. 178 



The only fertilizer that showed any tendency to increase 

 the yield was kainit. This does not necessarily indidate that 

 the soil was more deficient in potash than in nitrogen and 

 phosphoric acid. The favorable result is probably due to thfr 

 effect of kainit on the moisture supply of the soil, a result 

 which would not necessarily be so noticeable in seasons of 

 normal rainfall. 



Prevention of Smut. 



Smut is the cause of much loss to those who grow oats in 

 all parts of the United States. We have seldom noticed in 

 Alabama a field of oats not treated for smut in which the 

 injury due to smut could be estimated at less than five per cent, 

 of the crop. In one locality visited just before the last crop 

 was harvested no field was seen in which the loss could be 

 estimated at less than twenty per cent, and in some fields it 

 was evidently more than forty per cent. 



There are several methods for treating smut. The one 

 which is used on the Station Farm with entire success and 

 which is believed to be the cheapest and the best for our 

 conditions is the Jensen treatment. This consists in keeping 

 the seed oats in hot water at a temperature of from 130 to 135 

 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 15 minutes. The temperature 

 kills the spores (so-called "seed") of the fungus which produces 

 smut but does not interfere with the germination of the oats. 



An experiment to determine the amount of injury from 

 smut was made on two plots of oats sown on poor sandy land 

 February 12, 1896. Equal quantities of seed oats were weigh- 

 ed out for the two plots. The seed for one plot was then 

 placed in water at a temperature of 130 to 135 degrees 

 Fahrenheit for ten minutes. The yield of oats was 13.1 

 bushels per acre with seed not treated, and 14.2 bushels with 

 scalded seed. This is a gain of 1.1 bushels per acre or about 

 eight per cent., obtaind at the cost of only a few minutes 

 labor. 



A careful coant was made of the sound and smutted 

 heads growing on measured and equal areas on each plot. 

 The average results showed that on the plot with seed not 



