The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1916-03-16
To Control Sweet Potato Rots

washington, u. T., Marcn 16.-
The control of disease in the field
and in the storage bins will enable
growers to extend the
season and to dispose of
a greater portion of their crop at
the higher prices which prevail in
the winter. At present many grow
ers, especially the smaller ones, sell
their entire crop at digging time,
when prices are low, while those who
store their potatoes lose heavily from
the various storage rots.
Farmers Bulletin No. TIA, a new
publication of the U. S. Department
of Agriculture, offers suggestions for
the improvement of this situation by
protecting the stock from disease,
both in the field and in the storage
bin. Five field diSeases-Stem rot,
black rot, foot rot. scurf, and root
rot-are described and directions for
their control given. They are caus-
ed by fungi which invade the plants
and their roots, and infest not only
the plants, but the soil itself, and
may be carried to new areas and
plants by insects, farm animals, in
fected implements, drainage water,
wind, or diseased roots or tubers.
The fungi are also often spread in
manure used as fertilizer.
The means of securing healthy
crops, therefore, must be the exclu-
sion of the germs from the fields and
from the seed and fertilizer used in
the growing of the potatoes. The
methods used in the prevention of
these diseases include the treatment
of the seed, the hotbed, and the field.
The seed potatoes must be care
fully selected the year before at
digging time from hills which are
known to contain healthy plants
This may be determined by splitting
the stem of the plants and examining
the interior for indications of rot.
The seed potatoes themselves should
be examined again before planting
for evidences of disease. Where slip
seeding is used, equal care must be
taken that the cuttings are made
from disease-free plants.
The seed potatoes should be dis
infected just before bedding by i'm
mersing them for five or ten minutes
in solution made by dissolving one
ounce of corrosive sublimate in eight
gallons of water. This destroys any
spores which may adhere to the seed.
Following this treatment the pota-
toes should be rinsed in warm water
and dried in the sun.
The hotbed is often the source OF
infection. Thorough disinfection ev-
cry year should be practiced. The
framework and the ground around ii
must be thoroughly soaked with a
solution of formaldehyde or copper
sulphate. Where formaldehyde is
used, it should be used in the pro-
portion of one pint of formalin to
thirty gallons of water. With cop
per sulphate, one pound should be
used with twenty-five gallons of wa.
ter. The operation should be repeat.
ed after twenty-four hours. The
soil for the hotbed, preferably sand
must be taken from some place
where potatoes have never beer
grown; if possible, from some higt
place in the woods, removing the
upper six inches of soil and using on.
ly the subsoil. Care should be taker
to see that infection is rot carried OF
! the wagons, implements, and tools
used. Where stable manure is use(
on the hotbed, it should not be from
|
cayed or diseased potatoes. Such DO
I tatoes, if fed at all, should be thoro
ughly cooked frs.
The ulsinfection Of seeds and hot
beds may prove ineffective il precau
tions are not taken against infection
in the field. Sweet potatoes shoult
be grown in new ground, or groun,
which has not produced tubers TO
several years. This can be accom-
plished by adopting suitable GRO
rotation. Most of the sweet pota
to diseases do not affect other crops.
Fully as important as the growin
of sweet potatoes is the protection o
them from disease while in storage
Sound potatoes only should be stoI
ed. In particular, any tubers affee
ted with black rot should be throw