Colorado Plant Diseases 
89 
THE SPRINKLING METHOD 
1. Clean the seed thoroughly by fanning so as to remove all un- 
broken smut balls. 
2. Use a clean floor, wagon-bed, or canvas in the open. 
3. Spread out a few bushels of grain. Make the formaldehyde 
solution the same as for the soaking method, and sprinkle it over the 
grain as it is being shoveled around. 
4. Sprinkle at the rate of one gallon of diluted formaldehyde 
solution to one bushel of grain. A garden sprinkling can may well 
be used. 
5. After all the grain is treated, pile and cover with disinfected 
sacking or canvas for from 6 to 12 hours. 
TABLE I 
Use Formaldehyde of Commercial 40 Percent Strength 
Grain 
Kind of Smut 
Proportion of Formaldehyde 
to Water Mixed 
How Long to 
Soak in Solution 
Wheat 
. . 10-20 minutes 
Barley 
. . 10-20 minutes 
Oats 
....All kinds 
1 pt. to 40 gals 
. . 10-15 minutes 
Millet 
. .40-60 minutes 
Rye 
1 pt. to 40 gals 
. . 10-15 minutes 
Emmer 
. . 10-20 minutes 
Sorghum. , . 
....Kernel ...' 
1 pt. to 40 gals 
, . 2-4 hours 
PRECAUTIONS 
Follow directions carefully. Failure to do this may result 
in the treatment proving ineffective. 
Never put treated grain in sacks, barrels, or seeders which have 
contained untreated seed until they have been disinfected with the 
formaldehyde solution. 
Treated grain may be kept indefinitely if thoroughly dried and 
protected from further contamination. 
If treatment is performed during the winter, care should be 
taken not to expose the wet grain to frost, as it may result in in- 
jury to germination. 
All grain should be thoroughly fanned before treating by the 
soaking or sprinkling methods. If you have not a fanning mill you 
should use the open tank treatment. 
Corn smut, and loose smut of wheat and barley, are not con- 
trolled by the above treatments. 
Do not use copper sulfate treatment for oats. 
When purchasing formaldehyde, look for the standard red label 
bearing the recommendation of the Colorado Agricultural College. 
This label furnishes complete directions for seed treatment. 
