The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1913-06-27
THE SHUTS OF WHEAT. OATS
AND BARLEY AND THEIR
TREATMENT
BY ]. T. SARViS,
Instructor in Botany, South Dakota
State College of Agriculture and
Mechanic Arts. Brookings,
South Dakota.
PAPER NO. /.

PAPER NO. /.
Farmers should make preparations
for the treatment of small grain smuts
before planting time. In order to do
this it is accessory TO know the kind
Of smut which it is desired to treat.
In the following article will be found
the nature and development of the
COMMON smuts of wheat, oats and bar
ley, as We'll as the treatment for each
kind of smut.
The smuts are plant diseases,
caused by parasitic fungi which grow
within the tissues OF the infected
plant. There are two distinct stages
in the development of the smut plant,
the growing or yegetatiye stage and
the spore or reproductive stage. The
spores of the smuts function the same
as the seeds in higher plants. The
smuts are little plants which are not
able to make their oWn food, and
therefore they must obtain it already
prepared. This they do by %appropriat.
ing the nourishment which would nor
mally go TO increase the vigor of the
plant upon which they grow. The
plant body of the smuts is made up
Of little. slender. %Coloriess threads
which grow in among the tissues Of
the infected plant. Later in the sea-
son the threads of the smut plant form
the black mass of spores, with which
everyone is familiar. Neither the col
orless threads of the smut plant nor
the individual spores are visible to the
naked eye. They may be seen only
with the aid of a strong microscope. 1t
would take several thousand smut
spores TO make a line one inch in
length. A smutted head of grain may,
therefore, contain several million
spores, each of which is able to grow
and infect a healthy plant.
There are several different kinds of
smuts. and each one has its own meth
cd OF living. Each smut is specific for
a certain plant. Corn smut cannot
cause smut in wheat, oats or barley.
Wheat smut cannot cause corn smut,
nor can loose smut of wheat cause
sinking smut of wheat. However,
two SHUTS may have very similar
modes of life, yet each is a distinct
disease. For example, sinking smut
Of wheat and covered smut Of barley
both infect the plants in the s|prouting
stage and both can be prevented by
the same treatment. However, they
cannot be interchanged, the sinking
smut of wheat cannot infect a barley
seeding nor covered smut of barley
a wheat seeding.
1t is in the life history of the vari-
Gus smuts that the reasons for the
methods OF their treatment may n
found. Although the smuts are f@:.~
lar to everyone. the life histories - ~
not always clearly understood. The
life history is the development of the
smut from a spore until spores are
formed again. In treatments for the
prevention of smuts it is absolutely
necessary for one to know with what
knd of smut one is dealing. For eX-
ample. the treatment for sinking
smut of wheat will not kill the loose
smut OF wheat. since the life history
of the former differs from that OF the
latter, as will be noted later.
Everyone is familiar with the dam
age that is done each year by the
smuts We are not concerned SO much
in this article with the amount of dam
age done by the smuts, as with their
development and methods for treat
ment.
According to their life histories and
methods for treatment, we may for
convenience, divide the SHUTS of
wheat, oats and barley into Two class
es or groups. In the first class, we
may place the sinking smut or "bunt'
of wheat, loose and covered smut of
oats and covered smut Of barley. The
life histories of these, while not just
alike are very similar. They may also
be prevented by the same treatment,
namely by formalin. In the second
class, would come the loose smut of
wheat and the loose smut of barley.
The life histories of these are very
similar and both may be presented in
the same way. namely by the hot wa
ter treatment, but not by formalin.