The Hope pioneer., 1922-04-06
Treating Seed Wheat For Ergot
And Smut At The Same Time

"i' anu tlleu Dy lnc regular Tor.
maldehyde treatment.
In order to determine the effect of
these treatments and possible combina.
t'ohs OF treatments on the termination
of arvious wheats, series of experi.
ments has recently been made These
have shown that:
l. The seed wheat must be washed
after the immersion in salt solution.
otherwise serious injury to germina.
tlon ranging from IS to GO per cent
injury may result. The salt treatment
followed by one washing in clean
water resulted in little Or no injury to
the termination, provided the grain
was planted while little damp.
2. A combination solution. consist
ing of the salt and formaldehyde in
proper portion applied in one opera
tlon, is not to be recommended. Al
though such process would save
time and inconvenience in carrying
water and handling grain, it was found
that even two-minute soaking in such
solution will reduce the termination
from per cent for durum wheats to
20 per cent for common wheats. A
iive-minute soaking, followed by a
thorough drying of the grain previous
to planting caused from 40 to 45 per
cent injury.
3. If the grain is immersed in the
combined salt and fOrmallehyde SOlu.
tion for two to five minutes, as above.
and then washed once, the amount Of
injury is considerably reduced, but
such a method is not advisable, since
the effect of the formaldehyde, which
should be allowed to act for some
hours, would be lost.
4. 1t was found that the grain
treated with: first, 20 per cent salt
solution to float out the ergot; second,
one washing in clean water; third, for
maldehyde solution one pint to 40 gall
Ions for two to ten minutes; fourth,
covered for several hours; and, finally,
planted while still damp, was not in
jured and as matter of fact germin-
ated better than untreated grain.
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fected as they will walk into objects
and frequently, if left to themselves,
will go round in a circle. The animal
appears cOlicy and profuse sweating
is usually present. The temperature
which is high at the beginning falls
to subnOrmal before death. Often
some of the spoiled silage can be found
in the mouth wedged between the up
per grinder teeth and the cheeks.
When once a sufficient quantity of
such silage has been eaten not much
can be done in the way of relief
Most cases die within a few hours to
one day, but some which are struck so
hard may linger for week or more
and gradually improve. Many of these
recovered animals remain unthrifty
and show wabbly gait and are there
fore Improbable stock. Giving good
physic Of epson salts, raw linseed oil
or aloes in the very beginning of the
disease will help to hurry the poison
Gus material out Of the body and
should be given if possible.
= This is certainly case where an
''ounce of prevention is worth pound
of cure" There are many instances
where both horses and sheep have
eaten silage for long periods of time
without any bad results. However,
we also learn Of many cases every
winter and spring wherein the most
fatal results have developed when the
animals eat even small quantities
of this food when mouldy and
frozen. Therefore, realizing that most
all silage has some spoilage and know
ing how difficult it is to remove all
the mouldy, frozen, spoiled portions,
the writer would certainly hesitate to
use silage at all for feeding purposes
for horses and sheep in our part Of
the country under existing conditions.
Gran'pa reckons that the man who
says he can't is usually right.