Count the smutted heads on a patch three feet square and estimate the percentage of smut in all the wheat and oat fields near your home. On which is it most abundant? Do you know of any fields that have been treated for smut? If so, look for smut in these fields. Ask how they were treated. Do you know of any one who uses bluestone for wheat smut? Can oats be treated with bluestone?
At planting time get an ounce of formalin at your drug store or from the state experiment station. Mix this with three gallons of water. This amount will treat three bushels of seeds. Spread the seeds thinly on the barn floor and sprinkle them with the mixture, being careful that all the seeds are thoroughly moistened. Cover closely with blankets for a few hours and plant very soon after treatment. Try this and estimate the per cent of smut at next harvest-time. Write to your experiment station for a bulletin on smut treatment.
[Illustration: FIG. 123. A SCABBY SEED POTATO]
[Illustration: FIG. 124. A HEALTHY SEED POTATO]
=Potato Scab.= The scab of the white, or Irish, potato is one of the commonest and at the same time most easily prevented of plant diseases. Yet this disease diminishes the profits of the potato-grower very materially. Fig. 123 shows a very scabby potato, while Fig. 124 represents a healthy one. This scab is caused by a fungous growth on the surface of the potato. Of course it lessens the selling-price of the potatoes. If seed potatoes be treated to a bath of formalin just before they are planted, the formalin will kill the fungi on the potatoes and greatly diminish the amount of scab at the next harvest. Therefore before they are planted, seed potatoes should be soaked in a weak solution of formalin for about two hours. One-half pint of formalin to fifteen gallons of water makes a proper solution.
[Illustration: FIG. 125 From a scabby potato, like the one in Fig. 123, this yield was obtained]
[Illustration: FIG. 126 From a healthy potato, like the one in Fig. 124, this yield was obtained]
[Illustration: FIG. 127. EFFECT OF SPRAYING Sprayed potatoes on left; unsprayed on right]
One pint of formalin, or enough for thirty gallons of water, will cost but thirty-five cents. Since this solution can be used repeatedly, it will do for many bushels of seed potatoes.