EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL, YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 445 



of legumes may be insured and the fertility of the soil increased. AVell 

 inoculated legumes should occupy a prominent place in all rotations 

 if soils are to be kept permanently fertile for by their use the nitrogen 

 and organic matter content of the soil can be maintained at a minimum 

 expense. 



BIPROVED METHOD OF FIGHTING SMUT IN OATS. 



By H. D. Hughes 



Any farmer who grows oats may secure a return of from $3 to $6 



or even $8 from a total investment of 7 cents, 3 cents for labor and 



4 cents for formaldehyde. And this may be repeated as many times as 



there are acres of oats. 



■ Extensive tests by the Farm Crops section of the Iowa Agricultural 

 Experiment Station over a three-year period, comparing different methods 

 of treating seed oats for the prevention of smut, show very definitely that 

 the time and labor heretofore expended for this purpose may be greatly 

 reduced by increasing the strength of the solution and not making the 

 seed wet enough to necessitate drying before seeding. 



METHODS PREVIOUSLY USED 



The method of treating seed oats for smut which has been in use 

 over twenty years is, briefly, as follows: 



1. Make a solution using one pint (one pound) of formaldehyde and 

 forty gallons of water. 



2. Pile forty bushels of oats on the barn floor. 



3. Sprinkle the oats with the solution, at the same time shoveling 

 them, over until e'Very grain is thoroly wet, using about a gallon for 

 each bushel of oats. 



4. Shovel the oats into a compact pile and cover with blankets and 

 sacks for from six to ten hours. 



5. Uncover and shovel out into a thin layer a few Inches thick to dry. 



40 per cent of the heads destroyed by smut. 



