Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1906 — TREATMENT FOR SMUT. [ARTICLE]

TREATMENT FOR SMUT.

Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station Newspaper Bulletin No. 125, March 19, 1906: Years of experience have shown the advisability of treating seed oats to remove the contamination of smut, unless positively known that the seed is exceptionally clean and free from spores. The lobs from smut is not a partial, but an absolute loss so far as it goes. Every grain in the head that is affected is totally destroy, ed, not merely shrivelled as in the case of rust. The percentage of loss is, moreover, much greater than usually supposed, as the smutted heads are less conspicuous than the healthy ones, and largely escape detection. Smut in oats is very common, usually between five and ten per cent, of the stand; it is rare to find a field entirely free from it. A loss of one-fourth of the crop, or even more, is not a rarity. This lobs may be simply and cheaply prevented by use of hot water or chemicals. Probably the best method, and one extensively used, is to treat the seed with a weak solution of formalin. Secure at the drug store a half-pound of formalin, add to it thirty gallons of water. Spread the seed grain on the barn floor and sprinkle the solution over it, making it thoroughly damp. Shovel together into a pile, cover with sacking or other convenient material and leave for two to twelve hours for the chemical to act. Sow at once, or spread out and dry and sow after a time. Thirty gallons of the solution are enough for 100 to 150 bushels of .grain. While the seed should be moist, it ought not to pack in the hand. Formalin is often called formaldehyde. It looks like water and has a pungeut odor like ammonia. The standard commercial article is known as a forty per cent, solution. It is not poisonous. J. C. Arthur, Botanist.