TREATMENTS OF SEED WHEAT FOR LOOSE SMUT 
23 
to dry one week at room temperature. Then 100 untreated seeds 
and 100 seeds from each of the treatments of each lot were sown in 
soil in greenhouse flats. Germination counts were made one month 
after sowing. The results are presented in Table 1 1 . 
Table 11 shows that germination was not reduced materially by 
steam treatment at 47° C. for three hours or less, but at 48 and 49° C. 
considerable injury occurred when the duration of treatment was one 
hour or more. It will be noted also that with decrease in temperature 
corresponding increases in the duration of treatment caused less injury 
to the seeds. For this reason treatments at lower temperatures seem 
preferable where large quantities of seed wheat are involved, as in 
steam treatments. The larger number of bushels treated would re- 
duce the cost of additional time of treatment per bushel to a negligible 
amount. 
In 1921-22 steam treatments were applied at 46°, 47°, and 48° C, 
and the effects on germination, rate of emergence, yield, and control 
of loose smut and bunt were studied. Two lots of Goens wheat 
(Nos. 16 and 17) grown in 1921 were used. Samples of each of the 
lots were inoculated with a small quantity of bunt spores and treated 
during the period from October 10 to 12, 1921, at the temperatures 
and during the time periods specified in Table 12. The treated wheat 
was left to dry one week at room temperature, when it was packeted 
and used, as described below. For the study of germination and rate 
of emergence 100 untreated seeds and 100 seeds from each of the 
treatments of each lot were sown in soil in greenhouse flats on No- 
vember 12, 1921. From the date of emergence of the first seedling 
daily records of the number of seedlings which had emerged were 
taken for one month. 
Table 12. — Average rates of emergence of seedlings from two lots of Goens wheat 
from seed untreated or treated with steam, as specified, following a 4-hour soak in 
cold water, at Arlington Experiment Farm in 1921 
Treatment of the seed 
Percentage of emergence after the following 
numbers of days 
Duration 
Kind and tem- 
perature 
Untreated. 
Treated: 
At 46° C. 
At 47° C. 
At 48° C. 
Hours 
Minutes 
in 
30 54 
.... 57 
30 37 
.... 34 
30 31 
28 
30 16 
.... 12 
.... 37 
30 28 
62 
53 
41 
41 
64 
51 
—J 27 \ 33 
30 11 31 
3 11 
"30 I 69 84 
45 62 78 
.... 67 79 
83 
85 
v- 
81 85 87 
92 92 
85 
77 
67 
67 
62 
82 
71 82 
94 
62 
57 I 67 
36 61 
90 91 
82 85 
81 
76 
73 
91 
82 
70 77 
85 
93 
1.' 
vl, 
85 
93 93 93 
96 97 
85 
Ss 
93 
89 
I 97 
88 
j 89 
83 
82 
93 
84 
84 
81 
89 
I 95 
85 
30 
S5 
93 
97 97 
84 j 84 
82 82 
93 93 
84 84 
B4 B4 
81 
78 
\>A 
89 
95 
95 
Days re- 
quired 
for com- 
pletion 
of emer- 
gence 
Table 12 shows that none of the treatments caused appreciable 
reduction in the final percentage of emergence, but all of them re- 
