98 WHEAT 



Ordinary treatments for stinking smut do not kill 

 loose smut but loose smut may be destroyed by 

 treating the infected seed grain with hot water. 

 This treatment is also effective for destroying 

 stinking smut. 



HOT WATER TREATMENT FOR LOOSE OR STINKING 

 SMUT OF WHEAT* 



Dip the wheat in hot water at a temperature 

 of from 132 to 133 Fahrenheit. The seed should 

 be placed for the purpose in a coarsely woven 

 basket covered with wire netting, or else in a 

 coarse gunny sack. The basket or sack must not 

 be filled full, as the grain must be loose inside. 

 There should be six or eight times as much hot 

 water as the bulk of the grain to be treated, and 

 the temperature of the water must be kept at 

 the right point by letting in steam, or by adding 

 hot water from time to time if necessary. The 

 grain must be lifted out of the water four or five 

 times during the treatment and allowed to drain. 

 This is needful to insure that all the grain comes 

 into intimate contact with hot water at the right 

 temperature. 



If not convenient to keep the water at 132 or 

 133 it may be allowed to go higher, but the treat- 

 ment must be shortened, and at 145 the treat- 

 ment must not be prolonged beyond five minutes, 

 and care must be taken that the water is even in 

 temperature throughout; otherwise some grain 



"The above treatment for stinking smut is given in Farmers 

 Bulletin No. 250,United States Department of Agriculture 



