Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1912-05-02
TOMATO BLIGHT
A Remedy That is Thought VIII
Overcome this Cause of
Big Loss.

declares W. ;. Thormbar, director OF
the Lewiston-C Charleston school OF
horticulture In fact, it has become
such Il serious problem that many
irrigated districts have ceased to
consider tomatoes profitable or
safe crop to grow.
" A score of different causes have
been assigned as the cause of tomato
blight, and yet up to the present
time no single cause seems wholly
responsible for the trouble, - says
Thormbar.
The more common causes as
signed are alkali in the soil or irri-
CATION water, deficiency OF, humus
in the soil, too intense heat, hot
days and cold nights, soil fungus,
root bacteria, naturally weak plants,
poor root systems, and, finally, i'm
proper cultivation.
Tomato blight is probably a
physiological condition brought on
by peculiar behavior of our soils,
and particularly of our subsoils
when under very dry, unfavorable
conditions.
a careful examination of the
soils giving the worst results of to-
mato blight shows an abundance of
silicate with sufficient carbonate of
lime and magnesia to form a light
cement. Aside from these three
other elements are found in varying
amounts, none of which are injuri-
Gus to plant life.
These three elements act togeth
er about the middle of June or later,
when the hot weather comes on.
and form light cement in the soil
This cement is not chemically inju-
rious to plant growth beyond max
ing the soil SO hard that the roots
cannot penetrate it, so root growth |
ceases at once and the plant dies for
lack of available plant food, even
though the soil is abundantly sup
piled with the various mineral plant
foods. This same condition affects
fruit trees in a similar manner, and
would kill them the same as toma-
toes were it not for their perennial
growth.
After careful examination of
Of patches of blighting to-
matoes the above conditions were
found existing in every instance.
Under various conditions Of
shade, board fences, mulches, fur
rowing, ETC., the trouble was less
marked than in the open. How
ever, none of them worked with any
iegree of satisfaction.
During the examination of these
patches particular notice was taken
If the hotbeds in which the plants
were started. In practically every
lotbed from few to a few hundred
plants were left as transplants, and
n no instance was a blighting plant
ound in the beds, but in all instan-
res good roots We're found, always
down into the manure
Used to heat the bed. This gives
he Keynote to the situation.
Then why not make a small hot
'ed under each row of plants in the
leld, or at least under each hill
nd avoid the difficulty? This ex-
'erlment was tried last year in twoI
7 three places on naturally bad to-
lato blighting soils. In one test
eep burrows were plowed early in
he spring and small quantity of
arnyard manure, mostly from cat
e barns, was placed in the hollows
the furrow, then covered with
'om four to six inches of soil. The
lants were later set in rows above
he manure, and out of about 4OOlI
Iants treated in this manner not a
ngle plant blighted, and all were
rong and bore heavy crops of fruit.
n an adjoining piece of land about
NJ plants were set in the ordinary
amer in the same kind of soil
1t without the manure treatment
ID W per cent of these plants