Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-12-14
An End to Potato SCab.

| Here is what a River Falls potato
grower has written to The Rural New
Yorker regarding a successful expert
! ment made by him with corrosive
| sublimate Il have tried the corrosive
sublimate treatment this season in
planting potatoes and here is the result;
l made the mixture by putting one
| ounce of corrosive sublimate into suffic-
lent water, say FIVE or six gallons, to
soak ten bushels of seed. [ left the
potatoes remain III the mixture from
Que and one-half to two hours. A few
potatoes that were left in eight hours
| were cut and planted and every one
rotted. I tried soaking few cut pieces
but the solution turned the cut surface
black land about one piece in ten rotted.
The result so far is the cleanest lot of
potatoes l ever dug. [ planted 40
bushels of untreated seed, and although
the product is good, there are at least
nine scabby potatoes to every smooth
one; in fact it is hard to find a potato
entirely free from scab. The first row
of soaked seed is 33 inches from the
last row of untreated seed. The pro-
duct of the soaked seed is at least 90 per
cent. absolutely clear from blemish,
while not over 10 per cent, of the pro-
duct of the untreated seed is free from
scab, and this is not ALL
The total product of the first acre of
treated seed was II bushels more than
the untreated lying next to it, other
things, such as quality of seed, land cul-
tivation and time of planting, were the
same in every respect as far as it was in
my power to make it. And again: The
last acre of untreated seed gave eight
bushels more of small potatoes, fit only
for starch, than the first acre of soaked
seed. The entire ground planted, was
heavily MANFRED with green manure
direct from the barns during fall and
winter and plowed under in the spring.
My brother planted both treated and
untreated Seed on old land, where
potatoes were grown two years ago.
The product of the untreated seed was
almost unstable; in fact if potatoes
were plenty they would not sell for
shipping. The product of the treated
seeds good shipping potatoes, which sell
for smooth stock, although, if closely
examined, almost every potato will show
a few small spots, but not circumstance
to the rough, dirty tubers of the I'M
treated seed. He planted very scabby
seed.
The experiment has proven to me
that scab on potatoes can be handled,
and held in check as easily as potato
bugs, and at less expense. My seed,
last spring, had more than the usual
amount of scab and I did not look for
such good results the first year. | con-
slider that | increased the value Of my
crop at least IS per acre.
In the above l have made comparisons
with the last acre of untreated and the
first acre of treated seed. There was
no pelceptible difference in the yield or
quality of different parts of the untreat-
ed, but there is big difference in quail
ity in different parts of the treated.
The first eight acres grown from treated
seed are as nearly perfect as l ever ex-
pect to raise, but from that on they
commence to show some scab. The
only way 1 can possibly account for this
is that the corrosive sublimate may
have gradually lost its strength, as we
were days planting the potatoes, on
account of rain, and used the same
solution for the whole, by adding just
enough of the mixture to make up for
the waste.