252 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
be gradually accustomed to a short aud fine 
pasture, until they will thrive on that alone. 
_ .-. hi — »-» 
About Smutty Corn. 
The smut in Indian corn, which lias long 
been an annoyance to farmers, possesses an ad- 
ditional interest, now that serious and fatal cat- 
Fig. 3. 
the ergot of rve is 
Fig. 1. — smuttt cokn — young. 
tie diseases hare been traced to the use of corn 
affected by smut. Smut is the work of a micro- 
scopic fungus, one of those obscure forms of 
vegetation which, like mil- 
dew, lives within and upon 
the tissues of other plants. 
The presence of these fungi 
in grains not only often 
causes them to totally 
change their shape, but 
they take on properties en- 
tirely foreign to the grain 
in its natural state. Thus, 
a grain, which by the pres- 
ence of a small fungus becomes different in ap- 
pearance from an ordinary grain of rye, and 
possesses medicinal and poisonous properties 
which arc among the 
most remarkable of 
those known to medical 
men. Other grains are 
known to be similarly 
changed, and it would 
not be at all strange to 
find that Indian corn, 
when it is attacked by 
a fungus growth, is del- 
eterious in a marked 
degree. The trouble in 
corn first manifests it- 
self in a remarkable dis- 
tortion of the young 
kernels. They swell out 
into enormous leathery 
bags, which assume a 
peculiar lead color, and 
ultimately burst open 
and discharge a brown- 
ish black powder, or 
"smut." This powder is 
the reproductive grains 
or spores of the fungus 
which has done the mis- 
chief, and is all of the 
plant that can be seen by those not skilled in mi- 
croscopical observations. The appearance of the 
diseased grains is well shown in figure 1, which 
is from an engraving by Faguet. Figure 2 
AN OLD EAR. 
shows a very young grain, with its envelops or 
chaff cut across, to exhibit the internal disorgan- 
ization which takes place. In fig. 3 we have the 
appearance of an ear of smutty 
corn, much reduced in size, 
taken from the stack from 
which some animals in Massa- 
chusetts were fed with fatal re- ^' 
suits. Observations are needed to decide 
whether the injury to cattle is due to eating 
corn that has been changed by the fungus, 
or whether the spores, the "smut," themselves 
are deleterious. The subject is one of great im- 
portance, and it is to be regretted that in this 
country we have no botanist who has made 
these minute plants, of which the smut is one 
among hundreds, a special study. The spores 
or smut grains, when magnified, are found to 
be beset with numerous points, as shown in fig- 
ure 4 The name of the fungus is Uniting/) 
Maydis : the genus JJstttago has species which 
produce smut in wheat and other grain, as well 
as in plants not at all related to the cereals. 
Moist seasons are peculiarly favorable to the 
development of these small fungi, and we often 
find smut quite prevalent in one season, while 
the same farm may be free from it the next. It 
is quite probable that the same treatment that is 
used for seed wheat to prevent smut, if generally 
applied to seed corn, would do much towards 
preventing its occurrence. This is, to wet the 
corn before sowing with a solution of sulphate 
of copper (blue vitriol), and dry it with lime. 
. -m— «»- i ■ 
Hay and Grain Wagons. 
Every farmer needs a " rack " of some sort 
to transport hay, grain, and straw. Very simple 
ones are for many purposes quite as good as 
more complicated affairs, provided the hay, etc., 
is not to be moved over very uneven ground, or 
to be exposed to the casualties of village or 
city streets. In proportion, however, as the 
loads are likely to be shaken and roughly han- 
dled, substantial "racks," or "ladders," are 
necessary. The patterns are numerous. "We 
"■avc in the May Agriculturist a description of 
a Pennsylvania hay wagon of simple construc- 
tion, and herewith we show one frequently seen 
and used in Rockland County, N. T. The one 
from which the picture was taken is owned by 
Mr. J. W. Haring. of Rockland. 
It requires a fair mechanic to 
make a good one, and it is g 
lather heavy, but a single able 
man can put it upon the run- 
ning gear. The ladder in front 
and the two rear poles may be 
removed. The former is hing- 
ed to the frame and is laid 
down when the wagon is driv- 
en without a load. The poles 
may be unstepped and laid in 
the bottom. The rest is all 
fastened together. There is a 
frame as long as will go well 
on the wagon, and this rests 
upon the bolsters ; raised a foot 
or 14 inches above this, at both 
front and rear ends, are two 
cross-pieces, aud there are two 
others crossing the middle of the frame. These 
four cross-pieces extend beyond the wheels, and 
decide the width of the hay rack, which may be 
greater or less, according to the width of the 
track, the size of the wagon, and the size of the 
door and gateways the wagon is expected to 
pass with a load. Between these cross-beams 
on each side, connecting those before and behind 
the fore aud hind wheels respectively, pass three 
steamed and bent strips of three-quarter-inch 
oak about three inches wide, and three inches 
apart, in the manner shown in the engraving. 
These are connected at about the middle by one 
or two strips bolted to them, and the two mid- 
dle cross-pieces are connected on each side by 
slats laid between the curved wheel-guard pieces, 
as shown in figure 2. This also shows the man- 
ner in which the wheel-guard strips are usually 
bolted to the cross-pieces. 
Altogether this forms one of the safest, and 
handiest wagons for carrying hay, etc., we know 
of, especially where a great deal of this bu^ness 
Fig. 
-CONNECTION OP WnEEL-GUARDS. 
isto be done. It is not a "rigging" to be thrown 
on and off, but it is easily adapted to any wagon, 
and forms a rack which will safely carry all 
that two horses ought to draw, over any road 
they ought to draw it. 
Dimsmionx. — The entire length of the rack 
from which our drawing was taken is 12 feet; 
its width 6'| a feet. The rear poles are 6 feet 
long, and the ladder in front is 6'|a feet high. 
The pieces comprising the frame, which is of 
oak, are 2'| 4 x3'| 2 -inch stuff. The cross- 
pieces which support the wheel-guards are 3x3- 
inch strips, 6'|a feet long. The cross-piece at 
the extreme rear — which projects on each side 
beyond the beams or bed-pieces, forming belay- 
ing pins to bind the pole rope to — is l 3 '| 4 x 1 inch. 
The wheel-guard strips are 2'|j inches wide, 
and a |i inch thick. The ladder is furnished 
with four cross-pieces; the outer uprights are 
3xl'| 4 inches. These are hinged to the bed- 
pieces of the frame by an iron rod, passing 
through both frame and uprights, and secured 
by a nut. The inner uprights are 3 inches by 1 
inch: the cross-pieces 2'| s inches wide, and 3 I. 
inch thick. They are each cut out a little in 
the middle to receive the but of the'pole used 
for binding on the load. The front aud rear 
ROCKLAND CO. HAT WAGON. 
cross-pieces supporting the wheel-guards are 
raised one foot above the frame by posts, mor- 
tised into both frame and cross-piece, and braced 
with strong iron braces. A tool-box is fastened 
to the front of the frame, which has its hinges 
in front, so that it may be the more readily 
opened when the wagon is loaded with hay 
