382 [ ASSEMBLY 
This fungus was easily transmitted to ripe tomatoes by punctur- 
ing the surface and inserting a few spores. The fungus established 
itself and produced a new crop of sporesin from three to four days. 
If this disease should become common it might prove a very 
troublesome one. Several other fungi appeared upon ripe tomatoes 
in the Station garden, but for the most part so late in the season 
that itis doubtful if thev are of much economic importance. 
Smut mw Oarts., 
Ustilago segetum, Pers. 
It is usually a difficult matter to arrive at any accurate estimate of 
the loss produced by fungi, being sometimes so great as to cause the 
total destruction of the crop, but more often an indefinite portion, 
very difficult to express in figures. In many instances it is looked 
upon as an inevitable accompaniment of cultivation, varying accord- 
ing to the season, and, therefore, to be taken as a matter of course. 
* The smut of wheat and oats, from its habit of destroying the 
whole head or panicle of the plant attacked, is an excellent fungus 
from which to derive data. By counting the number of healthy and 
of smutted culms over a certain area, we arrive at a perfectly accu- 
rate and just estimate of the loss produced by the smut. The follow- 
ing table shows the results obtained from counting the culms of 
_ oats in eight as widely separated areas as possible on the Station | 
farm. Numbers 1 and 2 were growing in the experimental plats, 
the others in different parts of the fields. 
Sq. ft. of Height | Number Per cent 
VARIETY. ground of culm. of culms. smutted. 
1. American Trinmph.... 182 44 in. 1237 10 
DPA BOaravol 2) radenaye. waren 132 48 > ae ob 
3. ‘New: Atistralian se 22-4 40 ioe 892 10.3 
A. New Australian 4.27... « 53 467° 1397 7 
5. New Australian ....... 40 46 * 1088 9.2 
6. New Australian ...... ; 40 36 131572 aie 
7. New Australian ..,.... 60 56 1748 3 te 
8. New Australian ....... 47 48 & 1183 10.2 




Total and average... 544 444in. 11,213 9.5 
SS at 


The total area counted, comprising two square rods, embraced 
every variation of soil and growth the farm afforded, and it is be- 
lieved that the counting of a greater area would not have materially 
affected the result. The appearance of smut as one passed through 
the fields was no greater than is usually to be seen in any part of 
the country, at least east of the western plains, and the result of the 
count, showing a total loss of nine and one-half per cent of smutted 
grain, is as much a surprise to the writer as it will doubtless be to 
