. Agriculture; a text for the school and the farm . may in some cases live over winter on the oldplants, and be ready to attack the new crop if wheat isagain planted on the field. Wheat rust also lives on otherplants, especially the barberry, and is spread from them bybirds or insects to wheat-fields. Laws have been passed insome states requiring the destruction of barberry hedgesbecause of their part in spreading rust. Moist seasons are more favorable to the ravages ofrust than dry. Rust results in weakening the stem of thewheat plant, and reducing the size and quality of the some ca
. Agriculture; a text for the school and the farm . may in some cases live over winter on the oldplants, and be ready to attack the new crop if wheat isagain planted on the field. Wheat rust also lives on otherplants, especially the barberry, and is spread from them bybirds or insects to wheat-fields. Laws have been passed insome states requiring the destruction of barberry hedgesbecause of their part in spreading rust. Moist seasons are more favorable to the ravages ofrust than dry. Rust results in weakening the stem of thewheat plant, and reducing the size and quality of the some cases the heads even fail to fill, and the crop is atotal failure. There is no known cure for rust, though cer-tain varieties of wheat are better able to resist it thanothers. The earlier varieties are usually safer than thelater. Smut in wheat.—There are two kinds of smut thatattack the wheat plant, loose smut and stinking smut. Loosesmut usually destroys both the glumes and the kernels, leav-ing only the bare stem. Stinking smut grows inside the. Stinkiug smut of wbeiit: smutted bend aud smut balls atrigbt; sound bead aud kernels at left. 76 AGRICULTURE glumes, destroying the kernel only, and taking its spores from which stinking smut grows attach them-selves to the kernels of wheat, and are therefore oftensown with the seed. This fact makes it possible to combatthis type of smut by treating seed wheat in such a way asto kill any smut spores that may be present. One of the surest and cheapest ways of treating theseed for stinking smut is by the application of a solutionof formalin. One pint of forty per cent, formalin mixedin forty-five gallons of water will treat one hundred bushelsof wheat. The wheat may be spread out thin on a tightfloor and sprinkled with the moisture, shoveling it overso that each grain is sure to become dampened. After it is well sprinkled the wheat should be coveredwith sacks or blankets to keep it from drying out too rap-idly. After a few ho
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
