80 Smuts [cH. 
corn must be put into clean sacks or bins. Sacks may 
be cleaned by boiling or the bins by washing with a 
solution of formaldehyde. The grain must not be 
allowed to freeze if it is at alldamp. If sown immedi- 
ately after treatment a larger bulk will be required, as 
it will be somewhat swollen. 
Get 100 oat grains which have been grown in a 
field almost free from smut; and also some smutted 
ears of oats (either loose or covered smut). Shake up 
80 of the grains with the smutted ears so that the 
oats become covered with the smut spores. Treat the 
infested grain as follows: (1) twenty with copper 
sulphate as described in Method 1; (2) twenty with 
formaldehyde as described in Method 2; (3) twenty 
with hot water as described in Method 3. 
Now sow the 100 grains in pots, making five sets 
of twenty plants. Set (1) uninfested and untreated; 
(2) infested and untreated; (3) infested and treated by 
the copper sulphate method; (4) infested and treated 
by the formaldehyde method; (5) infested and treated 
by the hot water method. 
The plants should be examined in all stages and 
any differences, such as time of appearance above 
ground and size of plants, should be noted. 
We shall expect to find that Sets 1, 3, 4 and 5 are 
free from smut and that all the ears of the plants in 
Set 2 are covered with smut. 
This experiment shows that oats can be infected 
with smut from spores on the grain but that these 
spores can be killed with little harm to the grain by 
either of the three methods used. 
Now take some wheat grains and cover them with 
loose smut of wheat and sow them as before. These 
