174 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ava., 1898. 
General Notes. 
HOT-WATER TREATMENT OF SEED WHEAT. 
Mr. J. R. Martin, of Cawdor, writes in reference to an article appearing in 
the Journal in May last on the above subject :— 
T have never tried the hot-water method as a remedy against smut, but I 
have used bluestone for twenty years, and have never known it to fail, it being 
a sure preventive of the disease. The method I adopt is to place the wheat in 
a wooden tub—a hogshead cut in two makes a good pickling vessel. I fill the 
tub with the seed to within 6 inches of the top, and then pour in water, com- 
pletely covering the wheat. ‘To each bushel of wheat I take }-lb. of bluestone, 
or 11b. to a bag, powder it fine, and dissolve it in boiling water. I pour 
this on to the wheat, stirring well with a piece of batten, and then leave it in 
the pickle for three hours. If I wish to sow at once, I take the wheat from 
the tubs at the end of that time and put itin bags. If I do not require it 
immediately, I spread it out on the barn floor, mixing a little slacked lime with 
it. In this way it will keep for a long time. 
Last year I tried an experiment with this pickle on barley and oats, 
treating the grain precisely in the same manner as the wheat. The result was 
that I had no smut in the crop raised from the pickled seed. I tried some 
without any treatment whatever, and the crop was full of ballsmut. There 
are other methods of applying the bluestone, such as dissolving the crystals 
and sprinkling the wheat spread out on the floor, and turning it over during 
the sprinkling with a shovel; but I do not think this method is as good a 
- preventive as pickling, as some of the grains are sure to miss contact with the 
bluestone, and then, in all probability, the crop would be more or less affected 
with smut. I do not say decidedly that bluestone will not destroy some of the 
grains, but this I can safely certify—that I always had a fair crop from land 
sown broadcast with three-quarters of a bushel of seed to the acre, and it was 
very seldom affected by smut, and I have grown several varieties of wheat with 
the same result. 
CANE DISEASE IN INDIA. 
Tur disease in sugar-cane, which has been prevalent in Madras, forms the 
subject of areport by Dr. Bourne, which has recently beenissued. The report 
ascribes the evil to a fungoid growth having all the symptoms characteristic of 
Trichospheria sacchari masse, which has recently threatened to extinguish the 
sugar industry of Barbados. Dr. Bourne finds both the root fungus and rind 
fungus present, whereby great damage is being done; and says that, unless some 
measures to check its progress are adopted at once, matters wili go from bad to 
worse. His inquiries show that the disease is pretty widely spread along the 
whole coast, even to Ganjam, and has been gradually coming on for years. 
Each plantation he examined showed the disease in all its stages—that is to 
say, contained plants which had been attacked at different periods. The report 
shows that some of the methods adopted by the ryot are calculated to spread 
the spores as widely as possible. His methods of planting, and more especially 
of raising a second crop where the disease is prevalent, are almost certain to 
ensure its recrudescence in an aggravated form. As a remedial measure, Dr. 
Bourne recommends that all land under sugar-cane this year should be sown 
with paddy; all cane roots left in the ground wherever there has been any 
disease being taken up and burnt; and all crushed cane, old leaves, and other 
litter to be burnt at once. Where new gardens are being planted, “tops” 
from a perfectly healthy area should be secured. As this will not be feasible 
