {Weed, i). 



"Where domestic animals are allowed to eat smut in the 

 field they become the carriers of the spores, and their drop- 

 pings, filled with the still living spores, become the centres of 

 infection. No animal should be permitted to eat smutted 

 corn, even though the owner be convinced of its harmlessness 

 to the animal itself. The harm lies in the distribution of the 

 spores, which are little, if at all, injured by passing through the 

 alimentary canals of animals " {Bessey, quoted by Anon., 3). 



Many farmers believe that corn smut is injurious when eaten 

 by cattle. Cases of death attributed to this cause are not 

 common, however, and feeding experiments made by Professors 

 Gamgee, Henry, and others, indicate that the amount of smut 

 which cattle are likely to eat, under ordinary circumstances, 

 would do little, if any, injury {Weed, quoted by Anon., 3). 



The only other known host plant of Sorosporium reilianum 

 is teosinte {Euchlmna mexieana), which suggests the near re- 

 lationship of the latter to Zea Mays. 



365. Leaf Scorch or Maize " Blight".— Leaf scorch or 

 maize " blight," H elminthosporium turcicum Pass., is a fungus 

 parasite common on the leaves of the maize plant in South 

 Africa, "forming somewhat elongated, reddish-brown areas". 

 It is said to commonly attack the plant also in Southern 

 Europe, Queensland, and the United States. This fungus is 

 sometimes discussed in the literature under the names 

 H elminthosporium inconspicuum Cooke and Ellis, Helminthos- 

 porium graminnm Rah, and "leaf-blight fungus". In the 



