The Glenwood post., 1916-04-08
RArMENT OF sEEp Ed. J. y .
GRAIN TO PREVENT SMUT
(By Alvin Keyser)

1" A0Ao eHe uduaSe TO WneaC from
smut amounted to over s per cent of
crop for the entire state. Some locali-
ties suffered loss of 25 per cent. A
few limited localities lost the entire
crop. Other grain crops suffered nearly
as much.
Each kind of crop is attacked by its
own kind of smut or smuts. 1t is
thought that oat smut will not affect
wheat or barley or rye and vice versa
There are two kinds of smut which
affect most of our grains; loose smut
and the closed smut or sinking smut.
Both the loose and closed smut Of
the oat can be entirely prevented by
treating the seed. The closed smut Of
wheat and barley can also be entirely
controlled by seed treatment. Loose
smut of barley and wheat can be con-
trolled by treating the seed and rotat-
ing the crops.
Corn smut cannot be prevented by
any known method of treating the seed.
The only things that can be done which
promise results in attempting to pre-
vent corn smut are: careful selection
OF the seed to get smut resistant strains
and to follow such system of crop
rotation and soil culture that the CON
ditions for corn growth are made as
favorable as possible.
There are two kinds of sorghum
smut; grain and head smut. Sorghum
grain smut can be prevented by treat
ing the seed. The sorghum head smut
can be prevented by seed selection, ro-
tating and treating the seed. Milo and
kafir belong to this family and are af-
fected by the same smuts which are
treated in the same way.
All of the smuts are diseases caused
by microscopic fungi.
Loose smut destroys the kernel Of
grain, often entire heads. The kernel
OF grain is converted into a black,
dusty mass, which is scattered broad
cast by the winds. This black dust is
made up of seed spores of the smut.
The closed smut or stinking smut
causes the kernel to swell up and turn
dark in color. The kernel also becomes
very light in weight. When broken
open these kernels are seen to be full
of spores.
The spores of closed or sinking smut
are carried almost entirely by the seed,
consequently any seed treatment which
will kill the spores without killing the
grain will prevent the appearance If
the smut.
The spores of loose smut are also
carried by the seed, but they may also
be blown about the fields and TINS find
lodgment in the soil. Thus land that
grew crop of grain last year which
was affected by loose smut may have
loose smut this year even though the
seed is successfully treated. Treat
ment of the seed will kill the loose
smut spores on the seed, but will not
kill the spores in the soil. Consequent.
ly, to successfully combat loose smut,
it is necessary to rotate the crops on
the land and treat the seed.
Treatment of seed will not prevent
oat smut and the closed or sinking
smut of barley and wheat. :"
Traatmeut of Sood -
The treatment of seed grain should
be sharply divided into two parts:
Preparation for Treatment, and Treat
ment.
Preparation for treatment consists
in the vigorous use of good flaming
mill in order to separate all the light
weight smutty kernels.
There are at least four methods of
treating the seed which have been
largely used and recommended, the for
maldehyde or formalin treatment, the
copper sulphate or blue stone method,
the corrosive sublimate method, and the
Jensen hot water method.
The blue stone and the corrosive sub
Innate methods are dangerous because
these two substances are poisons. Be.
sides they must be handled carefully TO
keep them from killing the seed. The
Jensen hot water method is not sue.
eessful unless every detail of execution
is exactly carried out and it is very
long and tedious. The formalin or for
faldehyde method Is the cheapest,
safest, cleanest and most easily spplied
and most uniformly successful.
Preparation Of Formaltn solution
Obtain the formalin. This may us.
ually be bought in one pound (16 OH
bottles, 40 per cent strength. The So