The Potato Blight.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 275, 7 September 1906, Page 2

The Potato Blight.

In the course of his meteorological report for February of this year the Rev. B. C. Bates said :—The humidity of the atmosphere and the frequent showers have unfortunately been again favourable to the development of the potato blight. Although hardly within our province, it will, it is hoped, not be thought out of place to mention two or three suggestions from observers. In order to overcome the disease ono advocates (1) late planting to avo'd the changes of the spring, and (2) giving the plants more room to develop their foliage and so to open it to the invigorating influences of the atmosphere, Another mentions that a nurseryman, growing a quantity of American Early Rose, Dakota Reds and Up to-date potatoes, had a fine crop, and saved them all, though adjoining him was a 40-acre crop of putrifying potato topi. His remedy is to dust the tubirs with lime af'er planting, and before covering them with earth ; then after they appear above tbe ground, dust the haulms once a week with lime—in wet weather, twice a week, before and after tbe rain. Another method—difficult also with large quantities perhaps—is to store the potatoes, seed especially, in shallow boxes, in ligh% dry, and airy storerooms, where they can be examined occasionally.