Gloucester County Democrat., 1912-06-13
LETTER TO FARMERS
BY F. r. Stevens,
Agriculturist, Lehigh Valley Railroad.

The custom of spraying potatoes has
apparently come to stay. This helps
the potato plant in two ways: First,
for the bugs, and for these we spray
with three pounds of arsenate of lead
to every fifty gallons of water, or
with a mixture of two and one-half
pounds of lead and six ounces of
Paris Green to every fifty gallons of
water. Either of these forms of
spraying is effective and if the potato
vines are carefully watched, and
spraying begun as soon as the little
bugs hatch out, such spraying will
entirely prevent injury to the leaves.
The second reason for spraying is
that of controlling fungus growths
In this it has been found that lime
sulphur washes are not as effective
as they are on fruit trees and should
not be used ON potatoes. The best
spray for potatoes is the one that has
been in use for some years, that is,
Bordeaux mixture. 1t is made by
dissolving four pounds of copper sui
phate in water, then in a separate
receptacle four pounds of lime, and
mixing both together with frequent
STRINGS into a fifty gallon barrel of
water, making the solution com:aonly
known as 4-4-50 Where spraying is
not so frequent, that is, where a
farmer proposes to spray two or three
times in the season, it is better to
use six pounds of copper sulphate
with the four pounds of lime and
fifty gallons of water, making what is
known as the $3.50 solution.
Many interesting results are OBJ
tanned by spraying this way. In the
year of 1911 the Geneva Experiment
Station found that by frequent spray
ing with this latter solution the in
creased potato yield was 100 $40
bushel per acre. That is, the sections
sprayed yielded that amount of pota-
toes per acre more than did a similar
acre on the same ground and under
the same conitions which was not
sprayed.
With potatoes selling at the price
that they have for the past year, it
is evident that spraying pays, and
pays well. These two sprays may, of
course, be used together That is,
as soon as the potato vines are about
six inches high, do the first spraying
with Bordeaux mixture. As soon as
the bugs begin to appear spray again
with the same mixture, but adding the
three pounds Of arse 4sssss of lead, or
the mixture of two and one-half
pounds of arsenate of lead and six
ounces of Paris Green. If the bugs
disappear entirely after this, it will
not be necessary to add the poison to
the next spraying. In short, continue
to spray every three weeks with the
Bordeaux mixture, and whenever bugs
are present, add the poison.
Many persons have shown interest
in the potato business this year, and
it seems as though every one who had
or could secure seed potatoes was
using them. However, seed potatoes
have been very high and the supply
short, so there is not a great likeli-
hood of an oversupply. Then, again,
with the great amount of moisture
which we have had so far this year,
there is every prospect of dry sea-
son. Constant tillage and spraying
will help very materially in producing
a large crop. These two things will
probably have greater effect than
fertilizers, and to all those who have
more potatoes than sufficient for home
use | would advise careful prepara-
ton for cultivation and spraying DUR
ing the entire summer.
F.R. STEVENS,
Agriculturist, Lehigh Valley R. r.