SMUT IN CEREAL CROPS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7826, 19 June 1909, Page 4

SMUT IN CEREAL CROPS.

to thi Editor-. Sir,—Farmers in't'llb county .have -A surpSlS6^ Aftd veked to. find Ike pr6|en'ce.of .-stout in their wheat of the p&st -Season's growth, and some ure iitj™d to blame the dr&sinfr Used. & *f&-T Wof & & ?n grow£w£f'fe^Ataty use Milestone (Sulf^^.of as a smut preventor, ?«£ "^V^ing Clark's or Smith's dressing—and smut, has appeared in both cases,.. The basis of these so-called - patent dressings" is bluestone, and the chief advantage gained by using the dressings,. is, at least in the case of, Smith's dressing, that wheat germinates quicker than that which is dressed with bluestone only, and up to a certain stage grows a stronger plant. As wheat lias for some time, and still promises to be a very remunerative, crop, more attention should be paid to the process of pickling the seed. It is not my intention as a layman to give expert farmers advice, but as a chemist, I feel confident that the_ old style of merely wetting the grain is not sufficient to kill the spores of the smut germ ; the seed ought to be steeped for some hours. The immunity from smut for some years past has made farmers too careless. Given perfectly clean seed, there will be no smut in the resiiltant crop, but the germ is so minute, that no one can tell that the seed is clean ; hence the precaution of using a dressing. It should not be too much trouble or expense to steep the seeds. "Watertight troughs or casks are required, and this is amply compensated for. Formalin has lately been used extensively in some countries, it is a powerful germicide, and is worth trying here, the proportions are one pint of formalin to 35 gallons of water, soaking for two hours. _ Carbolic acid is also a good germicide in a general way, birt opinions vary as to its effectiveness in preventing smut. Carbolic acid is put into both Clark's and Smith's dressing, because there is a popular demand for a carbohsed dressing, but the small quantity that can be. got in is merely a flavour, doing neither good nor harm J. M. CAMBRIDGE.'