The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1906-07-07

and especially in the great potato
growing sections OF Michigan, New
York, Vermont and Maine. where
much experience with remedial meas
ures has been gained, which will be
directly applicable to Washington con-
ditions.
Losses Of Two-Fold Nature
''Fhe late blight fungus requires for
its best development moist or humid
climate and comparatively low tenn
perature. It is for this reason that it
Is widely prevalent in the regions men,
toned while it does not occur to any
extent in Southern districts. Losses
due to blight are often not realized by
farmers. These losses are of a two
fold nature. In the first place the crop
is reduced by the premature destruc-
tion OF the vines, and in the second
place there is frequently considerable
decay during storage due to the same
fungus which attacked the vines. It
is estimated by reliable authorities
that the average loss per acre through
out the principal potato growing Sec
tions of the country amounts to sixty
bushels per acre in seasons when the
blight is prevalent, making total loss
of many millions of dollars, nearly all
Of which could have been prevented.
potato blight can be effectually
prevented by spraying Bordeaux mix
ture, and this treatment has become
an established farm practice in many
sections of the country. This should
also be the case in Western Washing
ton, and few careful trials will soon
convince the most skeptical potato
grower of the profits to be made in
this manner.
Begin Spraying in June
cit is advised that Spraying be be-
gun in the latter part Of June, as it is
important to make the first application
before the blight appears. Once the
disease has gained Roadway in field
it is much more difficult to check it.
Additional sprayings should be made
at intervals of two weeks in dry wea-
ther or more frequently towards the
end of the season if the weather is
rainy and the disease spreading rap
idly in neighboring fields.
Bordeaux mixture for potatoes
should contain six pounds Of bluestone
and four pounds Of freshly slaked
stone lime to forty to fifty gallons Of
water. A farmer intending to spray
his potatoes would do well to write to
the United States department of agri
culture at Washington for farmers
bulletins 81 and 243, which give de,
tailed instructions for the prepare
ton and application of the spray.
which cannot be fully described with
in the limits of newspaper article.
Briefly stated. it is recommended that
whenever any considerable area OF
potatoes has to be sprayed prepara-
tions should be made for making the
mixture quickly on large scale
through the employment Of stock So
lutions and mixing platform. The
stock solution of bluestone is usually
made by weighing out two pounds to
each gallon of water and suspending
the same in a loose sack near the top
of the water. A few hours will suffice
to dissolve the bluestone. The lime
should be slaked with care, and suf6-
Gent water added to bring the paste
to q concentration Of two pounds per
gallon. To prepare q barrel Of mix
ture three gallons Of the stock blue
stone are taken and diluted in separ-
ate barrel to make twenty gallons. Two
gallons of the lime milk, we'll stirred,
are diluted in another barrel to make
twenty gallons, and both poured to-
aether into the spray tank or allowed
to empty into it from an elevated plat
form. The mixture should be made
fresh before using.
Power Spr.yer 10 Best
..The application should be as thor
ouah a possible. Some form Of spray
pump il essential. and as matter Of
economy, in fields OF several acres q
eeared or power sprayer is best. pro-
vided the machine possesses sufficient
capacity to thoroughly cover the po-
tato foliage. Many sprayers now On
the market are deficient in this respect
and require to be run twice or three
times over the field TO thoroughly
cover the foliage. For we'll grown
potato vines 100 to 400 gallons par
acre win be needed, although great
eains in yield are often reported from
the use Of much smaller quantities
The effect Of the bordeaux mixture
= vrnt.pHn6 AVIAN in