MiIvLET Smuts and Their Control 21 
Sprinkle Method 
This method is very simple and easy. Two men can treat large 
amounts of grain in one day, depending upon the facilities at hand. 
1. Use a clean granary floor or wagon-bed, or canvas in the 
open. A bushel or so of grain should first be spread upon ths floor 
and sprinkled with the formalin solution mentioned above. A com¬ 
mon garden sprinkling can is best for this purpose. 
2. Apply the solution at the rate of ^ to i gallon to a bushel of 
grain. While it is being applied, the grain should be shoveled well so 
that each grain will be thoroly wetted. 
3. After all grain has been treated by adding both grain and 
solution to the pile as long as convenient, the whole should be piled 
and covered for 2 hours as in the previous treatment. 
After drying, the grain should be put in clean sacks and stored 
in a place where it will be free from danger of contamination by smut 
spores. Sweeping in the granary, where any amount of smutted grain 
has been kept, should never be done until the treated seed has b:en 
removed. By sweeping, the large numbers of spores which have set¬ 
tled upon the floor and walls are put in motion and are likely to find 
their way back again to the treated g' ains. 
Tables Nos. 3 and 4 give the result of spore and seed treatments. 
It will be noticed in Table No. 3 that the formalin solution is effective 
even to a dilution of i pint of formalin to 100 gallons of water. . How¬ 
ever, with this dilution a small percentage of spores appearea to be 
germinating, altho they never developed definite germ tubes. 
Pammel and King in 1909, treated spores of Ustilago crameri 
with formalin solution diluted to i part to 320, 500 and 1000 parts of 
water. It was found that no germination resulted when spores were 
treated with the 1-320, (1-40 gals.) and 1-500, (1-63 gals.) propor¬ 
tions but “abundant germination” occurred in those treated with i 
to 1000 (i to 125 gals.) 
Table No. 4 gives dhe re.sults of different strengths of the for¬ 
malin solution upon the germination of millet seeds. The averages of 
many tests demonstrate the injurious effects of the solution when not 
diluted sufficiently. A solution of i pint to 20 gallons of water is 
entirely too strong, and unnecessary to destroy the spores. It im¬ 
pairs the germinative ability of the grain over 15 percent. On the 
other hand a solution of i pint formalin to 40 to 50 gallons of water 
causes no appreciable injury when the grain is steeped therein for a 
period of 40 to 60 minutes. 
