324 



INJURIOUS INSECTS AND FUNGI. 



tory, process. Parts of the wheat are not wetted, especially 

 the furrow, or line, down the underside where the spores find 

 a safe resting place. To ensure perfect and complete wetting of 

 every part the seed should be soaked in the sulphate of copper 

 solution. This is done in America and on the Continent. The 

 seed wheat is put into a long shallow tank, and is kept there 

 from 6 to 12 hours, completely covered with a solution made of 

 about 4 J lbs. of sulphate of copper to 100 gallons of water. 

 After the grain in steep has been moved twice or thrice it is 

 taken out of the tank and spread out to dry. To make the 

 solution properly the sulphate of copper must be first dissolved 

 in a small quantity of water and then put into the tank containing 

 the proper amount of water for the ].*equisite strength of the 

 dressing. Care must be taken to dissolve every particle of the 

 sulphate of copper, and to stir the solution in the tank well 

 before the wheat is put in. 



There is another mode of dressing wheat with sulphate of 

 copper, which is more simple, and is suitable for small holdings. 

 A solution of sulphate of copper is made at the rate of 8 lbs. of 

 sulphate of copper to 100 gallons of water. This is put in a 

 large tub into which the seed- wheat in a basket with two 

 handles, is placed, so that the whole of the basket is covered 

 and permeated ^by the liquid. The basket is moved up and 

 down several times, and kept there from five to seven minutes, 

 so that the solution penetrates the whole of its contents. The 

 wheat is then spread on a floor to dry, and the basket is refilled 

 and the operation repeated until the liquid is exhausted. 



This is a far better method than the common one of merely 

 ladling the solution over a heap of corn and turning it two or 

 three times. 



All corn after this treatment should be thinly spread on a floor 

 and turned over occasionally, or upon an old tilt in the open air. 



The Hot-water Treatment. 



M. Jensen, of Copenhagen, strongly advocates the disinfection 

 of seed corn by immersing it in hot water. He states that 

 the spores of the fungus attacking oats and barley cannot 

 survive at a temperature of from 127° to 133° Fahr., and that at 

 these temperatures the vitality of the seed corn is not injured, and 

 strongly recommends this treatment as the best that can be 

 adopted. Experiments upon seed-wheat have been made in 

 America in this direction by Messrs. Kellerman and Swingle and 

 they conclude from these that certain forms of hot- water treat- 

 ment are effective against loose smut, but injure the germinatire 

 power of the seed. • 



" Wheat growers," they say, " should therefore be on their 

 ^ guard against this enemy and try to secure seed wdieat from 

 fields known by careful examination at flowering time to be 

 free from loose smut. It can, however, be combated by treating 



