The midland journal., 1916-10-13
TREAT YOUR SEED
, WHEAT FOR SMUT
Should Be Dipped In FormaIin
Mixture Before Sowing.
CONSULT YOUR COUNTY AGENT
Mixture Of One Pint Of Formalin To
30 Gallons Of Water Is Recon-
mended-O Obtainable At
Any Drug Store.

College Park, September 2S-Seri
Gus injury to seed wheat from shrinking
smut is reported in number OF sec
tions. County Demonstration Agents
in the State are active in aiding farm
ers in giving their seed proper treat
ment for this trouble, as suggested in
q circular prepared by Nicholas
Schmitz, of the Extension Service. In
regard to treatment for smut, Prof.
Schmitz says, Before commencing any
treatment for shrinking smut, 1t is al
ways advisable to remove all unbroken
smut balls Since the smut balls are
much lighter than the sound grain,
thorough tanning will usually do this.
II this cannot be done by tanning,
then the grain should be poured into
barrel of cold water and thoroughly
stirred, so that all the smut balls will
come to the surface, where they can
be skinned off
FormalIn Treatment.
'Buy from your druggist, guaranteed
fR1malin (forty per cent. solution of
!. rmaldehyde). Pour one pint Zone
pound) into 40 to As gallons of water
and mix thoroughly. Put the grain to
be treated in basket az bushel at
time) or in sacks and plunge the grain
into the solution until completely sub
merged. Do this over and over for a
moment until every grain is thorough.
ly wet Then raise the sack or basket
to allow the solution to drain back
Next place the sacks where they will
drain completely or dump the grain
out in pile. Cover the pile with sacks
or canvas and allow it to remain in
this way for twelve hours or more
Then the grain should be spread out
on clean floor to dry. This amount
of solution should be sufficient for
treating 40 to so bushels of wheat.
"a good plan is to treat the seed in
the evening and let it lie in the Gov
cred piles until morning. About one
gallon of the solution will be required
y for every bushel of grain. Another
method is to sprinkle the solution on
instead of immersing the grain. Ac-
cording to this method, the seed
should be spread out thickly over a
floor and the solution applied with a
sprinkling can or with spray pump
throwing fine spray. While the solu
ton is being applied, the grain should
be stirred constantly with a hoe,
shovel or garden rake, until every
grain is thoroughly wet. About three
quarts of the solution to the bushel
will be required. After the grain is
thoroughly wet, it may be put In a
pile and allowed to remain this way
for the same length of time as stated
above
Treated seed may be sown the fol-
lowing day after it has been spread out
to dry, or it may be thoroughly dried
and kept indefinitely. If sown soon
after treatment, the drill should be
set to SOW from onefourth to one
third more than for a normal seeding
Of thoroughly dry Seed
Cautions.
''It must be remembered that a
smutted lot of wheat will always leave
some of the smut spores wherever it
Is 1aced, whether this be in bins or
sd KS. Therefore treated seed should
never be put back in bins or sacks
which previously contained smutted
seed. If 1t is necessary to place the
seed back into infected sacks, they
should first be treated for smut the
same as the seed. 1t is also advisable
to disinfect the drill before sowing
the treated grain
seed treated with formalin is not
poisonous to stock. but it is never ad-
visible to feed it. Before treating,
consult your County Demonstration