Show corn smut wa will decrease yields disease Is caused by certain type of germ belong ing to molds the enlarged out growths or rails galls which may now be seen on oil the corn Is smut according to W K ii brentzel Dr entzel botanist and plant pathologist at the north dakota agricultural college this flits trouble he says la is somewhat similar to wheat smut although different in many important respects corn cora smut never goes to wheat and wheat smut never goes to corn seed deed treatment will control covered smut of wheat but tins has no value in the control of corn smut this disease Is s caused by a certain type of germ belonging to the class known ns as molds these germs may now b be e seen as a black powder falling from the corn smut galls they pass from froin one season into the next by wintering over in old diseased stalks sometimes in the soil and may also live in manure tor for several months during the summer while the corn Is growing the smut gernis germs move about as dust in the winds and find lodging on the corn the funnel shaped pock ets in the tops of corn and the pockets at the base of the leaves collect dust and water when the germs or spores lodge in pockets containing moisture they begin to grow and lo in it short while form the smut ball which we now see in the corn fields will grow on any part 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 total loss when other parts of the plants are smutted such euch as the leaves tassels cassels tas sels silks and nodes the amount of loss la Is hard to estimate often the plants are broken over sometimes by the excessive weight of the smut galls and so sometimes me by the weakening of parts where the smut growth comes out in one way or another smut Is causing heavy losses in some fields growers have asked whether silage made from these smutted ears and stalks will injure cattle it Is very true that these smut galls have an ugly appearance and some come may hesitate to feed them to a fine lot of cattle however so far as Is known corn smut has never caused any disease or ill effects when fed to cattle in experiments conducted by the experiment peri perl ment stations of south dakota kansas michigan and the united states department of agriculture eattle eattie were fed corn smut in heavy amounts nm Gunts in no case was any injury done to the cattle resulting from the mut only known know n remedy the only remedy known to avoid losses to the crop Is to destroy the nea nearby rby source of the disease tor for the next year in fields where this means of control Is impractical it Is necessary to rotate crops smut resistant corns have not been developed yet but plant breeders bleeders bre eders are having some success in this direction it Is hoped that to in the near future we may have developed a variety of corn which will resist smut |