COLES COUNTY SEED FARM 
Toland experimented with smut in broom corn for many years, and in 
the year 1902 he found the most satisfactory preparation which frees it almost entirely 
from smut. It has been brought to our notice that fields planted from inferior seed 
were full of smut, while a field adjoining, which was planted from our seed, remained 
free from smut, the other field having no effect upon it throughout the entire season. 
There is a great deal of misunderstanding as to how Toland treats his seed for smut. 
He uses three chemicals in liquid form. The seed is put in boxes and planted immedi¬ 
ately, not even allowed to stand over noon. This entirely frees the broomcorn seed 
from smut, and very little or any smut appears in the next crop. Occasionally there 
are some smut heads when it is planted in a field where there has been corn or oats 
which had smut in it. 
After years of careful work and close attention, I have it strictly pure and giving 
excellent satisfaction. Some of the dealers and manufacturers claim it has meant mil¬ 
lions to the trade. I have a very choice stock of my own growing to offer this year, and 
will give all orders my prompt and careful attention. 
AUSTRIAN BROOM CORN SEED 
The introducing of the Austrian broom corn has been a question among the deal¬ 
ers and growers here. In the year of 1901, Mr. A. H. Grunewald of Chicago, sent me 
about one ounce of Austrian broom corn seed, requesting me to try it. I put the seed 
in water; about 100 sank to the bottom; these I planted, the rest being too weak to 
germinate. The 100 seeds produced about ninety stalks of broom corn. I did not 
treat this for smut, and when headed about one-third was smut. The brush and seed of 
six heads were very red; four dark, like sorghum, and five, where the brush knit on 
the stem, curly and rough. The remaining were long, green heads, which averaged 
three and one-half feet in length. 
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