Bunt and Smut. 



365 



these have frequently been previously damaged in the process 

 of thrashing or otherwise, and are therefore likely to produce 

 weak plants, their total destruction is of less consequence, 

 Seed that has been much rubbed in the thrasher suffers most 

 in steeping. The loss by treatment with bluestone can be 

 somewhat mitigated by dusting powdered lime on the grain 

 after it has lain for a sufficient time in contact with the 

 solution. 



Some experiments in pickling wheat with other materials 

 have been carried out at the Woburn Pot Culture Station 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,* and at the 

 Agricultural and Horticultural School, Holmes Chapel. At 

 the former of these stations, " smutty " wheat dressed with 

 sulphate of copper mixed with other substances was tried. 

 All the applications had a protective influence as compared 

 with the grains that received no treatment. The most com- 

 plete result was obtained with the hot water treatment and 

 with a " local " mixture consisting of a mixture of sulphate of 

 copper (2477 per cent.) and carbolic compounds. In the latter 

 solution the seeds were steeped for ten minutes, one part of the 

 mixture being dissolved in 15 parts of water. Steeping the 

 seeds for the same length of time in a solution of 1 part of 

 sulphate of copper ("commercial pure ") to 220 parts of water 

 did not give quite such good results ; while a Danish prepara- 

 tion — half sulphate of copper and half sulphide of potassium — 

 of similar strength was less satisfactory. It is to be noted that 

 there was more sulphate of copper in the " local " dressing than 

 in the others. But no treatment was more successful than 

 steeping the seed in hot water (at 127 — 133 0 F.). 



More recent experiments with bunt (Tzlletia tritici) have 

 been carried out at the Holmes Chapel Agricultural School.! 

 Samples of wheat badly affected with bunt were (a) steeped 

 for fifteen minutes in copper sulphate, 1 lb. to 1 gallon of water ; 

 (b) steeped for four hours in a mixture of 1 lb. of copper 

 sulphate and 1 lb. of quicklime to 1 gallon of water ; (c) steeped 

 in urine for one hour and dried with quicklime ; (d) steeped 



* R.A. S.E. Journal, 1900, p. 601. 



t Cheshire County Council : Report on Grain Experiments in 1902. 



