St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1912-06-15
TOPREVENT
THE BLIGHT
What the Agricultural De-
partment Says Of It.
Gives No Hope that There
Is Any Remedy.
Capt. Miller Gives Expert
ence With Tomatoes.
Some Suggestions as to HUI
mus and Mulching.
Abita SPRINGS 1ure II. 1912.

Abita SPRINGS IuEe IL. 1912.
Editor st. Tammany Farmer.
Dear Sir:-I believe every one is
interested in the Tomato Blight. =
and believe that, with all due def
erence to the experiment station,
that when you have read my experi-
ence, coupled with the enclosed ar
ticle clipped from The Packer. you
will agree that we are probably on
the right road to cure 1t. Two years
ago had as fine crop Of tomatoes
as one would wish to see. Some of
the fruit weighed to 3 lbs. Nc
blight. planted in prepared holes 4x3
feet mulched with leaves and pine
blight. Planted in prepared holes
4x3 feet, mulched with leaves and
pine straw. Last year planted on 6
larger scale. No mulch. Blight at.
ter a third of crop had ripened.
This year all plants that were expos
ed to the sun at the roots, ground
packing, are slowly but surely blight
ing, those of luxurant growth with
plenty Of leaves mixed with earth; !;
no blight; Every one knows that to-
mato plants feed in q small area;
that If ground is packed and ayn
drouth the plant will starve to death
hence, IN my Gpsnicn, the blight.
Anyone who wishes to see 1t demOn-
etrated can visit MY patch. have
plants sti!l in the hot bed sheltered
by grass; no blight. The ground
wcll fertilized With plenty Of humous
and mulched, will, believe. solve the
blight question. do not mean that
you can grow tojnst0es year after
year ON the same ground, but they az
not require new gsound every year.
Ycurs t-nly,
G. E. MILLAR.
Baton Rouge. May Is. 1919. ;
Mr.. e. E. Millar, Abita Springs.
Dear Sir:-Your letter of May 81
to Prof. Dodson has been received
and referred to me. The trouble
with your tomatoes is the one known
as tomato wilt" This II quite COM
mon in many parts OF. the State and
is very destructive. There II abe0-
l.,tely nothing that can be done for
this trouble except the careful rota-
tion of crops.
Tomatoes should not be grown up
on the same ground more than one
year out of three, and evan this ia
not always satisfactory. Frequently
1t is found that perfectly new ground
is infected with the disease.
There Is nothing that can be done
in the line of spraying for the to-
matQ wilt. Bordeaux mixture will
not help at all. The fungus which
causes the disease is found in the
ground and rots OF the roots and
lower parts of the stems, causing the
plant to wilt above.
II can be of any further aid to
you, I would be glad to hear from
you further.
Very truly yours,
a. c. w. EDGERTON,
Plant Pathologist.
PREVENTING TOMATO BLIGHT.
Remedies for the Disease Given b,
Western Writer.
Wenatehee. WASH, May 3O.-A
careful examination of the soils Civ.
ing the worst results Of tomato blight
shows an abundance of silicate with
sufficient carbonate of lime and mag.
lnesia to form light cement. Aside
from these, three other elements ar<
found in varying amounts, says Z
writer in the Wenatchee Republic
one Of which Is injurious to plant life
These three elements act together
about the middle of June or latel
when the hot weather comes on ant
form a light cement on the soil
This cement is not chemically inju
rtous to plant growth beyond max
ing the soil 30 hard that the r0otI
cannot penetrate It and 80 roo
growth ceases at once, and the plan
dies for lack Of available plant food
even though the soil is abundant.
supplied with the various minera
plant foods. This same condition
iaffects fruit trees in . similar man
ner and would kill them the same Z
tomatoes, were 1t not for their per
ennial growth.
Anyone familiar with handlin
these soils under irrigation know
how difncult it is to properly irrigat
10 tract after this condition has ono
taken place. It il practically I'm
lpossible without the addition Of Ol
|Eanic matter Of some kind to ret th
subsoil to take water and q light q
improper irrigation simply means
worse physical condition Of the soi
After careful examination I
hundreds Of patches of blighting {,
fmatoes throughout the country Il
shove conditions were found existir
in every instance.
!, Under various conditions Of shad
tb0ard fences. mulches, furrowin
ETC.. the trouble was less marks
than in the open. However. none T,
then worked with any degree OF O
lisfaction.
During the examination of. the
! patches particular notice was TAX
!, Of the hot beds IN which plants we
started. In practically every hotb,
from = few to : few hundred plan
were left % transplanted and Il !
instance was blighting plant fouiI
looathas4 e. 80 q