ON THE TRAIL OF THE FUSARIUM SPORE 157 



must be able to determine that, or the corn will be 

 ruined after it is planted in the ground. There is 

 only one thing to do : Run another test of these dis- 

 eased ears through the germinator, and treat the 

 kernels in various ways before placing them in the 

 germinator, in order to determine where that villain 

 is in hiding." 



Again selecting the ears which were badly infected, 

 he took ten kernels from one and subjected them to 

 boiling water for a moment. Another set he used a 

 flame on, to destroy any spores on the surface; for 

 another set he used sulphur fumes, while on other 

 sets he dropped the kernels in acids of various kinds. 

 Then all these kernels with the various treatments 

 were placed in the germinator, and in a few days the 

 same pink mold began to develop. 



"Well, the trouble is not on the outside of the ker- 

 nel, it is on the inside," Farmer Good thoughtfully 

 commented to himself, "and it is evidently more 

 work for the microscope." 



Next, taking some of the diseased kernels, he cut 

 them in cross section with a sharp knife, and noted 

 the diseased series of starchy cells called the scutel- 

 lum, surrounding the embryo, or germ of the kernel. 

 He made some very thin cross section slides for the 

 microscope of this portion of the kernel, and after 



