214 



Formalin for Smut. 



[JULY, 



will be noticed that as the nitrogen increases there is a strikingly 

 regular decrease in the percentage of potash, the amount of 

 extract, and the diastatic capacity. The use of a nitrogenous 

 manure for barley, therefore, does not appear to involve a 

 correspondingly higher proportion of nitrogen in the grain 

 provided it is accompanied, as in the case of Plots 4 and 6, by 

 phosphatic and potassic manures. The nitrogenous manure 

 alone, as in Plot 2, or when accompanied by phosphatic 

 manure, as in Plot 3, adversely affected the quality, and the 

 quality of the grain was only improved when "complete" 

 mixtures were used. With the " complete " manure there was 

 the lowest percentage of nitrogen and the highest proportion 

 of potash, the highest proportion of extract, and the highest 

 diastatic capacity. The investigations appear to show that a 

 complete mixture of artificial manures may be relied upon in 

 general to give the best yield of grain. 



The treatment of seed oats and barley for the prevention of 

 smut by dipping in a solution of formalin is suggested in the 

 Board's leaflet, No. 92, and some experi- 



Use of Formalin ments carrie d out by Mr. D. McAlpine, 

 for Smut. 



Vegetable Pathologist to the Victorian 

 Department of Agriculture, appear to show that this treatment 

 is equally applicable in the case of wheat. Seed wheat was 

 thoroughly infected with the spores of stinking smut, and 

 divided into three portions, one being treated with bluestone 

 solution, another with formalin, and a third left untreated. Blue- 

 stone (sulphate of copper) was used at the rate of 1 lb. in 5 gallons 

 of water, and formalin at the rate of 1 lb. in 40 gallons of water. 

 The result of the treatment was very conclusive. While the un- 

 treated plot contained at least 50 per cent, of smut, careful 

 search over the treated plots failed to reveal a single smutty 

 head. Thus both solutions were equally successful, but it was 

 noticeable that the plot treated with formalin looked much 

 better, and was a little further advanced. The same treatment 

 was carried out with barley on a large scale, and while on 

 the 20 acres treated not a single smutty ear could be seen, in 

 the untreated portion there was not a single stook in which 



