288 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL gournan. [1 Ocr., 1897. 
minutes. Kellermann and Swingle, who have successfully adopted this method, 
suggest that the steeping process should continue for fifteen minutes. This 
method not only prevents smut without injuring any of the seed, but is also 
said to make the corn germinate more evenly, a point of great importance to 
the growers of high-class malting barleys. Jensen found that while treating 
with hot water alone at 180 degrees to 134 degrees I’. was sufficient to prevent 
smut in oats, it did not succeed in checking the disease in barley unless the 
barley had previously been steeped in cold water for six or eight hours. He 
suggests that the temperature of the hot water for steeping barley should be 
from 127 degrees to 180 degrees F. To carry out this hot-water method, 
two large vessels are required—one containing hot water at from 110 
degrees to 120 degrees F'., the other containing hot water at 127 
degrees to 130 degrees F. (130 degrees to 134 degrees F. for oats). The 
first vessel is for warming the seed before dipping it into the second, so that 
the temperature of the hot water in the second vessel may not be much. 
reduced. The temperature of the water must be gauged by a thermometer, and 
must be prevented from falling by pouring in hot water from a boiler. The 
seed corn is placed in a heavy wire basket lined throughout with fine wire- 
netting (about twelve meshes to the inch), and so constructed as to allow the 
water to pass in and out freely on all sides, while preventing the escape of the 
rain. A sack made of loosely woven material can be used instead of the 
basket. The basket or sack containing the grain should be dipped into the 
first vessel, and should be kept moving up and down in the water, so that every 
grain may be brought in contact with the hot water. After remaining in the 
first vessel for about a minute, it should be dipped into the hotter water in the 
second vessel, and moved up and down as before, but in this case the process is 
continued for from five to fifteen minutes, after which the grain should be 
cooled with cold water and spread out to dry. 
The Jensen hot-water method is the only really effective process yet 
discovered for preventing smut in barley, but at the same time it will be noticed 
that it involves a good deal of labour, and it is also important that the water 
should be kept at the proper temperature. It is to be hoped that farmers will 
take every possible precaution to procure seed from a crop free from smut. This 
may involve a certain amount of expense, but it will be slight when compared 
with the loss which will inevitably follow where seed trom a diseased crop is 
sOWh, - 
