The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-08-15
SMUT IN THE OATS.

the strong acid from the hands.
1t will take time and care to
dry the seed oats thus treated
sufficiently for drilling. If there
is any trouble, sow it by hand.
One thorough treatment will give
exemption for many years.
Unless farmers take some ac-
tive measures, such as indicated,
the oat smut will grow greater
year by year. The department
of agriculture at Washington es-
Inmates the annual loss to the
farmers of the United States
from the oat smut at eighteen
million dollars.
Squire D. D. Swanger, of Lur-
gan, the President of the Mutual
Fire Insurance Company and who
has always been a progressive
citizen and farmer, used one of
the tests and his crop was of bet
ter quality and a larger yield. He
says in part in a note to the
Chronicle: SIN the spring of
1900, my son, d. B. Swanger, who
resides on my farm, gave the hot
water method a trial on part of
his field and the result is a per-
feet success. The part sown
with prepared seed came up nice
ly and the best of all not one head
of smutted oats could be found,
while the balance of the field was
as badly smutted as usual"
Squire Swanger has sent to
the Valley Spirit two samples
from his oats crop this year. In
the following letter he gives their
history and tells how easily and
cheaply any farmer can rid his
oats of smut and increase the
yield and add to the quality of the
oats crop.
To the Editor of the Spirit
Sir: The two lunches of oats
out of two fields on my farm, near
Lurgan, and of this season s
growth, which l send you have
this history:
The first is from seed prepared
for the crop of 1900 resown for
this years crop without process.
The second, or smutted sample,
is the product of unprepared
oats. The seed Of both samples
came from the same oats. The
bad sample had the advantage of
situation and richness of soil.
One year ago l offered George
H. Stewart, Shippensburg, who
seemed to then doubt the efficacy
of the treatment, five dollars for
every head of smutted oats that
he might find on the trial acre
that my son, D. B. Swanger, had
sown, but still have my money
and the gentleman must worry
along without it.
There are five methods of par
italy or wholly eradicating smut.
Two dry ones and three wet. The
first of the last three is the hot
water one or the one my son used.
In the last two, chemicals are
used so, as will be seen, in the
last three methods the prepared
seed must be dried and as the
bulk of seed cannot be reduced to
the original bulk the drill must
be set to SOW about one-fourth
more seed than in the unprepared
seed.
The hot water method is sure
and the way of preparation is
this Put about one and one
half bushels of oats in a salt or
phosphate sack and tie it and im-
merse in a kettle of water heated
to one hundred and thirty degrees
and keep in, say five minutes,
take out of the water and raise
the temperature of the water to
one hundred ard thirty five de
grees, put bag and contents back
into the water for Is minutes.
(My son in his first trial in 1906
only kept it in for ten minutes in
the second dipping.
Now, as the cost is practically
nothing, as the farmer can prepare
his own seed between this and
the SDrinor of 1909 7 homo uanu