Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1895-07-25
SMUT IN WHEAT.
Considerable Grain Found to
be Badly Damaged by
This Fungus.
One Field Of SO Acres about
All Smut.-An Unusual
Occurrence.
Same Reports from All Over
the State.-Weather LARGE
ly Responsible.

~ Responsible.
Reports from the northern part of the
county are that considerable smut is be-
ing discovered in some fields. One
farmer said Monday that "halt OF it is
smutty," meaning the wheat in bis vi
cinity. This is probably an exagRera-
tion, but there ls no doubt considerable
smut exists.
The Alert has been handed sample
Of wheat from the farm of Geo. Oppy, 10
miles southeast Of the city, located on
sec. s-13O-62. Every kernel in the SAM
pie Is smutted and the entire field, con-
sisting of 40 or so acres, is said to be
similar in condition. The wheat heads
look as though nearly ripe, with no smut
to be seen anywhere, except that the tips
OF the kernels have brownlsh tinge.
Upon breaking the kernels nothing but
smut is exposed.
A man who came in from Spiritwood
to get fuel for his threshlng engine, sup
posing his wheat to be ripe, found on in
vestigation that his grain was smutty
and contained but small percentage OF
wheat.
1t is said that much Of the smut in
wheat is blown away in threshing. and
unless the field is very bad nothing
worse than loss of grade or two can
be feared. There is little smut IN
many fields every year that is not
noticed ordinarily. The smutty wheat
this year is not caused by seed alone,
but from weather conditions.
| One of the old residents of LaMoure
county, Mr.. Sewer, of Grand Rapids,
drove to the city Tuesday after machin-
cry repairs. He says that he has fine
crop Of grams and no sign of smut in
the wheat He has for years treated his
seed wheat with blue vitrol solution and
has entire immunity from smut The
cost is trifling and is sure preventive.
Barley and rye harvesting has already
begun on the Cold Spring farm, owned
by E. P. Wells. The crop is better than
usual and of good quality. Rye is
turning out we'll. Mr.. Sewer still has
the first piow which he took down the
Valley in 81, when he was unable to
secure traces here and used pieces of
rope instead with which to pull it.
In other parts of the state there ls the
same report. A dispatch from St.
Thomas, Pembina county, says: The
greatest OF excitement prevails in this
vicinity today because of the discovery
Of smut through the wheat crop. Sever
al reliable persons who were out all day
examining the wheat fields 60 so far as
to say that the wheat they closely exam.
ined contained fully IS per cent. of smut.
and one person was overheard to say
that he had seen large field which was
fully IS per cent. smut, which wonld
make the crop useless"
A Duluth telegram says: "Nearly
every grain receiver at Duluth Monday
reclved from his Dakota reporters, in
most cases men who have been sent
from here to Investigate, reports OF great
damage to wheat by smut. Reports in
addition we're to the effect that the crops
had been overestimated in the first place
and that it had deteriorated during July
and especially since cold weather set in
so it IS now not believed the crop OF the
three northwestern states will exceed
lOO,OOO,OOO bushels, whereas 13O 1000, 900
bushels has been the lowest estimate
heretofore"
John Sweeney, one of the well known
old time farmers living in Barnes coun-
ty near the Stutsman county line, was
IN the metropolis Tuesday. He says there
ls going to be some smut in his locality,
how much can't yet be told. It is hard
to account for it in some fields, and it does
not seem to be entirely due to the seed.
The weather must have been the cause.
He says: "In one field where the owner
has changed seed, and had no smut last
year he finds 1t this season. The seed
was clean as before. My own wheat is
mostly good, the best of it waist high,
and now looks as if it would 60 No. l
hard anyhow We ought not begin
harvest before August Sth or 10th.
Hear that the Buchan seed that has
been sown in this county has consdera-
bic smut in it," ..H
In Grand Forks the talk about smut
Monday was plentiful. The Plaindeal-
ca says:
! It is thought by many to be more
plentiful on the sandy soil in the west
ern part Of the county than IN this vicin-
ity. In appearance the smut heads re-
semble those Of wheat but in heigh; are
only about two-thjrds the height OF