24 
Colorado Experiment Station 
that is apparently sound may carry the smut fungus within. Loose 
smut is carried over within the seed, not on the outside, as in the 
case of bunt. 
Control .—The object of seed treatment is to kill the smut fun¬ 
gus that may be within apparently healthy grain, and at the same 
timje not injure the germ. The formalin treatment is worthless. It 
is also needless to try and remove affected seed by placing seed 
wheat in cold water, or by fanning it. If you do not treat your 
own grain, be careful to get seed from a field that is smut-free. 
With considerable care, seed with loose smut of wheat may be 
treated successfully, by use of hot water method. This method is 
as follows : 
(1) vSoak grain for 5 or 6 hours in cold water. Use small 
quantities of grain (about 10 lbs.), placed in coarse sacks. 
(2) Remove grain, in sacks, to tub or barrel No. i, in which 
the temperature of the water is about no to 120 degrees F. Keep 
the grain in this i or 2 minutes. Use good thermometer. 
(3) Remove grain to tub or barrel No. 2, in which the tem¬ 
perature of the water is kept exactly at 129 degrees F. Leave 
grain in this 10 minutes. 
(4) Spread seed out to dry. 
(5) In the above process some seed is killed. Hence it is 
necessary to increase the amount of seed used per acre. The extra 
amount of seed can be determined by comparing treated and un¬ 
treated seeds when tested for germination. 
OATS. 
Blade Blight. —This is a bacterial disease which at first 
causes yellowing of the leaf. Diseased portions on the leaf are 
either round, or long and streak-like. The trouble usually begins 
at the tip of the leaf and works down into the plant. It may, how¬ 
ever, start on the lower portion of the plant. In advanced cases 
the leaves collapse and take on a mottled reddish color. The leaves 
often crack and there appear droplets of a sticky fluid on their sur¬ 
face. At first this fluid is yellowish, but later it turns brown. 
Control .—No control has been found. 
Loose Smut. —The common smut of oats is the loose smut. 
It appears as soon as the plant begins to head. As a rule, all heads 
on smutted plants and all grains on smutted heads are affected. 
Chaff as well as grain is smutted. Smut spores are early blown 
away by the wind, leaving the oat stem bare. Spores are carried 
over winter, clinging to the outside of healthy grains. 
Control .—The formalin sprinkle as described under bunt of 
wheat is entirely satisfactory. It is unsafe to use bluestone (copper 
sulfate) in treating oats for smut. 
