OAT SMUT AND ITS PREVENTION. 



211 



The stinking smuts of wheat and oat smut can also be pre- 

 vented by treating the seed with hot water at 132 for ten minutes. 



Loose smut of wheat and barley smuts can be prevented by 

 soaking the seed in cold water for four hours, allowing it to stand 

 four hours more in wet sacks, and then treating for five minutes 

 in water at 132 . 



The potassium-sulphide treatment is thoroughly effective for 

 loose smut of oats. It consists in soaking, say, 3 bushels of seed 

 for twenty -four hours in a solution of V/? pounds of potassium 

 sulphide to 25 gal ions of water. Liver of sulphur should be 

 used and the solution should be kept in a tightly closed vessel to 

 protect it from the air. 



To dry the grain after any of the treatments described, spread 

 it on a clean floor, or on canvas sheets spread in the sun, prefer- 

 ably on a raised lattice work, say, 2 or 3 inches deep, and turn 

 it over at least twice a day. 



In treating oats for smut by either potassium sulphide or hot 

 water an increase in yield is obtained beyond and above the 

 amount that would result from replacing the smutted heads with 

 sound ores. The increase in yield from seed treatment is usually 

 two or three times as much as the apparent loss from smut in 

 untreated fields. 



The Wisconsin Experiment Station*' found oats smut very 

 prevalent in that state and estimated the loss from this disease 

 in 1 901 to have exceeded six million dollars. They have success- 

 fully experimented with formaldehyde with the following results. 



SUMMARY OF EXPERIMENTS AT WISCONSIN STATION. 



Seed oats submerged for 



In a solution 



Smut found. 



Twenty minutes 

 Sixty minutes ... 



Ten minutes 



Forty minute9... 

 Twenty minutes 

 Not treated 



1 lb. formaldehyde to 50 gal. water 0.0 per ct. 



1 lb. formaldehyde to 200 gal. water 20.0 per ct. 



1 lb. formaldehyde to 50 gal. water 1.0 per ct. 



1 lb. formaldehyde to 100 gal. water 1.3 per ct. 



1 lb. formaldehyde to 100 gal. water 5.0 per ct. 



Bulletin 01 Wisconsin Experiment station. 



