Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-06-25

eral bushels ner acre to the xh<,
: |yields Of the state D
b DO Not Plant Smutty Seed IN
$ there is another cause for poor sea,
: aside from those already mentions
e and that is the presence of smu
5 spores. 1t is just as great mistak
J Tor a farmer to plant wheat whic
came from a badly smutted field with
out first treating it to kill the snlu
> spores, as it is for him to plant seed
} badly infested with weeds, or shriyel
! ed or otherwise poor seed. The rea
son for this is that the smutty dust
like spores stick to the grains, a1t
J when the wheat is planted, they GER
inmate and send their fungus thread,
into the body of the plant when H
sprouts. These continue to grow a,
the wheat stalk enlarges, keeping pac,
with its upward growth until the
wheat begins to mature its heads
Up to this time the fungus is perfect.
y invisible within the plant, but now
1t takes entire possession Of the de.
vedloping grains, which it turns into
dark masses of smut spores. In this
way thousands of bushels of wheat
are destroyed every year. There are
two kinds of smut, sinking Tor hid
DEM and loose smut, which NAV be
distinguished BY the different manner
In which the spores are produced and
scattered. The difference in the
method of scattering the spores neces-
states some variation in the treat
ment and handling of the wheat in
order to control them. It is therefore
important that the farmer be able to
distinguish between the two. r
Sinking or Hidden Smut.-The
sinking smut has very disagreeable
odor and destroys the grain only, the
chaff being unaffected. For this rea-
son the affected heads are likely to 20
unnoticed until thrashing time except
that such heads usually stand more
erect and the chaff is likely to spread
slightly, showing the grains which APP
pear somewhat larger and more ir-
regular in shape that healthy grains.
Such grains when ripe are easily
broken open and are then found to
contain a dark brown powder 1.-THE
smut spores.) When the wheat is
thrashed these smutted grains are
broken open and the spores are seat
tered over the surface of the healthy
grains, thus preparing the infection
for next year. When wheat from
badly infested fields is thrashed, the
work of handling the grain becomes
very disagreeable on account of the
cloud of i'll smelling smut spores
thrown into the air by the thrashing
machine.
The Loose ut.-This is very DIFF
ferent from the sinking smut, for
while the sinking smut DESTROYS the
grain only and the smut spores re-
main within the skin of the old wheat
grain until harvest time, the loose
smut is looser and dustier and de-
stroys ont only the kernel but also
more or less of the chaff. 1t more
over, has no bad odor and ripens when
the wheat is just Towering, Convert
ing the whole of the wheat flower and
the chaff into loose dusty mass of
spores. At harvest time these spores
are usually entirely blown away, the
naked stalk where the head should be
being the only sign of its action. The
spores thus blown away are scattered
over the ground of the infested field
and also to a greater or less extent
upon the heads and straw Of the
healthy plants, whence they may|
reach the grain at the time of thresh-
ing.
Now, this difference is to be noted
between the two species Of smut: In|
the sinking smut, where the affected
grains are not broken until they pass
through the thrashing cylinder, the
spores are harvested along with the
wheat and are therefore not left in
the field to reinfect even clean seed
which might be planted on that
ground. On the other hand. the loose
smut scatters its spores before the |
harvest time, and therefore not only
infects the next years seed but the |
ground also. In the ease Of sinking
smut one has only to be sure that he |
is planting clean seed, but with the |
loose smut not only the seed but also
the ground must be clean in order to |
expect crop free from the disease. |
Crop rotation must therefore, 90 with
clean seed in order to completely con-
troll the loose smut. Probably the |
best and most easily applied method
of treating the seed to destroy the |
smut spores is as follows: To bar
rel containing fifty gallons of water,
add one pound of forty per cent for
maldehyde. Dip the wheat into this |
in loosely woven bags and allow to re-
main ten to fifteen minutes, or at least
long enough to allow all the grain to |
become thoroughly wet. Then, after
draining, to save all the liquid pos
sible, allow to stand covered in a box |
or bin two or three hours, after which
it should be spread out under a shed