The Dolores star., 1913-02-21

sount 81 my age In farming experience
many inquIsIes reach mo about this
failure 81 the laat two sessOns and to III
I ran only ~, ~ DO not know" To
: I,erson who has grown potatoes III
hls Ne Il v n,ortlfyinR to have 70 throw
up the sponge and Acknowledge defeat.
In lssO ~ had Just auch m *.
perience % far - crop failure was con.
cesned, but only for one year. After
that the production of the potato was
phenomenal aud the little set lack 81
le6O waa forgotten. have rssd I'll the
circulars and books could procure o.,
this subject aud when Mr.. drubb's book
~as heSalded - The greatest work on
the potato u once procured . copy
and devoured II N one starving Tor
food. anticipated coming across the
section with instructions: II you have
: certain kind of sOil, conditions, seeds,
csrtsln tiliaKe, ! Will guarantee you
four 10 i've hundred bushels 10 the
acre, shout the same N II produced III
the old cDuntry where I visited, but I
failed 10 fnd sucl, passsHe NJ [ am at
sra again. note forty acres has been
get aside In Idaho Tor potato expert.
ments. Why do not ths Greeley peo-
pie establish Mr.. Grubb and hts asso-
ciates on an experimental plot aud not
90 To section where disease h un-
known. Charity begins 1t home, or
ought 10.
Now who shall decide when doctors
differ? Few Of our investigators agree
N TO the cause or cure Of this disease.
hut they are sure 10 have an ornamen-
tai name which makes their statement
impressive. It looks TO me like hunt
for the ignis fAtuus OF will-o-the- wisp
Nov, what Ii the cause? ! am fully
persuaded from my limited research Il
Ia not IN the soil nor yet In the seed,
cultivation, irrigation or dry farming
I have tried then, oil, but every effort
h unavailing n to cause aud cure. My
Idea Is that 1t = certain stage Of the
plant the germs or spores ~ the learned
would call II thrive when the condition
Of the atmosphere h favorable and
they find the potato plant suited IL
their development. Just sucl, . con-
dition existed when the fint Irish
'iisea,e made Its appearance. In one
night the vines became affected. the
,llniady passed down the stems To the
tuhers and serious damage 10 the crop
resulted. To my Judgment the only
avenue 10 annihilate or hold the evil IN
check Il by process 81 spraying. Our
present formulas may be nnsuited NJ
we must travel . new ground TO meet
the exiRency Of the case.
There Is something radically wrong
with the potato the world over. !
found IN Australia that the farmers
there are NJ var over = potato disease
md quarantine Of several SECTIONS
sas the order. Now comes the latest
news fron E1sope relative 10 disease
called Black Ecab aud the United
States has shut its doom sgainst in,.
lsortation from the principal potato
producing sections 20 affected. From
reports learn that Colorado's ioss
alone for the last two years h so,ns-
thing like six million dollars. not IL
Nebraska aud Wyoming and
other sections where the potato crop
has been almost an entire failure. I
think every potato grower ought to do
IN the way u IN investiga-
ton. For my part, u spared, | shall
tlouble my efforts this coming season.
A determined effort must Ire made aud
N there h strength IN union let us pull
together for the benefit II the whole.
II further en,phssixe this ] would sug.
g-St that y nuniber Of our n.dst sue
cessful potAio growers firm themselves
into committee, set aside plot with
! good farmer To look after II aud try
al experiments that can he conceived
~ 10 seed, soil, cultivation irrigation,
dry farming, ETC., not overlooking the
virgin soil productioe. where In bygone
days we produced those big, clean, dry
tut~rs john II. Gordon. In Denver
Field aud Farm.