

Extension Work in Plant Pathology, 1923 9 



An interesting feature of this work was the way in which exten- 

 sion pathologists took advantage of the fact that most seed-treating 

 operations can be centralized. It is obvious that if the work for 

 a great many farmers is centralized at one plant, it not only can 

 be done more economically but can be supervised more closely to 

 insure accurate timing and correct preparation of chemicals or solu- 

 tions used. Such treatment gives maximum control with a minimum 

 of seed injury. Moreover, the enthusiasm that prevails when men 

 are brought together to do such work can be taken advantage of, 

 with the result that more farmers will treat their seed than if the 

 work were done on individual farms. 



In Indiana all farmers lh T ing in some communities were encouraged 

 to treat their seed wheat by the hot-water method at a central station, 

 thus establishing large smut-free areas and preventing spread of the 

 disease by wind from fields planted with untreated seed to those 

 near by where seed had been treated. Some threshers, to avoid the 

 risk of contaminating their machines and making them dangerous 

 for clean wheat, refused to thresh fields planted with untreated seed. 



No small matter in obtaining general application of the method 

 was the fact that community or other centralized treatment was usu- 

 ally more convenient for the individual, as well as less expensive and 

 more effective. Community seed treatment of potatoes, as initiated 

 by the extension pathologists of Wisconsin and Minnesota, is a good 

 example of what can be accomplished in such work. 



POTATO 



In Wisconsin, where the cold corrosive-sublimate method was used, 

 R. E. Vaughan, extension plant pathologist, has designed a large tank 

 in which 40 to TO bushels of potatoes can be treated at one time. 

 Farmers and local merchants usually shared the expense of building 

 such tanks, and the farmers contributed to the employment of an 

 agent who, after being trained by the extension pathologist and the 

 county agent, supervised the treatment. Treating stations' are often 

 located at the local creamery, where most farmers have business 



Cooperation of the creamery was of still greater importance in 

 Minnesota, where the hot-formaldehyde treatment was used, for when 

 the treating station was located at such a plant, steam for heating 

 the solution could be obtained. Locating the treating station at the 

 creamery made it possible for farmers to treat their seed potatoes 

 immediately after unloading them from the freight car, so that the 

 seed stock was taken to the farm ready for planting. Excellent work 

 was done in Kansas, where E. A. Stokdyk, extension plant patholo- 

 gist, demonstrated the effectiveness of seed treatment by the hot- 

 formaldehyde method. 



Following extension work with the hot corrosive-sublimate method 

 in New York, some men took up potato-seed treatment as a commer- 

 cial enterprise. Since farm labor was difficult to obtain in the spring 

 farmers welcomed this development, as a result of which their seed 

 stock could be treated on contract. When this system was used treat- 

 ment cost about $1.20 an acre. The records for six years in New 

 York show that potato-seed treatment has resulted in an average 

 increase of 25 bushels to the acre. 

 8938—24 2 



