HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 121 
Mr. Brooxs. Is there any reluctance on their part to take this up? 
Mr. Woops. We have corresponded with them about this work, but 
they have not been able to do anything for us up to the present. time. 
I think very likely that they will undertake it some time in the future, 
but they have not done so up to this time. I have spoken of proso and 
emmer. There is the improvement of spring grains in the Northwest. 
We are introducing a lot of spring wheat and oats and barley and so 
forth, that are adapted to the Northwest. Some of them are proving 
very valuable, and we want some additional money for them. 
Mr. Bowie. How much do you want? 
Mr. Woops. I will give the problems and then give the total and 
the additional sum asked for. 
In studies of grains we find it a peculiar fact that a change of seed 
is an important thing occasionally. We want to determine whether 
that is simply due to troubles in the matter of selecting the seed or 
saving seed for planting, or whether it is actually necessary to change 
the locality of where seed is grown. 
The Cuairman. We consider that that is necessary. With us no 
farmer uses his own seed, or very seldom does, in growing wheat. He 
always buys from another farmer, even although the other farmer may 
be in the immediate neighborhood. 
Mr. Woops. We want to find out why that is, if it is due to some 
effect of the environment of the seed or the grade of the seed running 
down. The indications are that the bringing of seed from a different 
locality is absolutely necessary in order to hold the variety up to its 
highest productive power. We think that practice is absolutely nec- 
essary and should be perfected. 
Now, in this cereal work for these various problems, and including 
some additional work on the heat method for drying for smut, we can 
control all the smuts except the loose smut. The loose smut is 
extremely destructive, and we want to make some experiments on the 
method of controlling that. The amount of increase we want on this 
work is $2,500. 
The CHarrman. How much? 
Mr. Woops. Two thousand five hundred dollars on these three or 
four items. 
Mr. Grarr. Does that include that smut work? 
Mr. Woops. That includes the loose smut of oats. 
Mr. Grarr. You have not reached a conclusion about the treatment 
of that? 
Mr. Woops. We have tried a good many things, but they are not 
effective. The hard smuts are fairly easily destroyed, but the loose 
smut is extremely difficult to destroy, and that is the more common 
one of the smuts. 
Mr. Grarr. Which one is it that is treated with heating the seed? 
Mr. Woops. That is the stinking smut, so called. It is the smut 
that forms a compact body in a corner of the grain, and is not outside. 
That is more common in the wheat than it is in the oats. ; 
Mr. Grarr. I think they tried the heating process at the experi- 
ment station at Urbana, Ill. 
Mr. Woops. I think they did. They have tried that. It works on 
all the smuts except this particular one. There are four or five dif- 
ferent smuts of grain. 
Mr. Grarr. How hot do they heat the water? 
