REMEDY FOR OAT SMUT 97 



blossom and find lodgment beneath the glumes of healthy 

 plants. 



Remedy for Oat Smut. A simple remedy, known as 

 the formaldehyde treatment, will effectually eradicate all 

 smut. By making up a solution of a pint of formalde- 

 hyde in 36 gallons of water and submerging oats that are 

 loosely sacked for 10 minutes in the solution, the spores 

 will be killed and no smut will appear in the resultant crop. 

 It is well after removing the sacks from the solution to 

 empty oats on the threshing floor and cover them for a 



Fig. 51. Drying oats on a platform after soaking the grain in formaldehyde. 



few hours with canvas or blankets to allow the formalde- 

 hyde fumes to act effectually on the smut spores. Oats can 

 usually be sown with a drill or seeder a day or two after the 

 treatment. Where a farmer has a large acreage of oats to 

 sow it is best to make up a large quantity of solution and 

 put it in a tank or several barrels so as to treat several sacks 

 of seed at one time. Special machines which make the 

 work easier are now on the market. Any arrangement by 

 which each individual seed is brought in contact with the 

 solution and held there for a short period of time is effectual. 



M. AND H. PLANT PROD. 7 



