WHEATGROWING IN AUSTRALIA. 21 



wheat belt, and certainly little has been heard of rust for many 

 years. 



Smut is the only other important parasitic disease, but as the 

 practice of " pickling" seed before sowing is extending, this trouble 

 has practically disappeared. Bunt or stinking smut is so called 

 because it has an objectionable smell, which makes its presence 

 known in the grain and deteriorates its value. As stated, it can 

 be readily prevented by treating the seed. Smut belongs to a low 

 form of plant life, and the plant is produced from a seed, which in its 

 turn matures and produces other seed, which are microscopic and are 

 known as spores. These spores are found when matured in masses 

 occupying the place of the wheat kernels, and these masses are 

 called bunt-balls. The chief and almost only cause of smut is sow- 

 ing wheat seed which has healthy smut spores attached tc it. 

 By destroying the vitality of these spores the grain crop will be 

 clean. 



The most common solutions for pickling wheat seed are blue- 

 stone (copper sulphate) i^ lb.. to 10 gallons of water, and formalin 

 i lb. to 45 gallons of water. Bunt balls are lighter than wheat, and 

 float in water, so if the wheat to be treated is poured slowly into 

 the pickle, and in such a way that the bunt balls will not be carried 

 down by the grain, they will float on top, and can be skimmed off 

 and destroyed. The details of pickling vary on different farms, 

 but a common method is to place the wheat about 2 bushels at a 

 time in loosely-tied butts or bags, and then by means of a lever it 

 is lowered into the solution for two or three minutes, when it is 

 raised on to a sloping trough, where the superfluous solution can 

 drain back into the cask. Another method is to place the seed 

 wheat, either loose or in bags, in elevated casks or troughs made out 

 of hollow logs, and pour the bluestone solution over it. After it has 

 remained on the wheat the necessary time it is run off into another 

 cask or trough placed in a lower position. After the seed has been 

 treated it requires some time drying before it can be sown through 

 the drill. All that is necessary is to place the butts where they 

 can drain freely, and the seed will be ready to sow after a few 

 hours. 



The fullest particulars as to the best way of combating this 

 disease or any minor trouble is always obtainable from the Depart- 

 ments of Agriculture in the various States. 



" Take-all" occasionally affects wheat crops growing under 

 any disadvantageous set of conditions, but good farming is a remedy 

 for that trouble, which is a minor one.. 



