15 



Fifth — Date of Seeding. This does uot appear, from two years' 

 results, to be an important factor. Deferred seedings gave the fewest 

 smutted heads but the yield of grain was low and the quality poor. 



Sixth — Size of Seed. When equal weights of large, medium and 

 small seeds respectively were sown, the plots sown with small seeds, in the 

 case of wheat and barley, gave by far the greatest number of affected 

 heads. No difference, however, was shown in oats. When the same 

 grades of grains were sown by number the same results were obtained with 

 the exception that the number of smutted heads, in the case of Ijarley, was 

 more nearly uniform. 



Seventh — Rate of Seeding. Contrary to what might have been 

 expected, the number of smutted heads in wheat, barley and oats, sown on 

 land in good heart, bore almost no relation to the amount of 'seed sown. 

 This also held true witli barley on very poor land, but in the case of oats 

 there was a marked diminution in the number of diseased plants on TJie 

 thinl3'--seeded plots. 



Eighth — Date of Cutting Oats. The later the cutting the higher was 

 the per cent, of smut. Seed taken from the early-cut plots produced 

 much more smut the following year than seed allowed to mature thor- 

 oughly on the standing straw. 



Ninth — Drilling vs. Broadcasting. Results would strongly indicate 

 that barley and oats, drilled, are much more liable to injury from smut 

 than when broadcasted. This conclusion is in accordance with the gener- 

 ally-accepted belief of growers. 



These experiments are being continued and it is hoped that at the end 

 of a five years' test results of much greater value will be available. 



