396 



Reading-Course for Farmers. 



a clean floor and dried. Most growers find it convenient to treat it just 

 before sowing and then drill or broadcast it at once. Some pile the oats 



two or three bushels in a pile, and sprinkle it with 

 the solution, using about one gallon to the bushel. 

 The oats should be shoveled over while being 

 sprinkled in order to wet it thoroughly. The pile 

 is then covered with a blanket or sacks and 

 allowed to stand for two hours. It has been 

 found that where the farmer grows his own seed 

 oats it will be necessary to treat the seed only 

 every third or fourth year in order to keep the 

 crop free from the smut, is 5 per cent, of your 

 oat crop worth saving? Figure up and see how 

 much this would have meant in dollars on last 

 season's crop. Try formalin and report to us. 



FIELD AND TRUCK CROPS. 



Potato Scab. — Are your seed potatoes smooth 

 and free from scab? (Fig. 369.) If there are 

 scab spots on any of them they should all be 

 treated before planting. The scabbiness of pota- 

 toes is due to a fungus that lives on the surface 

 cf the potato, penetrating just deep enough to 

 roughen the skin. It is carried over from year 

 to year in two ways, on the diseased tuber or in 

 the soil. If last year's crop was scabby do not 

 plant on that same field again this year. The 

 disease is in the soil. Plant some other crop there. 

 Plan to put your potatoes on lands where pota- 



FiG. 369. — Anthracnose or toes have not been grown for several years. Sort 

 "Pod Spot." Note how , ,. , , , -^ 



the disease eats into the out and discard the more scabby seed potatoes 



pod forming the black ^^^^ ^j-eat those to be planted as follows: Add 

 spots or cankers. '^ 



one pint of formalin to 20 or 30 gallons of water 



Soak the seed for at least two hours. Cut and plant, or dry thoroughly 



and store until ready to plant. The treated seed must be planted on soil 



free from the scab fungus or the treatment will be of no use. Dusting 



or coating the potatoes with sulphur after they are cut, is sometimes 



advised but this has been shown by careful experiment to be worthless. 



Don't forget to plant a few rows with untreated seed. You can tJien 



tell by comparison whether the formalin treatment pays or not. 



