TREATMENT OF STINKING SMUT IN WHEAT. 
BY JOSEPH REED. * 
INTRODUCTION. 
It is not the purpose of this paper to present anything 
new in the way of preventing smut in wheat. Many reme¬ 
dies have been tried, some of them giving very good results, 
others giving poor results, and in some cases the germinat¬ 
ing power of the grain was destroyed. While the practice 
of treating seed wheat for the prevention of stinking smut 
is quite general in many localities, yet from the many in¬ 
quiries that come to the Experiment Station in regard to 
smutted wheat it is evident that the treatment is not under¬ 
stood by all. Some growers try a good remedy but fail to 
obtain good results because they neglect an important de¬ 
tail. Others treat their seed one year with good results 
while the next year the same treatment may prove a fail¬ 
ure. Such an experience is likely to discourage further 
effort to combat the disease. But it is safe to say that fail¬ 
ure is always due to the remedy being improperly made or 
applied. The evident good results the first year may have 
been due to a small amount of diseased seed rather than to 
the treatment. The second year the disease was still un¬ 
checked by the inefficient remedy, and increased enough to 
cause considerable loss. 
A small amount of smut in grain cannot be readily de¬ 
tected. Many people conclude, therefore, that their seed is 
free from disease and so dispense with the treatment. 
Many times a crop can be grown without treatment, but on 
the other hand a better crop might have been produced 
from treated seed. At any rate the farmer who treats his 
seed is not running any risk; he has a cheap insurance. 
Before starting these experiments all available litera¬ 
ture on the treatment of wheat for the prevention of smut 
* A Senior Student in the Agricultural College. The experiments 
were carried on with the advice and under the direction of Professor 
Paddock. 
