185 



The solutions experimented with were copper sulphate, " agricultural bluestone " 

 and iron sulphate, each of the strength of 1 pound to 8 gallons of water. 



The wheats used were White Connell, Red Fife, White Fife, Judket and Ladoga. 



The treatment was merely sprinkling the grain with the solution under trial, 

 and allowing it to dry spontaneously. 



The vitality of the wheat so treated was determined in the seed-testing house, 

 and samples of each forwarded to the experimental farms at Brandon, Manitoba, 

 and Indian Head, North- West Territories. Mr. Bedford, superintendent at Brandon, 

 reports that unfortunately owing to high winds that prevailed in the spring the 

 seed was blown out of the ground, though considerable care had been taken to 

 select a suitable plot for the experiment. Mr. Mackay, superintendent at Indian 

 Head, met with better fortune, and his results, obtained with great carefulness, are 

 now reported upon. 



The percentage of vitality and of strong and weak plants will be found here, 

 as also the number of growing plants upon the dates which head the columns. 



On the whole, these results corroborate those obtained last year, though the 

 differences in the percentages of vitality, in some instances, are not so marked. 

 This is probably due to the fact that the treatment this year was not so severe as in 

 8orae of the experiments of last season, in which the seed was allowed to dry 13 

 days before sowing. In these experiments the seed was planted immediately on 

 becoming dry. It would seem, both from the work of 1890 and 1891, that the 

 deterioration of vitality was to a certain degree measured by the length of time the 

 seed was allowed to dry after sprinkling with the copper solutions. 



The table makes clear that the ultimate effect upon the seed by solutions of 

 agricultural bluestone and iron sulphate, when used as explained and of the strength 

 given, is so small that it may be disregarded ; or, in other words, that owing to the 

 injui-y to the vitality being so slight, no objection could be raised to such treatment, 

 granting that it were eflScacious in preventing smut. 



The loss of vitality due to copper sulphate solution, averaging the above 

 experiments, is equal to 15 per cent. 



The retarding effect on the germination and growth of the young plant by 

 treatment with these solutions is again well brought out. This is most marked in 

 the case of copper sulphate and least in that of iron sulphate. That of the 

 agricultural bluestone is between the two, a position evidently the result of the 

 copper contained in this article. As remarked in my last report on this subject, the 

 plants from treated seeds become vigorous and robust after the roots had assumed 

 their functional activity. 



Effect on the Prevention of Smut. 



Three ounces of each sample of grain, treated and untreated, were sent, in 

 March last, to Mr. Angus Mackay, Superintendent, experimental farm, Indian 

 Head. N.W.T., with a request that they be sown on 100 square feet of soil (at the 

 rate of IJ to 1^ bushels to the acre), and the good and smutty heads thereon counted 

 before harvesting. Mr. Mackay has very carefully conducted this work, and I now 

 giv« his results : 



