Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1914-04-03
CONTROL OF
GRAIN SMUT
Farm Demonstrators Discover
Many Smutty Grain Fields
in Iron County.
SOME FIELDS LOSE ONE
THIRD OF CROP BY SMUT
DR.. Geo. r. Hill, Botanist at the
A. G. Explains the Method of
Controlling Smut.

the farm demonstrators of this sec
ton during their visits in Iron coun-
ty last summer, was the fact that so
many farms were growing smutty
wheat and oats. On one farm that
looked to have a good stand of wheat
and at a glance did not show the smnt
to any great extent, we selected an
average plot of the grain, counted the
heads of wheat and found 81 out of
253 taken by smut, loose and sinking
smut being in about equal proper
tions, 81 out of 253 or 3S per cent
smut. This means that out of 40
bushel to the acre crop, Is bushels
would be sacrificed to the black spores.
Visits were made to farms far
worse than this one but no exact
counts were made.
| wonder if we stop to realize what
little smut in the grain means to
us? Does it pay to work hard all
summer cultivating our crops and
reap harvest of such grain.
The following article by DR.. Geo. r.
Hill, Botanist at the Utah Agricul-
tural College, explains the methods of
controlling grain smut:
Control of Grain Smut.
There are two kinds of wheat
smut-loose smut and sinking smut
The loose ripens it's spores just at the
time the wheat plant is in flower, pro-
ducing the characteristic smutty heads
at that time. These little black dust
like objects are the spores which in
feet other wheat plants. The wind
blows them all over the field and those
that light on the young wheat flowers
terminate and grow down into the
young kernel. They live on the in
side Of the wheat kernel but do not
grow very much. When the wheat
kernels are planted the next year the
smut disease is already inside the
grain sndd-sst wheat grows,
the smut plant grows too on the inside
of the stems and leaves. 1t produces
more smut spores when the wheat
plant blossoms.
"Seed treatment with formalin of
blue vitrol will not control this dis
ease because the smut plant is on the
inside of the wheat kernel at the time
the wheat is planted and the wheat
seed would therefore be killed by
these chemicals as quickly as the
smut itself. 1t has been found, how
ever, that the smut cannot stand as
high temperature as the wheat
kernel. Hence it can be killed by
soaking the wheat in water at 1870 de-
grees F. for ten minutes. The wheat
should first be heated up to 100 de-
grees F. till it is warmed through and
then placed in the hot water at 1870
degrees F. If this cools the water,
more hot water should be added to
keep the temperature at $50 degrees
F. If the wheat is left in too long or
if the temperature gets too high the
wheat will be injured.
"All seed wheat should not be trea-
ted in this expensive manner. Enough
farm seed wheat should be treated and
planted in plat some distance from
any other wheat to give clean seed
for the following year.
"The loose smut of barley looks
like the loose smut of wheat and can
be controlled in the same way.
IL -. %
its spores at the same time that the
wheat ripens. These spores occur on
the inside of smutty kernels. The
smutty kernels are broken open when
the wheat is threshed and the smut is
spread all over the good kernels to
which it sticks firmly. These smnt
spores are on the outside of the kerr
nels at the time the grain is planted
and can therefore be killed by the
formalin treatment. Dip the seed
wheat in burlap sacks or other car
riers into a barrel or tank containing
the formalin solution and leave il
there for ten minutes. Lift the sack:
up and down time or two to drive
out the air. Then pile the wheat uT
for two hours and then spread it out
to dry, One pint of formalin in thirty
to forty gallons of water Is the prop
err strength. All seed wheat should
be given this treatment.
; coat smut and covered smut Of bar
ley will be killed by the formalin treat
!. ment.
"When stack of smutty grain il
/ threshed, the threshing machine be
) comes covered with smut in ever,
crack and crevice. There are billions
} of these spaces in the machine aftel
one smutty stack of wheat has beer
threshed. The machine carries thes,
spores to the next farmer and ever
though this farmer has clean wheat
his wheat is covered with the smu
. from the previous farmer. In Canad,