The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1914-04-03

The total annual loss from CeItdl
diseases in the United States is esti
mated to be 81. 100000. Moreover. over
one-half or nearly S25,o00,000 of this
loss is caused by preventable diseases,
remedies for which have been devel-
oped and placed in disable form Tor
the farmers by state and federal au-
thorities.
The department OF agriculture
through the office of cereal investi-
cations OF the bureau OF plant indus
Try. has specialists In grain diseases
working in laboratory. field and green
house in an effort to solve many sci
entifc 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 Is
maintained at Washington, where mi
croscopic, cultura, and other studies
OF the disease-causing organisms are
carried or during the greater part OF
the year.
While rusts and smuts of cereals
are perhaps the post widely dlstrlb-
uted and most harmful diseases which
have been studied, there is another
class of cases" which our plant doc
tors must now consider. These dis
eases are commonly called scabs,
willis, brghts, and 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 il is harder TO control, owing
to the fact that il lives over winter in
the soil. The estimated average an
aual 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
iy stunted and the heads stand more
erect than the heavy, sound heads.
The chan 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
a 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. or these the forma-
ain 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 watertight 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 Ga
poundl 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 or and destroyed Leave
the grain in the solution about one
half hour. IL may then be lifted out
and piled up on granary floor or on
the bottom OF a wagon box and Gov
cred with moist sacks, whefe Ii is lef;
over night. On the following morning
IL will be ready to SOW IL IL is de-
sired 10 SOW the grain in dry condi-
treated seed out on the floor to a
depth of two or three inches, stirring
frequently in order to hasten the dry.
ing process. IL the seed is sown wet.
allowance should be made for its
swollen condition by setting the drill
20 SOW larger quantity per acre.
The oat smut. another destructive
disease, is widely distributed. some
fields having shown as high as 30
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
10 be shorter aud TO stand more erect
than sound ones. I'm place OF the
kernels there are dark masses of smut
dust which. sometimes. are covered BY
the chan or glumes and sometimes are
left fully exposed and are then soon