Amc^'ican Agriculturist, April 7,1923 
309 
Seed Treatment and Spray Schedules 
Directions for Controlling Diseases That Cost Farmers Millions—Save This Page 
T ] 
\ 
IHE problem of fighting crop enemies 
'such as insects and diseases, has be¬ 
come as important in our agricultural 
practices to-day as fertilization, rota¬ 
tion and other farm practices. It is a fact 
that to-day we have more plant diseases and 
noxious insects to contend with than years 
ago. They have been imported one way or 
another from foreign lands. Whether or not 
this could have been avoided and who was to 
blame, does not help. The fact is, we have 
the diseases and the insects and 
they must be combatted. 
The fruit man knows full well 
that if he attempts to market 
wormy apples he is up against a 
stone wall when he has to com¬ 
pete with men who are selling 
clean fruit. The man who has 
scabby potatoes finds that his 
produce goes begging when he 
places it in competition with 
clean stock. 
The fight is not only against 
the insect and the disease. The 
elements must be taken into con¬ 
sideration. ' Some, years the 
weather is directly responsible 
for the more rapid development 
of plant diseases, consequently 
greater activity is required on the 
part of the farmer to keep the 
spray rigs going and to keep the 
plants covered with a film of 
poisonous material. To com¬ 
pletely cover the entire spray 
schedule of every crop would take 
many, many pages. However, 
American Agriculturist is devo¬ 
ting this entire page to a few 
fundamental crops that suffer 
severe annual losses due to dis¬ 
eases that are easily controlled. 
It is suggested that readers of 
the American Agriculturist re¬ 
move this page from the copy and 
tack it up in some place where it 
will be available for use. as a 
source of information. 
By FRED. W. OHM 
into a conical pile and covered with blankets 
or canvasses that have been moistened with 
the solution. It is allowed to remain thus 
for several hours or over night. After it 
has remained in this state for the specified 
period, it can be sown by hand immediately 
or dried in order that the grain will run 
through the drill more readily. Obviously 
the rate of seeding in the drill should be 
Treating Oats For Smut 
T he smut of oats has probably 
been responsible for greater 
losses in crop production than 
any other preventable crop dis¬ 
ease. This* is due no doubt to the 
fact that smut is rather incon¬ 
spicuous at harvest time and does 
not injure the quality of the 
threshed grain. Due to this grow¬ 
ers often declare that they have 
no smut in their oats when, as a matter of 
fact, they may be loosing from 5 to 25 per 
cent of their crop. This neglect coupled 
with the enormous production of oats in 
this country is estimated to total up an an¬ 
nual loss of 50,000,000 bushels. 
Seed treatment of oats for smut is easy 
and effective. There are several methods, 
but the easiest, most convenient, and still 
effective method is to sprinkle the oats with 
a solution made by adding one quart of 
formaldehyde to 40 gallons of water. Be¬ 
fore treating the seed, it is run through a 
fanning mill and subjected to a strong draft 
which will remove smut balls and light 
grain. The cleaned seed is spread on a 
perfectly clean floor, which has preferably 
been sprinkled wit^i the formaldehyde solu¬ 
tion previously, usjng a common sprinkling 
can. 
The grain is then turned over and over 
by shovelling until every kernel is well 
nioistened. The oats are finally shovelled 
Period for Spraying 
Materials in Spray 
Mixtures 
Insects and Diseases 
Affected 
Delayed Dormant 
When.buds show green 
at tips 
Lime-sulphur 
(1-8, winter strength) 
San Jose Scale 
Blister-mite 
To each 100 gallons 
add: 
Lead arsenate 4 to 6 
lbs. 
Bud moth 
Leaf rollers 
Casebearers 
Nicotine sulphate, i 
' pint 
Aphids 
Blossom-Pink 
When blossoms show 
pink 
Lime-sulphur 
(1 - 40, summer 
strength) 
Scab 
To each 100 gallons 
add: 
Lead arsenate 4 to 6 
lbs. 
Green fruit worms 
Bud moth 
Leaf rollers 
Casebearers 
Nicotine sulphate, 1 
pint 
Dark apple red bug 
Calyx 
When last of petals 
ai’e falling 
Lime-sulphur 
(1 - 40, sum m e r 
strength) 
Scab 
To each 100 gallons 
add: ^ 
Lead ai’senate 4 to 6 
lbs. 
Codling moth 
Green fruit worms 
Bud moth 
Curculios 
Lesser apple worm 
Nicotine sulphate, 1 
pint 
Dark and bright apple 
red bugs 
Later sprays to be de¬ 
termined by weather 
conditions. Two spray- 
Lfme-sulphur 
(1 - 40, summer 
strength) 
Scab 
ings often made are 
(1) two to four weeks 
after calyx spray, and 
(2) about the 1st of 
August, when the sec¬ 
ond brood of codling 
moth appears 
To each 100 gallons 
add: 
Lead arsenate 4 to 6 
lbs. 
Codling moth 
Curculios 
Lesser apple wprm 
Apple maggot 
Schedule for Spraying Apple 
N. Y. Expt. Sia. CHr. 57 
somewhat increased to allow for the swell¬ 
ing of the seed. 
If the treated seed is not used immediately, 
it must be born in mind that the grain should 
not be stored in bins or sacks unless such 
storage places have also been treated with 
the formalin. In purchasing formalin it is 
well to make certain that the material pur¬ 
chased is 40 per cent strength, which means 
that it contains 40 per cent of formaldehyde 
gas by volume. This material can be pro¬ 
cured at the local drug store. It is interest¬ 
ing to note that several commercial seed 
firms are putting treated seed on the market. 
Seed Potato Diseases 
O F all the diseases of potatoes, scab and 
rhizoctonia are most prevalent and take 
enormous tolls in our annual yields. Scab 
is so common that a description of this dis¬ 
ease is needless. Rhizoctonis is not so gen¬ 
erally known, although it is just as prevalent. 
This latter disease may be identified during 
the growing season by dwarf plants that 
show a weakened and stunted growth. Later 
in the season and at digging time, it may be 
identified by a large number of small tubers 
just near the surface of the soil. 
This disease attacks the plant at the sur¬ 
face of the soil, rotting away the stem. In 
its attempt to grow and reproduce, the plant 
throws out branches from buds just below 
the surface of the soil, known as 
adventitious buds, which develop 
into new stalks and break 
through the soil. These are also 
attacked by the diseases and 
other branches start from this 
second sprout. In the meantime 
in its attempt to reproduce, the 
weakened plants throw out small 
tubers that adhere closely to. the 
stem. 
The treatment to control scab 
is not necessarily the same as 
for rhizoctonia. If a grower 
knows his seed is not infected in 
any Way with the rhizoctonia, he 
need only treat with formalin. In 
this treatment, formalin is used 
at the strength of one pint of 
40 per cent formaldehyde to 30 
gallons of water. The seed is im¬ 
mersed two hours in the solution. 
The formalin is nonpoisonous and 
can be used in metal as well as 
wooden containers. The sam^so- 
lution may be used for five or six 
different batches without loosing 
much of its strength. However, 
rhizoctonia does not yield to the 
gas of formaldehyde so readily 
and therefore must be treated 
with a more severe remedy, which 
in this case is corrosive sublimate. 
In view of the fact that corrosive 
sublimate will also kill scab, it 
is not necessary to use both ma¬ 
terials. It is a case of killing two 
birds with one stone. 
Corrosive sublimate (mercuric 
bicloride) is a deadly poison and 
must be handled accordingly. It 
comes in tablet form and must 
be kept where children or per¬ 
sons who are ignorant of its 
effect, will be unable to confuse 
it with ordinary pills. Further¬ 
more, corrosive sublimate reacts 
with or corrodes metals and for 
that reason only wooden or 
earthenware containers should be 
used. In mixing the solution, 4 
ounces of corrosive sublimate are 
dissolved in 30 gallons of water. 
Due to the fact that the solution loses its 
strength rapidly, in contrast to formalin, it 
is only good for three different batches of 
potatoes. The first batch is immersed for 
a period of approximately one hour and 
twenty minutes; a second for a hour and 
a half; and the third for a hour and 
three-quarters. 
When the solution is no longer needed, it 
should be disposed of in such a manner that 
farm stock will have no access to it. After 
the seed has been treated, it is spread out on 
the floor to dry and is then ready to be cut 
previous to planting. To simplify matters in 
treating seed potatoes, it pays to have five or 
six water-tight barrels on hand, each one 
having a bung or spigot in the side, near the 
bottom. All are placed on a platform as high 
as a pail to draw off the used chemical. All 
the barrels are filled with potatoes to be 
treated, except one, which is used as a reserve 
when changing potatoes in the barrels. 
