Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1913-05-09
AGRICULTURAL NEWS, STATE
COLLEGE BROOKINGS.
CORN SIN UT

Mr.. G. H.. NJ, of Clark County
sends the following inquiry:
Can seed corn be treated in such a
way as to do away with smut In the
corn?
Seed corn cannot be treated In any
way to prevent smut. Smut spores
are usually present In the ground and
in the atmosphere in sufficient quanti-
ties so that 1t is possible for them to
fiLd entry In to the plant thru some
tender portions of the plant such as
the young ears About the only
prtcticai measure for decreasing the
number of smut spores and conse-
quent presedce of the fungus is to
gather and burn the stalks which are
most affected. This is probably not
practical on a very large scale, how
ever, it is possible at huSking time to
put a good many of the worst infect
ed stalks into the wagon box and
haul them to the ends of the rows
where they may be gathered and
burned. BY Professor A. N. Hume,
State College.
MORE ABOUT WEEDS
Pests are Enormously Productive.
How to have Clean Seed.
One day a boy and his father were
hoetng in the garden and the father
chopped down a Russian thistle. He
said, "See these, John, I have killed
a million weeds" The boy was in
credulous, but finally made up his
mind that there was at least some
truth In his fathers statement.
The number Of weed seed in agricul-
tural seeds, even when reasonably
clean, is greater than most of US have
any idea of. In a recent bulletin
from the Michigan Station, n table
shows the number of weed seeds con-
tanned in a pound when the sample
contains but two per cent impurity
by weight. The numbers are as
follows:
Quack grass, 2,193: Indian mustard,
6,44O: Black mustard 1894: Canada
thistle, l0,878: Dodder, 1858: Char
lock, ALSO: False fax 4,54O: Chickory,
1882: Wild Carrot 1928; Orange
Hawkweed $1,000: Butter and Eggs,
7 2,640: Buckhorn, 11,2O9: Rugel's
Plaintain 16, 800: Fight Towering
Catchfly, 1850: Penny cress. 10. 671.
This shows the extreme Importance
of tanning and tanning again until
the seed Is as pure as possible.
Another excellent way to get rid OF
weed seed is to put all of the seed
wheat, barley or oats, in a large tub
or vat and stir it so that the weed
seeds and shrunken seeds and dirt
come to the top. Then this can be
skinned off and the water drained
off at d bung hole at the bottom Of
the tub or vat, and the clean, plump
seed will remain. Ii this sounds likt
too much work just remember thai
it is actually done on at least one o
the biggest farms in North Dakota
and the manager does it because b.
knows 1t pays. Manley Champlin
Asst Agronomist, State College.
INFORMATION WANTED.
A course in Farm Accounts i
given each year to agricultural stu
dents at the State College. In orde
to make this course practical an.
applicable to South Dakotas condi
tions the instructor, Mr.. G. f. Sch
latter requests that at least on
farmer in each county give him a
accurate list of answers to the follow
ing questions. The answers are to b
confined to each mans main cuop.
1. How many hours for man am
horse we're spent in getting the fell
ready for planting? (That is, II
blowing, narrowing, disking, haulin
manure, etc. 2. How many hour
for actual planting? 3 How man
hours in caring for growing crop
Ia How many hours for harvesting o
kusking? S How many hours fo
threshing, hauling, marketing, etc
6. What was the cost of seed? I
What was the cost of fertilizer s
What "a the value of the equiv
ment used? 9. What were TIL
taxes On the land. 10. Wha
Is the value OF the land pc
acre? IL. What war the total yield
II. What was the market price pc
bushel? Ii. What value. IL any, wa
placed on the straw or stalks? Il
How much was the value of pasturag
yielded by the land for the year bt
ginning with the time of blowing
Is. Were there pest troubles? Il
What crop was grown on the land til
previous.year?
Anyone interested in working out
systematic method of keeping far
accounts should write MI. G. !
Schlatter at once. He intends t
send each cooperating farmer q tab,
lated list of results.
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