terminal elevators at Moose Jaw, Saskatoon and Calgary. With this supply of clean 

 wheat available there should be no excuse for dealers or farmers in Eastern Canada 

 purchasing seed wheat contaminated with weed seeds, as has often been done. 



Oats — Damage to the oat crop in Eastern Canada was even more extensive than 

 to wheat. In Ontario and parts of the other eastern provinces, good sound seed oats, 

 free from weather damage, are very scarce and difficult to secure. In many cases there 

 is evidence that the vitality of the oats has been seriously affected through weathering 

 or subsequent heating, which makes it more necessary than usual to have vitality tests 

 conducted before sowing the seed. 



The crop in Western Canada is very large this year and of good quality and a large 

 supply of good seed oats should be available from this source. As with wheat, special 

 provision is this year made whereby a supply of pure seed may be obtained through the 

 government interior elevators. Oats that are free from noxious weed seeds are being 

 separately stored and will be cleaned for seed and shipped out under a seed inspector's 

 certificate. It is hoped that dealers or farmers in Eastern Canada who require to pur- 

 chase seed in carlots will take advantage of this special grade and thereby avoid getting 

 oats containing large numbers of noxious weed seeds, as is nearly always the case when 

 ordinary commercial grades are purchased. 



Treating Oats and Wheat for Smut — Last season, in Ontario especially, and in 

 the other eastern provinces to a large extent, the damage to the oat crop through smut 

 was unusually great. The loss throughout Ontario has been estimated at from six to ten 

 per cent, of the crop, and in many instances the actual number of heads affected reached 

 from fifteen to twenty per cent. This enormous loss is almost entirely preventable, 

 and every farmer should adopt precautionary measures for next season. The prevalence 

 of smut last year will mean that practically all the oats to be used for seed this year will 

 be badly contaminated with the smut spores, and, if conditions are favourable for their 

 development the disease may be even more serious than last season. In order to 

 prevent an outbreak of this disease the seed should be treated before sowing to destroy 

 the smut spores. This may be effectively done by using a solution made from one 

 pound formalin in thirty-five gallons of water. 



The treatment prescribed for oats is equally effective for wheat, and should be 

 followed in all cases in Western Canada where smut is likely to appear. In the 

 eastern part of Canada the damage is often sufficient to warrant treatment of seed 

 wheat. 



Barley — Much the same conditions obtain in respect to barley as were outlined 

 for oats, although there is a more limited supply available in Western Canada. At 

 time of writing it is not known whether much seed barley will be available at the govern- 

 ment interior elevators in the West, but it is anticipated that there will be at least a 

 limited supply. 



Cleaning Seed Grain — The importance of thoroughly cleaning seed grain to 

 remove weed seeds and the small, immature or light kernels cannot be too strongly 

 urged. From the condition of much of the seed actually being sown by farmers through- 

 out Canada, it is evident that better yields and higher quality of grain are sacrificed 

 through lack of attention to cleaning the seed. As a rule, grain intended for seed should 

 be reduced in bulk from one quarter to one half by screening and wind blast. Oats 

 usually require the most severe cleaning. For the farmer who uses his own grain for 

 seed, there is no loss in severe cleaning as what is removed may be used for feed. The 

 extra work involved in cleaning seed several times will be many time repaid in the crop. 



Corn — The available supply of seed corn in Ontario, and also in the United States, 

 is considerably below the average in quality. Owing to wet weather, the crop was late 



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