THE RELATION OF EAR ROT PREVALENCE 
IN ILLINOIS COWT FIELDS TO EAR COVERAGE BY HUSKS 
In the fall of 1930, while examining Illinois corn fields to determine the 
prevalence of disease, casual observation seemed to indicate to the writer that ears 
poorly covered by husks were much more readily infected by ee coradoa ise fungi than 
hose that were well covered, In the main, ear rots are caused by fungi, the spores 
of which are carried directly to the ears by various agencies, chiefly the wind, 
although some infection results from the fungi which grow from the stalk into the 
ear, An ear completely enclosed by its husks during the entire course of its devel- 
opment would appear to have bcen protected from external infection, while an ear not 
completely covered would appear to have been exposed to external infection. Yet ears 
poorly covered ofton escape infection and Ry well covered cars become infected. 
It scemed worthwhile, therefore, to determine whether any relation does 
exist between husk coverage of the corn ear and the prevalence of ear rots in Illi- 
nois corn fields. Data bearing on this point have been accumulated by direct field 
examination during the 5-year period, 1931-1935, and a total of 57,595 ears have been 
examined in 297 fields. Corn fields have been exariined each year in all parts of the 
state, except in 1931, when only fields in the central part were examined, The num- 
ber of fields ond the number of ears examined have varied from year to year, as shown 
in Table 1, but in general both the number of fields and the number of ears examined 
tended to be greater in each succeeding year. Records for the entire period show 
