The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1911-04-13
Clean Seed-=-Method
OF Distinction.
BY z. c. Stakman. Minnesota
University Farm.

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The Importance of clean. seed to sue
cessfuI farming is more and more rec
ognized Seed may be impure. not
only on account of the presence of
noxious weed-seeds. but also on ac-l
count of the presence of plant disease
germs (spores). 1t is a matter OF
common knowledge that many serious
plant-pests are distributed by means
of infected seeds. The classes of dis
eases which persist in the seed are
caused either by fungi or bacteria.
very minute parasitic plants. Fungi
may live in the seed in vegetative
form; that is, their threads may live
during the winter inside of the seed
coats; or their reproductive bodies
fspores) may adhere to the outside OF
the seed.
Naturally. then, there are two meth
DDS of getting clean seed. When the.
fungous threads are inside the seed,
one of two things must be done.
Either the seed must be replaced by
some known to be free from disease.
or some special method of destroying
the fungous threads, without prevent
ing the seed from terminating, mist
be devised
AS an example of the first class, in
which the fungus lives Inside the seed
during the winter. may be mentioned
the anthracnose of beans, which
causes the unsightly spotting of the.
pods No seed-treatment has been de-
vised which will kill the fungus with
out. also killing the seed Seed from
unaffected pods must be selected. As
an example of the second class. the
loose smuts fblackheads) of wheat
and barley may be mentioned To kill
the smut-threads which are inside of
the harley or wheat kernel, special
method of treatment with hot water
has beer devised.
In case the fungous spores live on
the outside of the seed, treatment is
easier. It is only necessary to kill
the spores on the outside of the ker-
mel The covered smut of barley, oat-
smut and sinking smut (bunt) of
wheat can thus be prevented. In
treating grain to prevent these three
smuts, formalin is most often used.
The standard strength of solution is
one pint of formalin to forty or forty
five gallons of water Merely dipping
the seed in the solution, or spraying it
on the seed, will prevent the occur
renee of these smuts. The same is
true of flax wilt. In this case, how
ever, double precaution must be
taken; the seed must be treated and
sown on land which has not grown
fiax for five or six years
There are two diseases of potatoes
common in Minnesota, both of which
can he prevented. at least partially, by
using clean seed The common pota
to scab can be prevented by seed
treatment combined with crop rota
tion, since the disease persists boil,
on the tuhers and in the soil The
seed potatoes. if soaked for two hours
in fnrnaEn. used at The rate of one.
pint to thirty gallons of water, can be
eHeetisefy uisiiitsteu tuey are
tlien planted on land which has not
grown potatoes. beets, turRips. or cab
bage-which are subject TO the same
Dissatisfaction or five years, scab
free crop should result The internal
brown rot of potatoes also persists in
the soil. ard may be carried to new
soils by affected tubers In this case
the fungous threads are inside the
tissues IF the potato, so seed-treat
ment would be of little value. 1t is
necessary. then. to select absolutely
clean seed The presence of the dis
ease can be detected by cutting across
the stem end of the potato. brown
ish discoloration indicating its pres