The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-04-09
SMUT IN WHEAT.
How to Prevent Rust In Wheat-A Serious
Menace to Wheat Growers.


The general freight agent of the Chi
cago d Northwestern railway engaged
an old and experienced miller to pre-
pare an article on this subject which is
given below:
Smatty wheat Is getting to be a
serious matter with the farmers OF
the northwest, as we'll as the millcrs
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 60 unchecked will, in
a short time, place the spring wheat Of
this country in the rejected" grade,
where n large amount of it is now going
on account Of smut. and selling at 10 to
25 cents per bushel lower on this ac-
count. This smut can DO stamped out
with very little trouble and small ex-
pense to each individual farmer, If he
will carefully apply the prescription be-
low. There is no dispute on the SUBJ
ject; 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 strong solution of blue
vitriol, or, as some call it, blue-stone.
The ways to do it are various. The fol-
lowing has proved perfectly reliable
viz. Dissolve one or two pounds (thcre
is no danger of getting the solution too
stronS of blue vitriol to each gallon of
water. You must Judge as to how ma
ny gallons of this solution you will re-
quirc for the amount of seed You intend
to SOW. Probably one gallon of this so
luton will wet four bushels of seed.
Put the seed wheat into coarse bags,
about fifty or sixty pounds to the bag,
tie them ut 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 q
few times to be sure that the wheat has
become thoroughly wet. Then lift them
out, and let the pickle drain back into
the vessel that contains the solution.
The wheat will very soon be in condi-
ton to SOW. 1t does not require to be
spread out to dry, as the wheat will alb
sorb the moisture very quickly.
Below is an extract of letter re-
ceived from the Hon. Horace Davis,
member of congress from San Francisco
and the largest miller on the Pacific
slope, in answer 10 inquiries on the
subject of smut in wheat in his state:
I'm 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. Ihave seen fields
where part of the seed was treated with
blue-stone and part not, and the differ
ence was as plain as between field Of
barley and one of oats. 1t Is hard to
give an 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 quantity of wheat and the
wheat is put in bags, say fifty to sixty
pounds, and immersed in tho solution
for six to seven minutes, Just enough to
wet all the wheat. Then it is taken
out and laid on sloping boards on the
end of the trough to drain. The solu-
ton is put into trough built for this
purpose, something like horse trough.
The bags are turned over frequently in
this solution to insure the wetting Of all
the wheat. Yoa can rslY On Il that