190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan.. 



can raise them on this smutty ground and get good, fair- 

 sized onions, and there is no sign of smut whatever on those 

 onions. In regard to the seed which we raise from onions, I 

 have found, in my own experience, where it has been carried 

 west and sold, there has been no indication whatever of 

 smut. So I conclude that it is not carried in the seed. It 

 seems to be something, so far as onions are concerned, that 

 affects the young plant from the seed sown in the spring. 

 This is my experience, as far as I know in regard to it; and 

 the question I wanted answered was simply this — because it 

 makes quite a difference with us in raising our seed and sow- 

 ing it and selling it to our neighbors and friends — whether 

 onion seed raised on smutty ground can transmit smut else- 

 where through the country like a contagious disease in 

 animals ? 



Mr. Halsted. If I had a piece of ground, I should not 

 thank any one for bringing me any soil from a smut infested 

 field. I think that he would be liable to bring the onion smut, 

 in so far as he would bring with the soil the onion smut spores. 

 Now in regard to the carrying of the onion smut by means of 

 seed, I think that anything that is transmitted from one part 

 of tlie country to another is liable to take with it these little 

 germs of fungus life, and if the onion seed comes from an 

 onion field infected with smut, it would be much more apt to 

 take with it, adhering to the surface of the seed, the spores 

 of onion smut than anything else, and in that way it would 

 be taken from one part of the country to another. And, 

 further than that, it would be put into the soil with the onion 

 seed and in the best possible conditions, it may be, for de- 

 velopment. 



Mr. Jennings. Suppose that seed is thoroughly washed 

 with water, would that clean off the spores that would be 

 likely to adhere to it ? 



Mr. Halsted. One of the best things the seedsman could 

 do to prevent the spread of the onion smut would be to thor- 

 oughly wash the seed that he is distributing. My view is that 

 the spores adhere to the rough surface of the angular seed 

 of the onion. 



