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conditions could be properly controlled and the best results secured. This 
work was intended to be preparatory to the field experiments to be tried 
‘early in the following spring. 
The field experiments made with corn and oats were so striking that 
their results warrant publication and general application in the dealing 
with the smut of these two cereals. The laboratory experiments showed 
that the seeds of various plants would allow of only a special treatment 
with a certain definite strength of solution. The results of these tests gave 
us a basis for our field experiments and made this part of the work much 
easier. 
The experiments of last year showed that wheat can safely be treated 
with a one-fourth per cent. solution of formalin for one-half hour, oats 
with a one-half per cent. solution for three hours and corn with a one- 
half per cent. solution for one hour, without interfering with their germi- 
nating powers. 
The field experiments were tried with oats and corn on the farm of 
Mr. Henry Davidson near Whitesville, Ind. The oats to be treated were 
soaked for one-half hour in a one-half per cent. solution of formalin and 
then, without drying, sowed broadcast and the field dragged. Untreated 
seeds were sowed in a plat of ground alongside of these, and careful rec- 
ords made of the developments. The seeds in the two plats germinated at 
the same time and showed, so far as early appearances were concerned, 
no differences as a result of the treatment. The mature plants of the 
treated seeds were slightly smaller than those of the untreated ones, but 
the amount of grain produced was the same in both cases, except for the 
difference occasioned by the presence of the smut. 
Upon ripening, the plants of the untreated seeds showed six per cent. 
of smutty heads, while none of the plants of the treated seeds had even 
a trace of smut about them, thus vindicating the value of formalin as a 
fungicidal agent. 
In the experiments tried with corn, the seeds were soaked in a one per 
cent. solution for one hour and then dried in the sun. This treatment was 
more severe than that found advisabie in the laboratory experiments. As 
a result the seeds were somewhat delayed in their germination and in 
some cases the plumule was not visible above the ground wntil two or 
three days after all of the untreated ones, planted in a corresponding plat 
alongside of these, had made their appearance. This inequality between 
the plants of the two plats was not of long duration and at maturity no 
