The Elbert County tribune., 1906-02-22
THE FARM AND RANGE
FormaIin Treatment of Seed Grain for.
Smut.
By W. H. olin and F. Knorr.

Smut.
By w. H. Olin and F. Knorr.
The prevalence of smut in wheat
and oats in Colorado calls for earnest
work on the part of grain growers of
our state to check It's ravages and
stamp out this most pernicious plant
disease.
1t is a parasite fungus which feeds
upon another plant as its host 1t
springs from a spore which CORE
spends to seed in higher
plants. This terminates when the
grain is seeded and, penetrating the lit
tie grain plant when but few days
old, grows up within the grain stem
After entering the stem there is no evi.
dence of its presence until the grain
begins to head. At this time the smut
plant robs the developing kernels OF
their nourishment and ripen a mass OF
smut pores.
These spores usually ripen before
the grain does and are blown about the
field, many spores becoming lodged on
the ripening grain kernels. The whole
sale agent of infection however, is the
tbreshing machine; the crop from
therefore liable to infection by spores
carried by the thresher from some in
fected field. For this reason the safest
plan is to treat all your seed wheat
and oats each year.
First Secure from your druggist
sufficient amount of formalin to treat
your seed oats and wheat. Formalin Is
the commercial name for formaldahyde
gas held in a water solution. This gas
should be a forty per cent. solution
since this strength is necessary to kill
the smut spores. 1t requires just
about one ounce for every five bushels
of grain to be treated.
Second. Clean off a space on the
barn floor or sweep a clean space on
the hard level ground and lay a good
sized canvas down, on which to spread
out the wheat. See that the place
where the grain is to be treated is
swept clean and thoroughly sprinkled
with the formalin solution before plac
ing the seed grain there.
Third. Now spread out your seed
grain on the space prepared fo- treat
ing 1t and prepare the formalin solu'
tion. This formalin is quite volatile
so the solution should not be made un.
Til one is ready to us it.
Fourth.-Use one ounce of forma
lin to every two and one-fourth to
two and one-half gallons, four ounces
for ten gallons, sixteen ounces Zone
pound) for forty gallons of water. Put
the solution in a barrel or tub, thor.
oughly mixing 1t so the formalin will
be well distributed. One pound OF
formalin to forty gallons of water is
sufficient to treat $500 pounds OF
grain.
For smaller amounts, estimate six
to eight Zone and three-fourths to tive
gallons) of the solution for every 10c
pounds of grain. This solution can be
applied with the garden sprinkler.
Care must be taken to thoroughly
moisten the grain. Sprinkle, stir the
grain up thoroughly and sprinkle
again, until you feel certain every
kernel is wet with the solution
When you have completed the
sprinkling process, place the grain In
a conical pile and cover with horse
blankets. gunny sacks, etc. The smul
that does the damage lies just undel
the glume of the oats or on the basal
hairs of the wheat. Covering the
treated grain holds the gas from the
fromalin within the pile, where il
comes in contact with the kernels, kill
ing such smut pores as may have sur
vived the previous treatment. After
the grain has remained in covered
pile two to four hours, spread it out
again where the wind can blow over it
and dry as rapidly as possible.
AS soon as one can take the grain in
the hand without the kernels sticking
together, it can be sown in the field
OF course, the grain is moist and
therefore the kernels are enlarged, sc
we will need to set the seeder accord
ingly. One can treat the grain in the
forenoon and seed 1t in the afternoon
Since this treatment swells the ker
nels 1t hastens termination and should
be done in the spring just before seed.
ing time. The treatment is practically
inexpensive. takes but few hours to
treat a considerable quantity of grain
and effectually kills smut when prop
erly and thoroughly done.