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SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



greatly diluted. But since it retains its active fungicide and bactericidal 

 properties even when very greatly diluted, and is not so dangerous a poison 

 in this condition as are corrosive sublimate and other antiseptic agents, it 

 becomes very useful in the hands of those who wish to disinfect quarters in 

 which have been lodged people, or animals, affected with communicable 

 diseases. The wash or spray of the dilute formalin has always seemed to 

 the writer much better for such uses than the fumes of formalin as generally 

 produced. 



On plants the action of even dilute sprays is very quickly destructive, 

 and I doubt if it has a value for their treatment. But for seed wheat, 



Treating Grain with Formalin for Smut. 1 



likely to produce smutted heads and for potato scab it has proved very 

 convenient and useful. A pint of the 40 per cent formalin may be poured 

 into a barrel containing 30 gallons of water, stirred thoroughly, and the 

 potatoes in a sack can be set in the barrel for disinfection. They should be 

 left in the fluid for two hours and may then be removed and spread out on 

 grass or on a clean plank floor to dry, when another sack may be placed 

 in the barrel. The treated potatoes must not be put in barrels or sacks 

 that have not been treated with the formalin. By having a number of 

 barrels at hand, the work proceeds rapidly. 



Oats and wheat liable to smut may be treated by sprinkling the seed 

 with dilute formalin (1 pint in a barrel of water) until every seed is moist, 

 not wet, then leaving for several hours in a heap, finally spreading out 

 to dry. 



1 Courtesy of H. L, Bolley and M. L. Wilson, North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. 



