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Show CONTROL OF n GRAIN SMUT Farm Demonstrators Discover Many Smutty Grain Fields in Iron County. SOME FIELDS LOSE ONE' THIRD OF CROP BY SMUT Dr. Geo. K. Hill, Botanist at the U. A. C. Explains the Method of Controling Smut. Among the things that impressed the farm demonstrators of this section sec-tion during their visits in Iron county coun-ty last summer, was tho fact that so many farms wero growing smutty wheat and oats. On one farm that looked to havo a good stand of wheat and at a glance did not show the snint to any great extent, wo selected an nvcrage plot of tho grain, counted the heads of wheat and found 97 out of 253 taken by smut, loose and stinking smut being in about equal proportions, propor-tions, 97 out of 2G3 or 38 per cent smut. This means "that out of a 40 bushel to the acre crop, 15 bushels would be sacrificed to the black spores. Visits wero made to farms far worse than this one but no exact counts were made. I wonder if wo stop to realize what a little smut in tho grain means to us? Docs it pay to work hard all summer cultivating our crops nnd reap a harvest of such grain. The following article by Dr. Geo. It. Hill, Botanist at the Utah Agricultural Agricul-tural College, explains the methods of, controling grain smut: Control of Grain Smut. 'There are two kinds of wheat smut loose smut and stinking smut. The loose ripens its spores just at the time the wheat plant is in flower, producing pro-ducing the characteristic smutty heads at that time. These little black dust like objects arc the spores which infect in-fect other wheat plants. Tho wind blows them all over the field and those that light on the young wheat flowers germinate and grow down Injo the young kernel. They live on tho inside in-side of the wheat kernel but do not' grow very much. When the wheat kernels arc planted the next year the smut disease is already inside the'1 grain, and as thc wheat plant warm,, the smut plant grows too on the Inside of the stems and leaves. It produces more smut spores when the wheat plant blossoms. "Seed treatment with formalin of blue vitrol will not control this disease dis-ease because the smut plant Is on the inside of the wheat kernel at the time the wheat is planted and the wheat, seed would therefore be killed by these chemicals as quickly as the smut itself. It has been found, however, how-ever, that the smut cannot stand as high a temperature as the wheat kernel. Henco it can be killed by soaking tho wheat in water at 130 degrees de-grees F. for ten minutes. The wheat should first be heated up to 120 degrees de-grees F. till it Is warmed through and then placed in the hot water at 130 degrees F. If this cools tho water, more hot water should bo added to keep the temperature at 130 degrees F. If the wheat is left in too long or If the temperature gets too high the wheat will bo injured. "All seed wheat should not be treated trea-ted in this expensive manner. Enough farm seed wheat should bo treated and planted in a plat some distance from any other wheat to give clean seed for the following year. "Tho loose smut of barley looks like the lopso smut of wheat and can be controlled n tho same way. ''The stinking smut of wheat ripens its sporeB at tho same time that the wheat ripens, . Theso spores occur on tho insido of smutty kernels. The smutty kernels are broken open when the wheat is threshed and the smut is spread all over tho good kernels to which it sticks firmly. These smnt spores aro on th,e outside of tho kernels ker-nels at the time tho grain is planted and can therefore be killed by the formalin treatment. Dip tho BCCd wheat in burlap sacks or other carriers car-riers into a barrel qr tank containing tho formalin solution and leave it there for ten minutes. Lift tho sacks up and down a time or two to drive out the air. Then pile the wheat up for two hours and then spread it out to dry. One pint of formalin in thirty to forty gallons of wator is tho proper prop-er strength. All seed wheat should bo given this treatment. "Oat smut and covered smut of barley bar-ley will be killod by tho formalin treatment. treat-ment. "When n stack of smutty grain is threshed, tho threshing machine becomes be-comes covered with smut in overy crack and crevice. There aro billions of those spaces In tho machine after one smutty stack of wheat has been threshed. Tho machine carries these spores to the next farmer nnd oven though this farmer has. clean wheat, his wheat is covered with tho smut from tho previous farmor. In Canada a law has been proposed to compel tho owners of threshers to thoroughly clean and disinfect their machines before be-fore going to the next job. Such n lnw would very greatly reduce smut ! and thus save thousands of dollars annually. Each Utah farmer can and should Insist that tho thresher bo thoroughly cleaned before beginning work for him." |