216 



FUXGI AXD FUXGICIDES 



ease. According to Professor Biirrill^ crops are some- 

 times injured in tlie way described on land not previ- 

 onsly planted with sorghum or broomcorn ; but the 

 danger is invariably less/'' and ^'field practice has given 

 excellent demonstration of this system of management. '^^ 

 It is also advisable to burn refuse stalks and stubble, so 

 far as is practicable. 



Literature. — Professor Burrill's article was pub- 

 lished in the Proceedings of the Eiglith Annual meeting 

 of the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science 

 (1887, pp. 30-36). Messrs. Kellerman and Swingle 

 have published their results in the report of the Kansas 

 Experiment Station (1888, pp. 281-302). An additional 

 note occurs in the Journal of Mycology for December^ 

 1889 (v. 5, pp. 195-199). 



The Grain Smut of Sorghum 



Ustilago sorglii 



The individual seeds of sorghum heads are some- 

 times attacked by smut. Such seeds become greatly 

 swollen — especially lengthwise — and consist of a grayish 

 outer membrane surrounding a mass of dark powder. 

 The disease is illustrated and briefly deccribed by Pro- 

 fessor Kellerman, in Bulletin Xo. 23 of the Kansas Ex- 

 periment Station. 



The Head Smut of Sorghum 



Ustilago reiliana 



This disease differs from the last in that the whole 

 head of the sorghum stalk is usually diseased, beings 

 converted into a large, continuous, or lobulated mass 

 covered with a white membrane. The latter soon rup- 

 tures and exposes the black, powdery mass of spores.'^ 

 This fungus is discussed and figured in the bulletin 

 above mentioned. 



