The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-04-30
FARMER AND PLANTER.
SWEET POTATO DISEASES.
Suggestions for ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and
Remedial.

Suggestions for ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and
Remedial.
My personal experience in sweet-po-
tato culture has not been enough to
make me an expert. While in New Jer-
sey l have grown them every year on
the limited scale of the home garden,
and this quite successfully. Repeated
trials in Western New York, however,
never turned out to be satisfactory, and
l have given up the idea of growing
what / can buy much better and
cheaper. In no case have noticed any
form of malignant disease in my patch,
only now and then rotten specimen
in storage. Many patches of COM
mercial growers, however, are sgf-
fering more or less from rots and
blights. and for this reason. Prof.
Byron d. Halsted's illustrated treat
Use on fungus diseases of the sweet po-
tato'' bulletin rs, of the New Jersey
Agricultural college Experiment Sta
ton, Brunswick, n. J.,) viii be well
coined by a large number of growers.
The only sad thing about it is that at
this stage of the investigation only
few and incomplete suggestions can be
made in regard to treatment, either pre-
ventive or remedial.
The soft rot, a true mold, we'll
known to every sweet potato grower Ito
his sorrow, usually appears most de-
structive in the store-room, rendering
the attacked roots quickly soft and
worthless. The. tough and unbroken
rind in measure discourages the en-
trance, of the rot fungus and the lat
ter gains access through the upper end
of the potato and through cuts,
wounds and breaks of the skin else
where. The disease is readily commu-
nicated from one potato to another one
near it. 1t always comes from with
out the plant: and this suggests the inn
portance of being careful in the harvest
ing and subsequent handling. The less
the skin is broken, the less the danger
there will be from this soft rot A moist
atmosphere also favors it's development.
Therefore, it is advisable to store in a
well-ventilated, artiicially warmed
room, that maintains a constant tenn
perature of not far from seventy de-
grees, or about that of iving-room.
Growers of sweet potatoes who keep
their crop for the late market, or hold
the roots until spring, are pretty much
agreed that to avoid the soft rot, a stove
or furnace is an essential part of the
furniture of the storage cellar.
The black rot, also well known to all
sweet-potato growers, and perhaps the
most destructive of all these diseases of
the crop, is fortunately dry and inoffen-
sive. 1t usually shows itself in the roots
at digging time; but many of them are
so little affected that they find their
way into the market, and any loss from
the increase of the decay falls upon the
middlemen and consumers. Unfortu-
nately, no remedies have yet been found,
or can even be suggested.
The soil rot, the real nature of which
is not yet definitely known, enters the
potato through the tender substance of
the fine roots. Sometimes it is very de-
structive. No remedies can yet be sug-
gested, but the adoption of long rota-
ton, so that sweet potatoes come as a
crop many years apart, is probably the
hAOoO ~ oSOASnt AACOIAOu VI SCbblIlS bA16
field clear of the destructive soil rot.
In the so-called stem rot the vine dies
at or near the surface of the ground,
and from there the decay extends down
to and for short distance into the
potatoes, also in the opposite direction
along the vine to the end, or at least to
point where the plant has taken root.
The line between the decayed and
healthy portion of the root is sharply
drawn. The germs are in the soil, and
incubation is direct. AS with the soil
rot, the selection of manure may have
some influence; but the same preeau-
tions adoption of long rotation) as with
the soil rot, will most likely give salts
factory and the most certain results
White rot and dry rot have not vet
become common or troublesome, and
no remedies are as yet known Scurf
discolors the surface of the roots, and
while reducing the market value of the
potato, does not cause the destruction
of the root, and therefore is no occasion
for alarm.
Leaf blight and white mold attack
the leaves, but are comparatively harm
less enemies If it becomes necessary.
they might be fought by spraying with
copper solutions. in Farm and
Fireside.