The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1917-09-06
SEED TREATMENT
Will Save Millions of Bushels of Wheat
and Rye.

Will Save Millions of Bushels of Wheat
and Rye.
Over 8 per cent of the wheat
crop and l per cent of the rye crop
is lost through smut.
Seed treatment with formalde-
hyde solution is practically 100 per
cent efficient except in a few Sec
tions where the soil is badly polluted
with smut spores.
The formaldehyde treatment costs
less than 5 cents per acre for ma
terials and labor. To this must be
added in extreme cases the cost OF
20 per cent of the seed grain, the
terminating power of which may be
destroyed because of seed injury.
In every case the entire cost Of
the treatment together with possible
seed injury is much less than the
value of the increased yield which it
assures.
Now that, because of world short
age, every bushel of wheat and rye
counts for more than ever before.
the safeguarding of the next crops
of these grains against disease by
the treatment of seed before plant
ing is of greatest Importance, says
the United States Department of
Agriculture. Department specialists
estimate that the average annual
loss due to smuts of wheat and rye
amounts approximately to 27.5OO.-
900 bushels. This is quail to about
81 per cent of the entire yearly
wheat crop and is regarded as a
conservative estimate, since smutted
heads actually lost are considered.
The increased number of heads
which healthy plants would have
thrown out were not taken into ac-
count. The loss to the billion-bushel
wheat crop the department hopes to
see harvested next year would. at 80
per cent, amount to 50 900. 900 BUSH
els. With wheat selling at S2a BUSH
ell, this would amount to an exceed
ingly high tax on the farmers of the
country.
Treatment of wheat against stink
ing smut is fairly easy, not eXper-
sive, and fully 95 per cent effective.
The efficiency of the treatment is, in
fact, practically 100 per cent in most
of the wneat-growing regions. The
percentage of efficiency for the coun-
try, however, is reduced by the fact
that in large regions in the Pacific
Northwest the soil is polluted with
smut germs to such an extent that
the effects of seed treatment are
negatived. Seed treatment costs
ought not to exceed cents an acre
for materials and labor. To this cost,
however, must be added the cost of
grain, the terminating power of
which may be destroyed by the treat
ment. This amounts at the most to
20 per cent. In every case the value
of the wheat saved by treatment
would amount to several times the
cost of treatment.
Statistics show that the average
annual loss of rye from smut is about
l per cent-considerably less than
the loss of wheat. 1t is we'll worth
while, however, to treat rye seed also.
Several methods of treating seed
for the destruction of smut spores
are in use, but the best, it is believ-
ed, is the formaldehyde treatment.
The grain should first be cleaned
thoroughly with tanning mill so
that smut balls, ,shriveled grain, chaff.
etc, will be removed. After the
grain is clean it may be spread on a
floor or tarpaulin in a layer or a
pile several inches thick and sprin-
kled with solution of formaldehyde
made by mixing l pound OF CONNER.
cial formaldehyde with 45 gallons Of
water. An ordinary sprinkling can
or q spraying machine is used and
n. -. =: ,Lo,,eloJ oyor ond ovor