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the life history of the fungus. Starting with such fungi as the 
smuts which attack the cereals in the seedling stage we know 
that the infection 1s brought about by spores which adhere 
the seed coats and consequently are sown with the grain. If 
one could in any way destroy these lurking spores then the 
crop would be free from infection. Many methods have been 
suggested for this purpose and some have actually been em. 
ployed for centuries. One of the oldest of these is to soak the 
grain in strong brine a short time previous to sowing. This 
process kills many of the spores without damaging to any extent 
the germinating capacity of the grain. In later times this pro- 
cess has been modified by employing steeps of copper sulphate 
in place of the brine. Still more recently the employment of 
formalin or of lysol has been recommended. These _ various 
steeps have proved very satisfactory for the prevention of the 
cereal smuts, but they bid fair to be replaced by Jensen’s hot 
water method. The biologic fact upon which this process is 
based is that the smut spores are killed on being exposed to a 
temperature of 132 F., which however is not injurious to the 
grain. In practice a quantity of about a bushel is placed in 
some readily permeable receptacle and then dipped in a vessel 
of -water.at a temperature of 120 F.. The. grainvas when 
thoroughly stirred up so that every part of the bulk is exposed 
to its heating action. After this preliminary warming the vessel 
is transferred to water at a temperature of 132 F., and by alter- 
nately lowering, raising and twisting, the whole mass of grain 
is heated to a temperature within a degree or two of this limit. 
Should the temperature fall during the ten minutes this process 
continues it should be brought back to its proper level by add- 
ing more hot water. The one essential point to notice is that 
the temperature should be kept as near to 132 F. as possible. 
A slightly higher temperature may result in killing the grain. 
The superiority of this process is no doubt due to the fact that 
one can readily raise the whole bulk of the grain to the desired 
temperature, though it is difficult to make certain that every 
portion is wetted in the steeping process. Smut spores in the 
groove of a grain of wheat or in the brush of hairs at its apex 
might well escape the action of a copper sulphate steep owing 
to the difficulty of expelling the air bubbles forming in these 
positions. 
In spite of the simplicity of the methods described smut still 
flourishes in the cereals and one can never hope to see It 
thoroughly eradicated until the seedfirms take the matter 1 
hand and guarantee their seed free from lurking spores. The 
additional cost to the buyer would be so insignificant that the 
idea might well be put into practice at once. The various 
methods of attacking lurking spores will in the near future find 
