320 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



Smut. — Aside from the rust, the oat smut is the greatest enemy of 

 tiie plant. Smut affects the head, reducing grain and all to a black mass. 

 It sometimes attacks the head while still in the boot. In that case the 

 disease is not detected. Loss from smut often amounts to 25 per cent 

 of the total crop. The disease can be controlled by the formalin treat- 

 ment and the smutted heads reduced to less than 1 per cent. In an ex- 

 periment at Columbia the yield was increased ten bushels per acre by 

 treating the grain for smut. 



The treatment is simple. Prepare a solution by mixing one pound 

 of formalin, 40 per cent strong, with 40 or 50 gallons of water. After 

 fanning the seed oats spread them on a clean floor in a thin layer and 

 sprinkle with the solution until the oats will pack in the hand. Turn 

 them with a shovel until all have been well dampened. Then shovel into 

 a pile and cover with anything handy for two or three hours. The oats 

 should then be scattered and turned from time to time until dry. As 

 soon as dry they are ready to sow or may be left for weeks until they 

 can be used. So far as is known oats so' treated are not fit for feed. 



SUMMARY. 



(1) Up to the present time the oat crop has been regarded as one 

 of minor importance by farmers of the State. The average yield has 

 been so low as to about pay for the cost of production. 



(2) The. oat crop, "however, has a place in Missouri rotations and 

 should not be discarded, as better methods applied to its production will 

 place it on a paying basis. 



(3) The best varieties are : White — Siberian, Wide Awake, Silver- 

 mine and Great Dakota. Black — Jeanette, Martinsburg, Nichols' Black 

 Comet and Victor. Red — Texas Red Rust Proof. Yellow — Kherson. 



(4) Drilling is preferable to broadcasting, and definite increases in 

 yield can be expected if the practice is followed. 



(5) The rate of seeding varies with the soil and the size of the 

 seed, but with average conditions ten pecks per acre is about right. 



(6) Rust can only be controlled by the use of rust resistant varie- 

 ties. The Texas Red Rust Proof is the only sort which can be depended 

 upon to resist the rust. 



(7) Smut in oats can easily be controlled by the formalin treat- 

 ment and definite increases in yield secured by so treating seed oats. 



(8) General recognition of these factors influencing the yield of 

 oats will aid in placing the production of oats in this State on a paying 

 basis. 



