6 
Or 
tions were removed and passed through a sieve to get rid of the coarse 
particles. The spores after being well mixed were collected in a box and 
formed a supply from which successive portions were taken as required 
for treatment. 
In treating the smut spores and grain, considerable care was exercised 
in furnishing conditions which would insure similar treatment for all. 
This was especially necessary, .as in the case of the hot water treatment it 
was found that in the high temperature treatments a difference of about 
five degrees occurred between the upper and lower surfaces of the water in 
a three-gallon bucket. To obviate any possibility of one lot receiving 
different treatment from that of another, especially when both were 
treated at the same time, the following method was adopted: The smut 
spores were enclosed in fine muslin sacks, weighted by tying a few 
grains of shot in the corner of them. The grain, about half an ounce being 
used, was put in loose muslin sacks, similarly weighted. The sacks 
were suspended on a rod, at a uniform level. When ready for treatment 
they were dropped into the solution, the weights instantly carrying the 
sacks below the surface, while the rod rested across the top of the vessel, - 
thus holding them in place. The water at the level of the sacks was main- 
tained at the desired temperature. In each instance the five and ten 
minute treatments were made at the same time, the removal of the former 
being readily done without in any way disturbing the remaining ones. 
The treated spores were germinated in hanging drop cultures in moist 
Van Tieghem cells. Control cultures of untreated spores were mounted 
in the same manner. The spores were germinated in distilled water. 
Whenever any doubt existed in regard to the behavior of the cultures, 
fresh mounts were made. Cultures of the treated spores were made as 
soon as possible after their removal from the solution. 
The grain was germinated in the laboratory in a Geneva germinator. 
As only a small quantity of seed was treated, but two hundred seeds were 
used in the germination experiments. The germinating seeds were counted 
and removed from the germinator each day until germination ceased. 
The results of the work performed are given in Tables I. and II. It 
will be noticed that these do not include anything upon wheat smut. In 
explanation of this, the writer wishes to state that, at the beginning of the 
experiment, the germination of the wheat smut spores was very unsatis- 
factory; frequently none would germinate in the control cultures. As the 
5—SCIENCE. 
