Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-04-06
ANOTHER GLORIOUS VICTORY.
TO WHEAT GROWERS.

ously Injuring tine Quality and Price
of the Wheat Product.
Grain dealers tell us that the presence
Of smut in wheat is q rapidly increasing
svil and one which aft 5cts the producer
seriously than he imagines. They
say the price of wheat is reduced from
ten to twenty cents per bushel by emut.
As this represents the margin to tn
it is important that the evil be
remedled. The subject has become one
Of such Importance that the Chicago q
railroad company has pro-
cured an investigation of the causes of
smut and the discovery of a remedy |
therefor, and it offers to the farmers the
i flowing as the result OF its effort:
BSmutty wheat is getting to be % serl-
as matter with the farmers of the
northwest, as well as the mIilers and
grain dealers who are Obliged to handle
it. The loss resulting flom it to the
farmers in the spring wheat region
amounts to millions OF dollars annually.
So far it has been confined mainly to
tie 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 q short time,
place the spring wheat of this country
IN the rejected" grade, where a large
amount OF it is now going on ac-
count OF smut, and selling at ten to
twenty-five cents per bushel lower on
this account. This smut can be
stamped out with o very little trouble
and a 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 in thousands of cases and has
never failed, The remedy for killing
the smut is simply to wet thoroughly
each grain of seed wheat in a strong SO
luton of blue vitrol, or as some call it
blue stone. The ways to do it are
various. The following has proved
perfectly reliable, viz: Dissolve one or
two pounds (there is no danger OF
getting the solution too stropg) of blue
yitroi to each gallon of water. You
must judge as to how many gallons OF
this solution you will require for the
amount of seed you intend to
SOW. Probably n gallon
will wet. four bushels of seed.
Put 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; immense them
in thus pickle and let them lie from Eve
to ten minutes, turning the bag over q
few times to be sure that the wheat hat
become thoroughly wet. Then lift them
out and let the pickle drain back in to
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 q letter re.
caived from the Hon. Horace DAVIS,
member of Congress from San Francisco
and the largest miller on the Pacific
Slope, in answer to 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 none now owing
to the use of blue-stone on the seed BY
the farmers. 1 have seen iells where
part of the seed was treated with blue
stone and part not, and the difference
was as plain as between q field
of barley and one of oats; it is
hard to give any exact rule as to it's APP
plication, the most practical farmers tell
me they use six pounds
to each ton of seed wheat.
1t il dissolved in water enough
to wet this quantity Of wheat, and the
wheat is put in a bags, say fifty to sixty
pounds, and immersed in the solution
for six or sever minutes, Just enough to
! wei all the wheat. Then it ia taken ori
and laid on sloping boards at the end OF
the trough to dram. The solution is
put into a trough built for this purpose,
something like a horse trough. The
bags are turned over frequently in this
solution to insure the wetting Of all the
wheat. You can rely upon it that blue.
stone is a dedd shot for smut in Cali
%fornia. By blue-stoneI mean sulphate
of copper or blue vltriol."
Ii wheat is sUwn IN old stubble where
there was smut the previous year it will
make its appearance to some extent
but the second year there will be nc
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 il
the seed Is prepared as above, unless it
may be communicated from neighbor-
ing 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 smntty wheat,
Below is an extract from a letter on
the subject received from Prof. e, w.
Hilgard, university of California, college
OF agriculture, Berkeley, CAL:
"As regards to Questioning of seed
wheat, the solution used is az strong as
it can be made at the ordinary tempera-
ture. Such a solution contains about
three pounds of blue-stone to five quarts
OF water. The time of immersion varies
somewhat; the most definite prescrip-
ton given is that q half sack should
retdaan IN the saturated solution of least
three minutes, and be turned about
several times in the interval to make
sure OF wetting thoroughly. When
weaker solution is used, the grain NAV
be left with it until it begins to sprout
The sacks are usually left opened unit .
used for sowing. There is no dryinpl
done on purpose, unless it is to be used
In the seed drill. 1t will work per
fectly with the centrifugal sower with
out drying. In general I would be IN
favor of the strong solution and short
immersion. The work is then done
quicker, and If the grain is afterward
left in the sack for some hours the h
plicstion is sure to be ef~feotuai. Agein,
the strong solution is more certain to
Gender the grain distasteful to birds and
insect enemies, and gives q margin for
killing fungoid germs round about the
young seeding. There seems to be
little danger to the vitality OF the seed
from the blue stone. OF course the blue
Sfnna will MT nrAYanf fha enant nrrna