The Dickinson press., 1911-12-23

evident that such lands. in many cases,
may be said to be wheat-sick in essen.
TALLY the same sense as the so-called
fax exhausted lands were said to be
1ax-sick or as the old scab producing
garden plot was thought to be potato
tired. Such lands are not worn out
chemically but are infected with the
various diseases which wheat is heir to
in the same sense as a stable may be
infected by the diseases which attack
horses; for example. CHAMBERS. The
stable, in such case, is of no less value
than previous to the time when the
horses became diseased. but, before
other horses can safely be placed there,
it must be %disiEfected. freed from the
disease which kills horses, though a
great many other farm animals could
pass through there or live in the barn
with safety. So it is with the wheat
and cereal lands which are attacked by
lo0t-rots and various forms of blight
are retained in the old straw and stubble
and develop in the rich humus lands of
these wheat growing regions. These
lands must be disinfected. not only
locally but generally throughout the en-
tire area of the wheat growing regions
before we can again hope to produce the
old time yields of heavy, plump wheat.
Our experiments are conclusive and
cover a wide range of plans. attacking
the proposition from many sides. 1t is
shown that such diseases are not only
common but almost general. 1t is found
that most Of such diseases are trans
mitted not only externally on the seed
but quite commonly internally with the
seed. The spores of the diseases are
not only busted upon the outside but
the ilaments of the fungi which grew
in the mother plant have extended
themselves upward into the seeds OF
grains, producing, in many cases, con-
ditions quite easily recognizable. So
common are these diseases that it is
difficult for an expert to find seeds
which will grow a pure culture of wheat
and wheat alone. Nearly always one
or more of these diseases will start at
the same time the seed does even
though the seed is properly disinfected
on the exterior with formaldehyde.
These experiments. for example prove
why it is that formaldehyde treatment
always pays for the doing even though
there is no smut on the seed, simply
because there are other kinds of para
sites than smut on the seed and the
formaldehyde treatment tends to reduce
them. Our experiments show that such
wheat-sick soil can be sterilized in g
number of different ways and so bene'
fitted that if we q place normal.
healthy seeds on it these normal.
healthy seeds will make a healthy
growth. We have now reached a point
when we can either make soils wheat
sick or free them from diseases as w
see fit. 1t is easy to make a soil whea
sick but very difficult to free it from
diseases; at least, so difficult that tn
processes now used could hardly be uset
in a profitable manner over large areas
We have proved, however, the fact il
the case and it should give us a rea
new hope for wheat culture. These ar
facts which should give everyone grea
encouragement, for they tell us that tn
land is not necessarily deficient in fer
tility, but that, as in the case of tn,
potato troubles al d the flax troubles, tn
land has only become infected.
These experiments essentially affirm
that crop rotation, seed selection an,
seed 6isinfection is the royal road t.
the elimination of wheat troubles jus
as exactly as it has been found to be tn
road to the elimination of the potat
troubles, the cabbage diseases and tn
bax-tired condition.
If farmers once generally grasp tn
idea that shrivelled seed in a crop i
largely due to the presence of disease
in the mother plants which are trans
mitted in the seed they will under
stand that it is NJ longer wise to plan
any types of %shrivelled. discolored
distorted seed grains. They will grad
end remove everything but the plump
est, brightest colored seeds. The theor
explains clearly why heavy weight seed
have most commonly been found to b
preferable to light weight seeds. A
soon as farmers realize that these roc
diseases of wheat are quite generall
distributed throughout the country an
may be expected to attack their GRO
more or less because of wind blow
spores from other areas, and as soon a
they understand that certain varietie
are much more resistant to such disease
than others they will select a standar,
type of wheat for sowing purposes an
keep to it. always selecting and grad