The Ordway new era., 1914-03-20


diseases in the United States Is ests-
mated to be s45. 900. 900. Moreover. over
one-half or nearly $25,O00,000 of this
loss is caused bypreventable Diseases
remedies for which have been devei-
oped and placed in usable form ~
the farmers by state and federal au-
thorities.
The department of agriculture
through the office of cereal inVesti-
cations of the bureau of plant inous-
try, has specialists in grain diseases
working in laboratory. field and green
house in an effort to solve many SCI
entific and practical problems OF dis-
ease control which confront the
grower of cereals. The state expert
ment stations of Minnesota, Kansas
and Washington are cooperating with
the department with view OF con-
trolling and eliminating plant dis-
eases that are causing such an enor-
nous loss In the grain fields. In ad-
dition, a well-equipped laboratory 10
maintained at Washington, where mi
croscopic. cultural and other studies
of the disease-causing organisms are
carried on during the greater part OF
the year.
While rusts and smuts OF cereals
are perhaps the most widely distrio-
uted and most harmful diseases which
have been studied. there ID another
class of ceases" which our plant doc
tors must now consider. These dis
eases are commonly called scabs.
willis, blights, and a number OF other
popular, names. They are nearly all
of them properly called soil diseases
because their spores have the power
of living in the soil. as we'll as on the
straw, leaf or seed of their host plant.
They are caused, as is the case with
rusts and smuts. by parasitic fungous
plants which get their nourishment
from our cultivated green plants.
Among the preventable cereal dis
eases is the sinking smut, or bunt
in wheat, common in all grain-growing
sections and especially troublesome IN
the Palouse country Of the northwest,
where 1t Is harder to control. owing
to the fact that 1t lives over winter In
the soil. The estimated average an
nual loss is two per cent. of the crop.
This smut is easily distinguished In
the field when the grain Is almost ripe.
The smutted plants are usually slight
ly stunted and the heads stand more
erect than the heavy, sound heads.
The chaff is spread apart more or less
by the dark, swollen kernels, giving
the head an open appearance. When
the tough membrane. or skin. of such
a kernel is broken, dark. smeary.
dust-like mass Is disclosed which has
peculiar fetid odor like that OF de-
cayed fish.
The smut can be controlled and
practically gotten rid of by any one OF
the seed treatments which have been
worked out and recommended for
number of years by the state expert
ment stations. OF these the forma-
lin treatment is probably the best.
There are several ways Of applying
this treatment 1t may be either
sprayed on the grain or the grain may
be soaked in the solution. The fol-
lowing method of treatment is recon-
mended by the Washington expert
ment station:
Construct a water-tight trough
feet long. IA inches deep and "a inches
wide. Fill this two-thirds full OF the
formalin solution, which has been
made up by dissolving one pint Ia
pound) of 40 per cent. formaldehyde
in 40 gallons of water. Into this pour
slowly the seed wheat until the trough
is nearly half full of grain. Then stir
thoroughly with a long.handle shovel
in order to float to the surface any
smut balls that may have been car
ried in by the grain. These should
be SKINNED OF and destroyed. Leave
the grain in the solution about one
half hour. 1t may then be lifted out
and piled up on granary floor or on
the bottom OF wagon box and COW
cred with moist sacks, where 1t Is left
over night. On the following morning
it will be ready to SOW. II 1t is de.
sired to SOW the grain In a dry condi
ton, 1t will be necessary to spread the
treated seed out on the floor to d
depth OF two or three inches, stirring
frequently in order to hasten the dry
ing process. II the seed is sown wet,
allowance should be made for It's
swollen condition by setting the drill
to SOW larger quantity per acre.
The oat smut. another destructive
disease, ID WIuely uiStIlUuteu, some
fields having shown as high as 80
per cent. of smutted heads. Estimated
average annual loss is about two per
cent. OF the crop. This smut is most
easily noticed little before the grain
is ripe. when smutted plants are found
to be shorter and to stand more erect
than sound ones. In place of the
kernels there are dark masses OF smut
dust which. sometimes. are covered by
the chafr or glumes and sometimes are
left fully exposed and are then soon
Fox = God In Japan.
Hiet Takahashi. the quaint son OF
Nippon, who attends William Jewell