150 INDIAN CORN CULTURE. 



cent, but I have heard of cases in the year 1879 

 * * * where the damage amounted to one- 

 sixth." 



Smut said to be injurious.— Smut is gener- 

 ally thought by farmers to be injurious to live 

 stock, yet but little satisfactory evidence is at 

 hand to prove that such is the case, as it is com- 

 monly eaten. But three experiments on this 

 point have come to the writer's knowledge. Dr. 

 Gamgee for three weeks fed two healthy cows 

 on smut, wet and dry. The wet did no harm, 

 but a loss in weight followed the eating of the 

 dry. The animals had voracious appetites, 

 were fed three times per day, and ate from 3 to 

 12 oz. at a dose. In three weeks they ate 42 

 lbs. of smut.* Prof. Henry of the Wisconsin 

 experiment station performed a similar experi- 

 ment on two cows.f One cow ate as much as 

 32 oz. of smut in a day, and the other up to 64 

 oz. The latter cow died suddenly the next day 

 after eating a large amount of smut. Prof, 

 Henry attributes her death to having eaten 

 this, which is not strange. In making a post- 

 mortem examination no serious derangement 

 was found in the intestines, but Prof. Henry 

 thinks the brain was affected. An associated 

 press dispatch in the daily papers of Nov. 10, 



*Report Commissioner of Agriculture on Diseases of Cat- 

 tle in the United States, Washington, 1871, pp. 73-76. 

 tSree^r's Gazette, Oct, 10, 1894. 



