254 



Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [lo April, 1911^ 



sprouted more strongly and showed the best growth in the formalin cells- 

 In each box — 



cell A was .sown with seeil unpiukled. 

 ,, B ,, ,, pickled with Bluestone l"o sjiikeil 1 niiii. 



,, C ,, ,, ,, Formalin :j% soaked 5 iiiins. 



,, D ,, ,, ,, Bluestone 2% and salt 2% soaked 5 mins. 



Mr. H. L. Bolley,* of the North Dakota Agricultural College, U.S.A., 

 considers that unpickled seed, though free from bunt spores, is not in a 

 sanitary condition for sowing. He says : — 



Treat all grain with formalin, for seed from crops affected with patches of 

 diseases (such as Take-all) carry spores of these parasites on the outside of the 

 grain as in the case of Smut, and the formalin pickle easily destroys all such spores. 

 This is why treatment for Smut in this way has always shown an increase of crop, 

 even though the grain so treated is known to be free from smut. 



This seems to throw some light on the behaviour of formalin as shqwn 

 in Tables 2 and 3, though why the same result was not found in the first 

 quoted experiment we are unable to say. 



Pickle Employed by Farmers. — In 1909, the New South Wales Wheat 

 Experimentalist found that bluestone apparently killed 30 per cent, of the 

 grain, and in our experiments at this College in the same year we found 

 the damage to be 34 per cent. This season, however, in New South Wales,, 

 the percentage apparently killed is only eleven, and in our own plots blue- 

 stone was also less destructive this season. It was thought that some 

 farmers were using the bluestone in rather too strong a solution and an ex- 

 periment was undertaken to te.st this. The seed used was supplied mostly 

 by farmers in the district and was pickled by them in bulk. The other 

 samples were also pickled in bulk as for field sowings. 



The soil chosen was as even in character as possible and at sowing time 

 was in good condition for germination. The grain was graded and all 

 broken seeds removed. Single grains were .sown 3 inches apart in drills one- 

 foot apart, 100 seeds in each plot. After sowing (31st May and ist June) 

 at a uniform depth, the drills were filled in and the soil raked level. 

 When the plants appeared above ground the untreated plots were seen to 

 be more vigorous than those sown with pickled seed, and the bluestone and' 

 salt Dlots appreciably less vigorous than the plots from seed pickled with 

 bluestone alone. No smut was found in the plots. The results show that 

 the strength of bluestone pickle in general use by farmers in this district is; 

 about correct. 



Table IV. — Farmers' Pickling Experiment. 



Bulletin No. 23 (re-issued Feb., 1910), North Dakota Agric. College, U.S.A. 



