The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-01-21
SHUTS OF GRAIN AND HOW TO
PREVENT THEM

SHUTS OF GRAIN AND HOW TO
PREVENT THEM
GA class article by Harold V. Hoover
a State College student from Brook
ings.)
Smut is a disease which attacks
both small grain and corn. There are
many kinds of smut, each grain hay
ing AT least one kind Of this disease.
However, smut falls into two main
divisions. namely the corn smut and
the small grain smut.
The corn smut is a parasitic plant
which grows IN the leaves. stalks,
~tassels and ears of the corn. The
smut consists of a mass of spores
which reproduce the disease. These
SHORES have the power Of living over
winter in the soil or in n and
rubbish. If affected manure is placed
on and on which corn is to be grown
smut is almost sure to appear. The
spores get into the manure from feed
ing emutty corn to stalk, which con,
trary TO popular opinion does not in
jurc the stock.
Corn Smut
LITE can be done to prevent smut
on corn because it is in the soil and in
the fertilizer and not in the seed. One
way to combat corn smut is to destroy
all smut in a field by picking it out
and burning it. This, however, does
not seem practical and the best that
can be done is to rotate the crops and
10 keep smut out of the as
much as possible.
Corn smut lives on the juices of the
plant, and therefore decreases the
total product of the plant. 1t may at
tack a plant at any time, but it usually
starts when the plant is young and
growing. 1t is a black, Shiny mas
Smut fungus attacks the heads of
small grain. Each kind of grain has
its own smuts but the effects are the
same; the yield per acre is reduced to
a greater or less extent.
Wheat Smut
The wheat smut is of two kinds: the
loose and the covered. Both smuts
are very destructive. The loose smut
attacks the entire head, destroying
both glume and kernel, leaving the
bare raches. When the wheat is in
enter the open flowers and the berry
grows around them. The year that
this spore enters the wheat it does
not affect the berry but when the
berry with the smut spore is planted
! the heads of the plant will be affected.
The only treatment which is effective
for this smut is the hot water treat
ment which unfortunately is rather
difficult to perform without endanger-
ing the terminating power. The seed
is soaked in cold water for four hours
and is then soaked ten minutes in
water at 129 degrees Fahrenheit. Care
should be taken that the water Is 129
degrees, because if the seed is heated
to a higher temperature the germ OF
the seed will be killed and if the seed
is not brought to that temperature the
smut may not be killed. Only a small
amount of seed for a seed plot should
be treated in this way.
Sinking Smut
The covered or sinking smut pro
duces a smut ball, instead of the berry
within an apparently healthy glume
This smut spore clings to the outside
of the berry and is easy to destroy by
the formalin treatment. A pint Of
formalin should be mixed with forty
or fifty-fve gallons of water. Every
seed should be moistened by dippins
or spraying and then the whole should
be spread out and covered with sacks
for thirty minutes. After which the
seed should be dried or planted i'm
m~ediately.
Barley has corresponding smuts
which are treated in the same was as
smuts OF wheat, except that the water
in the hot water treatment should be
at 126 degrees Fahrenheit. OF course
it is understood that the wheat and
barley smuts are distinct fungi.
Dat smut is also of two kinds, cover
ed and loose. These resemble each
other and are both destroyed by the
formalin treatment. The spore en-
tiers the growing point Of the plant
about the time of termination and
grows with the plant. The smut
reaches its mature form in black
powdery masses of spores which re,