90 



THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



preferably both, not only to eliminate all small and unde- 

 veloped grains, but to remove weed seeds and diseased grains, 

 if any. 



If seed comes from plants that have been affected with stink- 

 ing smut (149)5 the seed should be immersed in cold water and 



stirred, when the smut 

 balls will rise to the sur- 

 face and can be skimmed 

 off. The seed should then 

 be sprinkled or immersed 

 thirty minutes in a solution 

 of formalin mixed at the 

 rate of fifty gallons of 

 water to one pound of 

 formalin (forty per cent 

 solution of formaldehyde). 

 Blue stone solution or hot 

 water may be used in place 

 of the formalin. (149) In 

 case wheat has been af- 

 fected with the loose smut 

 the wheat may be given 

 the modified hot water 

 treatment. (148) It is 

 necessary in such case to 

 use one-half more seed to replace seed injured by treatment. 

 Since loose smut is usually not very destructive, it will probably 

 be rarely advisable to resort to treatment of seed for loose smut. 



135. Wheat Seeding Machinery. — For broadcasting small 

 areas, the hand grass seeder will do satisfactory work when it is 

 not too windy. The usual horse broadcast seeder is not unlike 

 the wheat drill, except the wheat is scattered directly from the 

 hopper onto the surface of the ground instead of being conveyed 

 by means of hoes underground. Standard widths are eighty 



seed wheat grader suitable for use by wheat 

 growers. Wheat is sorted according to size of 

 grains and not according to specific gravity. 

 The screen is a cylinder of perforated sheet 

 metal, actuated by the crank E. A brush, AA, 

 an innportant feature, is held against the screen 

 by the springs, BB. Meshes ranging from two 

 to three millimeters may be used ; where only 

 one size is supplied, 2.5 millimeters (one-tenth 

 inch) should be used for American wheat. (After 

 Cobb.) 



