1214 



EARLE V. HARDENBURG 



DUSTING CUT SEED 



Dusting of cut seed has for its objects the prevention of drying out by 

 undue bleeding of the cut surfaces, and the prevention of heating which 

 may occur in cut seed stored in large volume under conditions of poor 

 ventilation. Dusting is not commonly practiced except when conditions 

 require the storage of large quantities of cut seed for several days before 

 planting, as on Long Island in 1912. Stone (1905) compared the yields 

 from five varieties cut only one or two days before planting, one lot of 

 each variety being dusted with land plaster and the other lot not being 

 dusted. Four of these varieties gave increased yields from dusting, 

 ranging from 5 to 26 bushels per acre, while the fifth showed a decreased 

 yield of 7 bushels. The writer believes that a greater interval between 

 cutting and planting would have resulted in a greater increase in yield due 

 to dusting. Zavitz (1916) reported on an average of twenty-two tests, 

 covering five years, in which yields from undusted freshly cut seed were 

 compared with yields from seed treated with land plaster and with slaked 

 lime. In all these tests, the seed was planted immediately after cutting 

 and dusting. The average yield from the seed treated with plaster was 

 23.6 bushels per acre higher than that from the untreated seed, and the 

 average yield from the seed treated with lime was 9.8 bushels per acre more 

 than that from the untreated seed. In another experiment, in which the 

 effects of treating cut seed with road dust, with ground brick, and with 

 land plaster, were compared with the results from no treatment, Zavitz 

 reported yields of 186, 189, 191, and 179 bushels per acre, respectively. 

 Land plaster has been most commonly used as dust because of its cheapness 

 and its adhesive qualities. On the basis of all the comparative tests 

 reported, it has proved the most efficient. Sulfur and air-slaked lime have 

 been used to a lesser extent. The degree to which dusting was practiced 

 in the surveyed regions, as related to the length of time the cut seed was 

 stored, is shown in table 52, and the extent to which various dust materials 

 were used is shown in table 53. Unfortunately, the material used for 



TABLE 52. RELATION OF DUSTING TO LENGTH OF STORAGE PERIOD OF CUT SEED IN THE 



FOUR REGIONS SURVEYED 



