Show corn arn smut will D decrease yields disease Is caused by certain type of germ belonging to molds the enlarged out but growths or galls which may now no w be seen on tile the corn co rn Is 19 smut according to IV W 13 Brent bruntzel zet botanist and plant path pathologist at the north dakota agricultural college this trouble ib lie bays Is somewhat v to wheat smut although different in many important respects corn smut never goes to wheat and wheat smut never goes to corn seed treatment will control covered smut of wheat but has no value in the control of corn smut this disease la caused by a eatn type of germ gerin belonging to tile the class clasa known it ns 3 molds these germs may now be seen as a binds binck powder falling front from the corn smut galls they pass from one season into the next b by y wintering over tn in old diseased stalks sometimes tn in tile the soil and may also live in manure for several months during tile the summer while the corn Is growing the smut germs gerins move about is HS dust tn in tile the winds and find lodging on the corn the funnel shaped pock eta in the tops of corn and the pockets at tile the base of the leaves collect lust dust and water when the germs or spores lodge in pockets containing moisture they begin to grow and in it a short while form the smut ball which wo we now see in hi the corn geld fields S will grow on any part carn corn smut Is not particular about which part of the plant to grow on when the parasite attacks the ears the grain usually Is a 1 total loss when other parts of the plants are smutted such as the leaves tassels cassels tas sels silks and nodes the amount of loss Is hard to estimate often tile the plants are broken over sometimes by the excessive weight of the smut galls and sometimes by thi the e weakening of parts where the smut growth comes out in one way or another smut Is causing heavy losses in some fields growers 0 rowers have asked whether silage made from those these smutted ears cars and stalks will injure cattle it Is very true that these smut galls have an ugly appearance and some may hesitate to feed them to a fine lot of cattle however so BO far fae as Is known corn smut hns has never caused any disease or ill effects when fed to cattle in experiments conducted Pon conducted ducted by the experiment peri pert ment stat stations loiis of south dakota kansas michigan and the united states department of agriculture cattle were fed corn amui smut in heavy amounts mounts i in no case wits was any injury done to the cattle resulting from the smut mul only known remedy the only remedy known to avoid losses to the crop la is to destroy the nearby carby source of th odeseas e disease for the next year in fields where this means of control Is impractical it t Is necessary to rotate crops smut r resistant esi stant corns have not been developed yet but plant breeders bleeders bre eders are having some gome success in this direction it Is hoped that bat in the near future we may have developed a variety of corn which will pill resist straut amut |