Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-03-05
IMPORTANT TO FARMERS

NORTHWESTERN railway sends out the
following circular addressed to
'Wheat Growers" He says it has
been prepared by an old and ex-
perienced miller of the northwest,
and its importance to farmers is such
that the railway company desire to
give it the widest possible circulation.
1t undoubtedly contains an easy,
simple and perfect remedy against
one Of the great troubles of wheat
producers. The time has surely come
when the farmers must make use of
all the light of investigation, and ex-
perience in his work. The great de-
mand OF the age upon the agricultur-
alists is for better article, whether
OF butter, cheese, fruit, meats or
breadstuffs. The best will command
the best price:
To WHEAT GROWERS.
Smutty wheat is getting to be a serious matter
with the farmers of the northwest as well as the
millers and grain dealers who are obliged to
handle it. The loss resulting from it to the
farmers in the spring wheat region amounts to
millions of dollars annually. So far it has been
confined mainly to the soft varieties Of spring
wheat, but it is now making its appearance in
the hard or Phyfe wheat, and if suffered to go
unchecked will, in short time, place the spring
wheat of this country in the rejected" grade,
where large amount of it is now going on &C
count of smut and selling at 10 to % cents per
bushel lower on this account This smut can be
stamped out with very little trouble and small
expense to each Individual farmer, if he will
carefully apply the prescription below. There is
no dispute on the subject; it has been tried and
proven III thousands OF cases and has never fail
ed. The remedy for killing the smut is simply to
wet thoroughly each grain Of seed wheat in a
strong solution of blue yitrol, as some call it,
olue-stone. The ways to do it are various The
following has proven perfectly reliable viz
Dissolve one or two pounds there is no danger of
getting the solution too strong) of blue vitrol to
each gallon Of water. You must Judge as to how
many gallons of this solution you will REQUIRE
Tor the amount of seed you intend to SOW. Prob
ably:one gallon will wet four bushels of seed.
fut the seed wheat into coarse bags about fifty
or sixty pounds to the bag tie them at the top so
that the wheat will lie loosely in them; immerse
them In this pickle and let them lie from FIVE to
ten minutes, turning the bags over a few times to
be snre that the wheat has become thoroughly
wet Then lift them out and let the pickle drain
into the vessel that contains the solution. The
wheat will very soon be in condition to SOW 1t
does not require TO be spread out to dry, as the
wheat will absorb the moisture very quickly
Below is an extract from letter received from
IA Hon na,-
San Francisco and the largest miller on the Pa
cific Slope, in answer 10 inquiries on the subject
OF smut in wheat in his state:
In reply to yours of the 10th In early times
we were much troubled with smutty wheat
but have now owing to the use of blue.
stone on the seed b. the farmers. l
nave seen fields where part of the seed was
tested with bluestone and part not. and the differ
ence was as plain as between a field of barley
and OF oats it is hard to give any exact rule as TO
Its application; the most practical farmers tell
me they use six pounds to each ton of seed wheat
1t is dissolved in water enough to wet this quaint
W or wheat, and the wheat is put in bags say
htty to sixty pounds, and immersed in the solu-
tlon Tor SIX or seven minutes, just enough to wet
all the wheat. Then it is taken out and laid on
sloplng boards at the end of the trough to drain
Inc solution is put into trough built for this pun,
pose, something like horse trough. The bags
are turned over frequently in this solution to in
sure tie wetting of all the wheat You can RELY
upon it that bluestone is dead shot for smut in
California. By blue-stone I mean sulphate of
copper or blue vitrol."
If wheat is sown in old stubble where there
was smut the previous year it will make its ap-
htrt tha
there will be no sign of it. In new ground, or in
fields where wheat has not been raised for two
seasons or more there will be no smut If the seed
is prepared as above, unless it may be commuRi-
Gated from neighboring fields where the seed has
not been treated for the purpose of killing smut
germs. The cost of preparing the seed for one
acre of ground will not exceed the loss on one
bushel of Smutty wheat.
Below is an extract from letter on the subject
received from Prof. E. w. Hilgard, University
of California College of Agriculture, Berkeley,
| Cal
"As regards the Questioning of seed wheat the
solution used is as strong as it be made at
the ordinary temperature. Such a solution con
| tains about three pounds Of blue-stone to five
quarts of water. The time of immersion varies
somewhac; the most definite description given is
that halt sick should remain in the saturated
! solution at least three minutes, and be turned
about seven times in the interval to make OF
wetting thoroughly. When weaker solution is
used, the grain may be left with it until it begins
to sprout. The sacks are usually left unopened
until used for sowing There is no drying done
on purpose, unless it is TO be used in the seed
drill 1t will work perfectly with the centrifugal
sowe. without drying. In general l would be in
favor of the strong solution and short immersion.
The work is then done quicker, and II
the grain is afterward left in the sack for
some hours the Application is to be effectuaL
Again, the strong solution is more certain to
render the grain distasteful to birds and insect
enemies, and gives margin for killing fungoid
germs round about the young Seeding. There
be little danger to the vitality Of the seed
from the bluestone. OF course the blue-stone
| will not prevent the smut germs left over in the
fields from previous seasons from attacking the
developed plant. 1t simply kills the germ in the
seed that would otherwise develop along with
the latter and take the plant in its early stages.
A field that has been very smutty during the
! previous season will be apt TO show some on the
| grain of the next one despite blue-stening g, but
persistence in the practice viii be sure to put an
end to the fungus germs. save so far az they may
4
In preparing wheat for seed il has been the
| practice Of farmers in Europe to separate care
| fully the small and imperfect grains and SOW the
| largest and most perfect berries This insures a
! larger yeild and better quality. Tests have been
| made in England where fields side by side were
planted three years in succession, and one gave
| three bushels the first year, five the second, and
! eight the third year more than the other, both
| fields being treated precisely the same except IN
| the seed This has been tried by farmers Of ILL
uois and Iowa and has resulted in their adopting
| this practice getting larger yield and much bet
/ ter quality. These are ali facts obtained by &C
tuaI experience and tests made by practica
| farrnsrs and scientific agricultursts-
| The powers Of oratnry Of Q. s. SEN
| at II Voorhees,, of Indiana, are eRiver-
Q ally acknowisdxed. Where even IN
Denosthenes could there be words NOR Q
| eloquent than these? Il consider St
Jacobs Oil splendid remedy. I suffer
ID from rheum atism OF the back. /
used St Jacobs Oil, which gave ne IN
s.antaneous relief, and then cured ns.
Last year the electric light was ia
troduced into the great ball room at
Buckingham Palace, where the state
balls and concerts are held, and it has
=