98 
N. C. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
evidence of the plant or the fungus then is the sclerotia, many of which 
are produced in each sick plant. 
The sclerotium germinates under suitable conditions, usually after a 
lapse of several months to nearly a year, under field conditions. This 
it does by sending forth several thread-like sprouts about one-thirty- 
second of an inch in thickness. These spiouts expand at the end de¬ 
veloping a horn-like or cornucopia-like disk (Fig. 5) called the apothe- 
Fig. 5.—Sclerotia-bearing disks; natural size. 
cium. This apothecium is, in the field, borne just at the surface of 
the ground with its face directed upward. 
_ Microscopic examination of the apothecium shows its disks to con¬ 
sist of two parts: (1) lower basal part supporting (2) an upper layer 
which consists of very numerous small slender tubular bags, or sacs, 
the asci. (Fig. 6.) Each ascus when mature contains eight small 
Fig. 6.— Asci and paraphysea in various stages of development. 
oval bodies (Fig. 6) the spores. It is seen then that the apothecium 
is essentially an organ whose function is to produce myriads of spores. 
M hen ripe these spores are ejected from the asci by pressure, being 
forced into the air often to a distance of several feet where, caught 
