EXPERIMENTS IN FORCING VEGETABLES. By James Troop. In 1898 the first series of experiments were carried on in sub vs. surface irrigation of lettuce and tomatoes. The beds for tomatoes being four and one-third feet wide by 25 feet in length. One of these was lined with zinc, and a layer of soft brick, leaving a space of five inches above the bricks for soil. Water was applied from below. The other was five inches deep, filled with soil and watered entirely from the surface. The beds for lettuce were of the same dimensions and arranged in the same manner, and the water applied as in the case of the tomatoes. During the winter of 1899, the same beds were used and also an additional bed watered by means of a coil of water pipes punctured at intervals of 18 inches with small holes for the distribution of water which was forced through the pipes by means of a hose attached to a hydrant. While the results of this method were very satisfactory, they were not entirely so, the water not being distributed so evenly as in case of the soft bricks. While the results of the first trial were decidedly in favor of the sub-irrigated plants, the results during the present season in the tomato test show a larger yield in ounces per plant as well as a larger number of fruits per plant on the surface irrigated bed. This holds true with both varieties used, viz: Lorillard and Stone. In the experiment with fertilizers in varying amounts upon lettuce in the forcing house, the bed was divided into five plats, ordinary garden soil being used, and the following amounts of fertilizers used on each plat: Plat 1.-One ounce nitrate of soda; two ounces acid phosphate; three ounces ground bone and one ounce muriate of potash. Plat 2.-One ounce of nitrate of soda; two ounces of ground bone; one ounce of muriate of potash. Plat 3-Two ounces ground bone; one ounce muriate of potash. Plat 4-One ounce nitrate of soda. Plat 5.-No fertilizer. An accident to a single plant in plat 1, caused a falling off in the weight of that plat. Experiment with fertilizers on peas, sowed June 10. Plat 1. Three ounces of nitrate of soda; six ounces ground bone; three ounces muriate of potash. Plat 2.--Six ounces acid phosphate; six ounces ground bone; three ounces nitrate of soda. Plat 3.-Three ounces muriate of potash; three ounces nitrate of soda. Plat 4-Without fertilizer. Average height of vines Jan. 23, 1899. CORN SMUT, By J. C. Arthur and Wm. Stuart. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Every farmer in Indiana is thoroughly familiar with corn smut. It is a disease occurring to some extent wherever Indian corn is grown, in the old world as well as in the new; but it appears to be especially abundant and harmful in Indiana and sonie other middle western States. Unlike the smut of the smaller grains, that of corn may show upon any and every part of the plant above ground. In estimates made in 1895 in fields of several acres near the Experiment Station the percentage of plants showing smut ranged from 5 to 12, as shown in table XXXIX, with only between one and two per cent of the ears destroyed. These figures appear to represent about the abundance of corn smut in ordinary years througout the State. This is for dent corn; sweet corn is usually more susceptible to the disease, although a late planted field of Stowell's Evergreen, near the Station, surrounded by fields of dent corn, proved to be very low in smut (see table XXXIX) in a count made in 1895. Reports have come to the Station a number of times regarding severe injuries to sweet corn, but it has not been possible to secure exact data. A correspondent in Northern Indiana recently wrote to us, saying: "We have a very early and choice kind of sweet corn, which we have been growing for several years; but during the last two or three years the smut has been increasing on the ears, until last year (1898) the corn was almost worthless." In Iowa, a loss of as much as two-thirds of a crop has been recorded. 1 Confining ourselves to the common field corn of this State, which is nearly always some variety of the dent group, flint corn being little grown, it may be stated with every likelihood of meeting the views generally held by farmers, that the smut of corn is a prevalent disease, that it causes some loss of the crop every year, that the loss is occasionally considerable, and that at all imes its presence in the corn field is objectionable. If we assume that only one ear in two square rods is destroyed, it will mean a loss of about one per cent., which is probably a low estimate for the State, and especially low for some sections of it. Taking official statistics as a basis, the yield of corn has been a 1Bessey, Bull. Neb. Exper. Sta., No. 11, p. 17. 1889. little over 30 bushels to the acre for Indiana (1887-1897), whic:: may be fairly valued at 33 1-3 cents per bushel, or $10.00 per acre; although it is to be remembered that in some of the more fruitful counties the returns are much larger than this. If we assume the low estimate of one per cent. of loss of ears by smut, it amounts to ten cents per acre, or a total of over $375,000 a year on an average for the whole State. The real loss is probably twice as great as this, or more, at least for most years, but the intention is to use figures well within the actuality. To this estimate we must add the loss which comes from the weakening of the plants, and the consequent decreased yield when the smut develops upon other parts of the plant beside the ear, which is often doubtless considerable. Furthermore, some account is to TABLE XXXIX. Percentage of smutted plants in corn fields near LaFayette, Ind., in 1895. be taken of the possible injury to stock from eating the smutted fodder. Altogether, from these facts, we may safely conclude that the farmers of the State will find it to their interests to examine this subject and take suitable precautions against the pest. There is but one kind of corn smut occurring in the State, although other kinds are known elsewhere. It makes its appearance on any part of the plant above ground, from the time the plant is six inches high to maturity, but is most noticeable and injurious when in the ear. The disease first shows as a swelling that becomes pale and watery as it grows, and is soon covered with a thin white membrane. As the spores begin to ripen, the interior becomes blackish, and finally the whole mass turns to a black powder, loosely held in place by a small amount of fibrous material. The smut masses, or pustules, range from an inch or two in diameter on stalks, leaves and tassels, to six or eight inches in diameter, being largest on the ears. The smut disease is due to a parasitic fungus, whose thready growth ramifies among the tissues of the corn plant, absorbs its sap, and through irritation of the parts causes an abnormal pustuiar development. When the fungus matures it is almost wholly converted into innumerable spores, individually microscopic, but together forming quantities of a greasy black powder. These powdery spores propagate the disease from year to year. INITIAL EXPERIMENTS TO PREVENT SMUT. The prominence of corn smut early induced the Botanical Department of the Station to examine into the probability of discovering some preventive or palliative remedy for it. From the general similarity of the smuts of oats and wheat to that of corn. it was a natural inference, afterward found to be entirely fallacious, that what would prevent smut in the small grains would also do so in corn. Therefore, when the Jensen hot water method for preventing cereal smut was being studied, its application to corn was also thoroughly tested. TABLE XL. Treatment of seed corn with hot water to prevent smut. Sum of controls 121 7200 7.78 1.31 The supposition was that if smut in oats and wheat could be prevented by treating the seed grain to a bath in hot water at a temperature that would kill the smut spores and leave the grain uninjured, the same could be done with corn, and that it only needed a series of experiments to ascertain the required temperature. Although it was afterward found out that this procedure |