The Osceola times., 1876-08-12
Aaul In wheat.

When doctors disagree the patients
generally suffer. We publish below two
directly contradictory theories about
smut in wheat, both founded on fact,
and each having its scientific advocates.
II is well known what these scientists
say, but the practical farmer will be
sure to profit by experience, and soak
his wheat well in a strong solution OF
bluestone before sowing.
The New York Tribune says: A
great deal of nonsense is written in re-
ference to the cause of smut in wheat
and II is well to bear in mind that there
is in reality no question at all about it.
The fact that it is a parasitic fungus
{ Ustiiago segetuD,) is as well established
in botany AZ that mistletoe is parasite
on apple, oak, etc, and not an outgrowtl
OF the trees. That it propagates by dust
like pores, when the conditions arc
favorable, is also well established. Every
particle OF the brown black dust is {
spore or germ, each NO minute that eigh
millions could he placed side by side on
a square inch of surface. These foa
| through the air. attach themselves I,
the ripening grain, and are sown will
the seed, when they germinate; ant
after going through various stages of de
velopment in the tissues of the growing
grain plant imbuing them with it
poisonous qualities-reproduce fungu
like the parent, i. e, cause the ear Il
"smut." Hence the philosophy of th'
various washes with which the seed il
treated TO prevent smut, the object be
| ing TO destroy the vitality of the spores
| The fact of finding insects in such smut
| is no more evidence of its being caused
by them than the finding of them IN
black knot is or, TO put it more strong
ly, than the finding of mistletoe on .
| tree is proof that the tree was produced
from mistletoe. A little light-browr
beetle, not quite one tenth of an incl
long, with four squadrangularly arranged
balckish spots on its back Brachytarsm
rariegatus, Say), is fond Of breeding il
| different smuts, and can almost alway'
be found in them, either in the larva oI
beetle state.
But the Nashville American, equal,
as good authority, sayS:
The corn eel Anguil'unina tritici i
said to live not at the expense of an.
animal, large or small, but on the nutri
tive elements in the seeds of wheat, wheI
forming starch, gluten, albumen, an'
other substances, producing the diseas'
known by the name of smut. We con
fess some distrust of the truth Of thu
conclusions reached by Davaine, Bene
den, and Others, while we regard thes
authors rs high scientific authority
Speaking of this class of worms, the las
named author remarks: "One of tn
most remarkable is that which attack
"corn and wheat" and produces the dis
ease called smut, the corn eel. 1t is
very small and. thin, cylindrical worn
which dries up completely with tn
grain which nourished II, and which ca
remain for an indefinite period withou
dying, in state resembling dust. Ever
time it is moistened it resumes its az
tiyity. This return to life has bee
compared to kind of resurrection"
We should as soon believe that th
black dust or spores in ripe puff ba
are the eggs of an animal as the dry dus
in the seeds Of smut wheat; but if we,
ting the latter makes them lively,
ends the question.
Smut is an animal instead of veg,
table parasite. Needham in his "ne,
discoveries made with the miscroscope,
gives whole chapter TO these microscoI
ic eels The larva of another species
Anguiiiuia scandens, are dried in tn
gals inhabited by the mother. As 500
as these gals fall to the ground an
grow moist, the,larva revive and abando
their cradle to live in freedom. 500
after this they 60 in search of thei
plant, take it by storm, and penetrat
into the tissues before the period q
fccundation. Having become sexua
and fertilized, these microscopic mema
todes lay their eggs in nest formed a
the expense of the plant.