PRIZE ESSAY ON THE CAUSE AND CURE OF SMUT IN WHEAT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 405, 20 September 1856, Page 4

PRIZE ESSAY ON THE CAUSE AND CURE OF SMUT IN WHEAT.

The following is the essay on " The Cause and Cure of Smut in Wheat" to which the Villiers and Heytesbury Association (Victoria) awarded the advertised prize : — The evils arising from |jie prevalence of smut in wheat demand the attention of all, and call upon all who have the means of observation within their reach to seek for an efficient remedy. Smut is a great source of annoyance and loss, not only to the farmers, but also to the miller and baker, and it is considered very unwholesome to the consumer. During the process of thrashing, &c, in the preparation of wheat for the market, many of the smut balls are broken, and the smut enters the eye of the wheat and adheres to the skin; so that the miller, with all the improved machinery at his command, is unable tcj. clean it thoroughly. In the subsequent process of grinding and dressing it becomes incorporated in the flour—destroying its fine whiteness, and rendering it dull and dark coloured, and decreased in value. The miller is blamed for low grinding, bad dressing, or otherwise destroying the flour ; while the elements of an inferior article were so thoroughly blended in the wheat that it was beyond his power to separate them. Besides darkening the bread, the injurious effects of pmut on fermentation are well known 'to the baker. Dough made from flour containing it, instead of improving in texture and toughness as it comes to the oven, has an opposite tendency, becoming soft and slippery, and losing the power of holding the carbonic acid gas, the generation of which is the chief object of fermentation, and without which bread cannot be made light. Medical men are of opinion that smut is highly prejudicial to the human system; in many respects similar to the smut produced in Germany and other parts of Europe, a disease which carried off many of the inhabitants, and which defied medical skill. From these and other bad effects produced by smut, all should consider it a duty to seek an efficient remedy for it. But the farmer, as the grower of produce, and upon whom devolves the chief loss, ought to have his attention most particularly directed to it.

Smut is the vegetation in the ear of wheat of a parasitical fungus belonging to the lowest order of plants. It attacks wheat at or shortly after the time of flowering, and converts the sap intended for filling the ear into its sporules or seed, which are found occupying the place of wheat. The sporules of some kind or kinds of fungus seem to be contained in all organic substances, where they lie inert till placed in circumstances favourable for their vegetation, and the reproduction of their species. If plants are healthy and vigorous, and the soil and wear ther favourable for their growth, they are not liable to be attacked by fungus vegetation of any kind ; but no sooner does the plant become weak or unhealthy, from the soil not containing nourishment proper for it, from unfavourable weather, or any other cause, than the fungus peculiar to such plant is liable to make its appearance, and perhaps entirely destroy it. Many instances of this may be found in the fungus growths on fruit; and other trees in an unhealthy condition, and. in the destruction wrought by them on crops of potatoes, turnips, and grain. i Tlie first step towards the, prevention of smut is the choice of clean and healthy seed, for the produce of smutty wheat is more liable to be attacked the succeeding year than the produce of wheat in a clean and healthy condition. As nearly all saline and alkaline substances are promoters pf the

healthy and vigorous growth of the grasses, and at the same .time .unfavourable'to.the growth, of fungus vegetation, hence their universal use in countries where agriculture is conducted on scientific principles. Agriculturists of experience are greatly divided in opinion as to which of the salts is attended with the most beneficial results, but roost otH'hem agree .that a salt used aa a steep, in conjunction with caustic lime, promotes the fertility of wheat, and is a powerful preventive against smut. The salts in most general use for this purpose are ammoniacal, and other salts contained in urine, bluestone, corrosive-sublimate, nitre, alum, and common salt. A solution of any of these salts used as a steep ; for seed wheat, and afterwards well sprinkled; with new slacked lime, has; been and will be found, when properly used, at once to increase its fertility and render unfertile any sporules of smut that may be adhering to it. As each of

those salts may act differently in different soils, the choice of one of them will depend 4 on the character of the soil in which it is to tbe used '; but any of them may be used with safety and success, mi til experience has taught the farmer which is the most suitable for the soil he has to cultivate. A solution of riifcre, has been used as a preventive against disease in grain for many centuries, for Virgil, one of the poets of antiquity who has harded down to us a description of the agriculture-' and seasons of those early times'in which he lived, says — I've seen the seed oft tempered for the soil, With pungent nitre and the lees of oil. This, salt is still used to a great extent in the grain growing countries of Central Europe ; and to its .general use in the Netherlands is ascribed the great fertility of the soil in that country. A trial of many centuries does not seem to. have shaken, the faith of the. agriculturist in the efficacy of this salt. The many failures of such steeps in effecting the object intended is to be atributed to the ca relessness .with which they are. administered more than to their general inefficacy. Wheat before being steeped should be well ■washed with plenty of clean water, and all lio-ht grains, smut balls, and seeds of .weeds, care folly skimmed off and picked put. Th; length of time wheat should lie in steep will depend on the strength of the solution, but on no account should it be allowed to begin to p-erminate before being sown, which may take place .%vithin forty-eight hours after bein<rput in steep. After being steeped it should be allowed to drain for some time, but before becoming dry it. should be well sprinkled and dried with new slacked lime. "^ Although it is absolutely necessary that the lime be properly slacked before being used, yet, to give it its full effect, it must be new slacked, as lime in a state of powder absorbs carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, becomes a carbonate, and thereby loses one of its most valuable properties. If urine is used, the grain should lie in it about an hour, and if any of the other steeps, eight to ten. hours-may be allowed. 1 pound of blue stone, i ditto corrosive sublimate, 1 ditto nitre, or % ditto alum, dissolved in as much 'water as will cover the ■wheat, is the quantity of each salt requisite foi'"4 bushels of grain. If common salt is used, a pickle of it should be made enough to float an egg.

The-skins of all grains are so constituted that they will admit nothing- but pure water till either germination or putrefaction in the grain has -begum ; so that steeps have no effect on the interior of the seed till it has begun to grow. ■> A heavy fall of rain immediately after wheat has been sown may wash all the saline into the soil, where, from the small quantity used, they will have little nor no effect. In the course of time as the colony "becomes more consolidated, and agriculture

is conducted on. -[more scientific principles, these mineral manures will be used not only as steeps for seed, but also to augment and keep up the fertility of the soil. The present demand for agricultural produce being limited to wheat, oats, and potatoes, a proper rotation of crops cannot be adopted. The system of raising on the same soil crops of the same kinds of grain for several years in succession, is not only an encouragement to smut, but also to weeds, and using the produce of land as seed for the same for a number of years is even worse. When wheat is sown at a particular time for several years, it will thrive best when sown always at or about the same time, but most farmers, neglecting or not knowing this, mix the produce of wheat sown during three or four months, and when such wheat is used for seed, even though it be all of the same variety, it neither springs, grows, nor ripens regularly, besides inducing disease, and eventually deteriorating the quality of the wheat. The preceding remarks are made by one who believes that the future prosperity of Victoria will depend -more on its agricultural than its gold-seeking population, who would rejoice to see more of its broad fertile lands in the hands of the practical agriculturist, and who would with all sincerity, say—" God Speed the Plough !"