Methods of Preventing Smut in Wheat and Oats; Carbon Bisulphide as a Squirrel Exterminator

# University of Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin

This July 1893 bulletin from the University of Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station comprises three technical articles by the station staff addressing farm pests and crop disease.

The first article, "Methods of Preventing Smut in Wheat and Oats" by Director Charles P. Fox, explains smuts as parasitic fungi that destroy grain crops. Fox describes two treatment methods: the copper sulphate (bluestone) method, which involves soaking seed in a chemical solution for five minutes; and Jensen's hot water method, introduced from Denmark in 1888, which exposes grain to 130–140°F water. Both methods cost approximately 3–5 cents per bushel and can be performed by small labor groups. Fox emphasizes the economic stakes, noting that one-fifth of Idaho's 1893 oat crop—potentially worth $121,937 in losses—could have been saved through treatment.

The second article examines carbon bisulphide as a ground squirrel exterminator, a significant agricultural pest. The chemical, applied by saturating cotton or grass with the liquid and inserting it into burrows, proved 95% effective in station trials. The third article discusses an alternative squirrel control method (text heavily OCR-garbled at end).