DISEASES OF WHEAT 



157 



the infection comes from the seed, or enters the plant at a very 

 early stage in its growth. There are two kinds of smut 

 that attack wheat, the loose smut, which destroys the entire 

 glume and kernel, leaving the rachis naked, and the stinking 



I'ij-Mirt^ (32. — ytiukiug smut of wheat. Notice ia the open grains how the smut 

 spores have deotroyed the whole interior. 



smut, which simply produces within the apparently healthy 

 glumes a smut ball in place of a kernel of wheat. Both these 

 smuts are veiy destructive. 



Stinking smut is controlled by treating the seed before 

 sowing. The most simple and practical method is to moisten 

 the wheat with a solution made by mixing 1 pint of 40 per 

 cent formaldehyde with 45 gallons of water. Wheat may 

 be dipped in the solution in baskets or loosely woven sacks. 

 It may be run through the solution bj^ means of a smut 

 machine, or the solution may be sprinkled over the seed by 

 means of a sprinkling can, the wheat being shoveled over 



