140 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



field. When this comes up all the flies for a great distance come in 

 and lay their eggs. At the regular sowing time turn this strip of wheat 

 under and roll down good, then sow the whole crop. The objection to 

 late sowing is that the wheat does not get suffieic^nt start to stand tin- 

 winter as it should. 



The wheat smuts, also, do considerable damage to this cro]), but 

 they can be largely controlled if one but takes the trouble. These 

 smuts are of two kinds, loose smut or the common black head which 

 appears in wheat, and stinking smut. The latter is not visible, l)ut is 

 found inside the grains of wheat, reducing the whole content to a mass 

 of black spores, which is extremely objectionable for flour making. The 

 spores are carried over in or on the kernels of wheat and can be closely 

 controlled by the formalin treatment. Immerse the seed wheat, after 

 fanning well, ixi a barrel containing a solution of formalin made by 

 adding 1 pound of formalin to 40 gallons of water. Skim off the grains 

 that float, as they are infected with the stinking smut. Spread the 

 good wheat on the floor to dry, and the whole treatment has been ac- 

 complished. 



Perhaps the greatest factor causing poor crops of wheat is lack of 

 preparation of the soil. Wheat ground should be plowed early if wheat 

 follows oats, in order that the connection between the subsoil and the 

 soil turned over may be resumed. It is not necessary to plow more 

 than four or five inches deep for wheat l)ecause it is a shallow rooted 

 crop. The main thing is to get the soil packed down and then a good 

 fine seedbed worked on top. The roller should be used freely on 

 wheat land. The writer has seen this spring numy fields of wheat 

 poorly plowed, huge clods showing and a poor stand of wheat nearly 

 dead. What was the matter? In the first place, the wheat did not 

 germinate well among the clods because wheat kernels are small and 

 cannot get moisture for germination but from fine dirt. In the second 

 place, the land was not compact and consequently the remaining wheat 

 was being heaved out and killed by the freezes and thaws. 



We may, then, sum up the whole situation by saying that the wheat 

 crop has been neglected for the sake of corn and bad results are fol- 

 lowing to both crops. It is important to rotate crops for the sake of 

 the productiveness of tlie soil. Study conditions and test out several 

 varieties, then grow the best one. The fly can be largely controlled 

 by sowing a "fly trap"; the smut can be killed in seed wheat wath 

 the formalin treatment; and, above all, better preparation of the wheat 

 land can be practiced. 



