POTATO OISEASE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4997, 9 April 1895, Page 3

POTATO OISEASE.

Mr T, W. Kirk, Government | Biologist, in his report on the potato disenso in the Forty-mile Bush, states that he found two diseases , doing terrible damage in parts of ■ Wellington, Hawko's Bay, and 1 Tarauaki. The most serious, the 1 macrospnrium sohni, as a fungus attacking the foliage, which first I appears on the older loaves in the form of small brown or greyish brown spots, which gradually spread, tho affected parts becoming curled, hard, ami brittle,while tho remaindei frequently assumes a yellowish colour. In less than a month the wholo of tho leaves die, and eventually the stems perish. As a preventative against this and almost any other potato disease of fungoid origin, Mr Kirk recommends Bordeaux mixture, to which, where insects also attack the foliage, a littlo Paris green should be added as follows:—Five pounds of sulphate of copper, 41b tresli lime, 45 qallons of water, 4oz Paris green. The addition of a little treacle is desirable. The directions are:—Dissolve the Milestone in water, 35 gallons, in a wooden vessel, slack the lime carefully in another vessel, add to it tho blucstone solution, and stir well till thoroughly mixed; then add sufficient water to bring the whole up to 45 gallons. Stir well ami strain out any dirt. Mix the Paris green to the consistency of thin paste, then add it to tho mixture. Apply with a proper spray pump; first when the potatoes are between (i and 9 inches liigluml twice later at intervals of about ten days. .Repeat later if necessary, spraying with Bordeaux mixture will not only prevent or keep down fungus disease, but will so increase the yield as to more than pay the extra expense incurred. The other disease is true potato scab, which attacks the tubers only, considerably reducing the yield and rendering unfit for market many of those which reach full size. If potato seed even badly affected with scab be treated as follow, the resulting crop will be smooth and clean skinned: Dissolve in a trough or tub 2oz of corrosive sublimate in a littlo hot water, then pour this into 12 gallons of cold water and mix thoroughly. The potatoes may bo placed in an old basket or bag and immersed in the liquor for li hours,lhen allowed to dry before planting. The preparation is poisonous.