316 Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science 



device was made to meet the emergency. It consisted of a heavy wire 

 drum holding five bushels of soaked wheat, wliich revolved in a large 

 tank of water heated by steam. This is distinctly a field application 

 of the treatment. However, the sack method is still frequently em- 

 ployed, but instead of barrels, large tanks of water heated by steam are 

 used so that six to eight men may treat their wheat at one time. 



A device which enables the operator to keep the wheat in the hot 

 water without burning his hands consists of loops of heavy twine 

 fastened by a slip-noose to the mouth and one corner of the sack. It 

 has been noted that grain sacks are unsatisfactory for treating because 

 the tightly woven cloth seems to prevent the ready passage of the water 

 through the wheat, and burlap sacks are therefore recommended. When 

 using the drum not more than five bu.shels of wheat should be treated 

 at once and the drum should not be filled more than two-thirds full. 

 This allows a free movement of the wheat and a quick and thorough 

 mixing with the hot water. 



The time of treating and temperature of the water have not under- 

 gone any change. Temperatures as high as 135^F. w'ill not injure wheat, 

 and it is also known that immersion in water at 130 F. for 15 minutes 

 will not do any particular harm to the seed. However, these facts 

 are only used as leeway in the treatment rather than as changes because 

 it is necessary to speed up the treatment as much as possible and there 

 is usually nothing to be gained in lengthening the time of treatment. 



.3. Drying the seed after treatment. Perhaps the greatest draw- 

 back to the treatment is the drying of the seed. It has been found, 

 however, that it is only necessary to surface-dry the grain so that it 

 will run through the drill without clogging. Allowance is made for 

 the swollen condition of the grain by setting the drill to sow about 

 twice as much as customary. Experiments at Washington, D.C., have 

 shown that wheat can be dried very thoroughly in artificial dryers with- 

 out injury to seed. One illuminating incident happened this year in 

 Clinton County. Some treated wheat remained wet too long after treat- 

 ment and produced sprouts that were in some cases a quarter of an 

 inch long. A sample of this seed was dried completely over a radiator 

 and sent to Purdue to be tested. It germinated 92.5 per cent. 



Results. Usually the stand of the treated wheat is thin but the 

 plants stool much more than the untreated wheat .so that the final 

 number of heads produced is about the same in both cases. It has been 

 noticed generally that the heads in the treated wheat are much more 

 uniform in size and are usually somewhat larger than in the untreated. 

 It is possible that the thinning of the stand may have something to 

 do with this but it is believed that the treatment kills the weak 

 seed and that only the stronger plants survive. This belief is sup- 

 ported by the fact that the improvement in the crop usually maintains 

 itself in the wheat the second and thiixl year after treatment. 



The treated wheat will usually ripen about a week later than the 

 untreated wheat, but this is not an objectionable feature. This delay 

 in ripening did, however, result rather disastrously in Bartholomew 

 County two years ago. The weather was apparently unfavorable during 



