Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-02-25
Potato Investigations at Aroostook.

Prior to the purchase of Aroostook
Farm the United States Department OF
Agriculture was conducting In the coun-
" few Investigations upon the potato
Of national wide Importance. After the
purchase of the Farm, arrangements
were made whereby all of the work that
was done with the potato In Aroostook
County by the Department of Agricui-
ture should be in cooperation with the
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station.
A good many of these experiments are
planned from q nation wide standpoint
but because of Names seed industry
most of these have q direct bearing on
the potato production OF Maine. The
Station has the access to and publishes
the results which are of local (Msine)
importance, while the Federal Govern
ment publishes the results that are OF
nation wide value.
This cooperative work may be roughly
divided into two separate classes; (al
where the Station furnishes the land and
team work while the Federal Department
provides experts for conducting investi.
cations, extra labor, fertilizers, etc., and
tb) where the Station not only provides
land but also the members OF the Station
staff are jointly engaged with the Federal
Department experts in carrying on In
vestigstions.
The Federal Department has been
actively engaged for several years in
breeding and testing varieties OF potatoes
to obtain or find those best adapted for
different sections of the country. This
work has been carried on in four or
more widely separated localities, but the
most extended trials have been made at
Aroostook Farm. There the Federal
Department has constructed, without
cost to the state, greenhouse and q
separate storage cellar, devoted entirely
to this potato breeding work. Large
mum bess of crosses have been made Oh
different varieties OF potatoes with each
other, and with plants very closely re-
lated to the common potato. AS re-
suit of this thousands of varieties OF po'
tstoes. many of them the results OF pew
crosses, have been tested during the last
| few wears. For this work alone 10 or IL
acres of land are required each year.
While progress In securing results oi
this kind are necessarily slow, some
promising strains have been obtained
which the Maine Station is now propa'
eating for distribution for seed purposes
While much of the potato disease wors
is of cooperative nature, this Is limited
TO specific projects and the Station II
tree at any time to take up-independen'
lines of investigation and is constantly
CARRYING on work OF that nature. Or
the other hand the cooperation OF tne
nederal Department is often OF o distinct
advantage. With greater funds and
larger staffs of experts in more varied
lines they can concentrate forces on al
important problem in an emergency II
ways that the Station could never nop'
10 do with It's limited funds ana STAN
By vsy of illustration, In 1915 what iaP
oeared to be . new and destructive dis
ssas of potatoes caused the death o
plants in certain sections OF helds II
i midsummer. In Aroostook this mign
mean several acres, and hence thousano
~ dollars of loss to an individual owner
Through the combined efforts OF th'
Dspartment and Station workers In tn
fisld. the following tentative conclusion
ware obtained with hardly any delay
i,sr. that the disease was not new ant
dangerous parasitic malady, as man!
psople thought, second, that 1t was de
structive only on the poorer types o
potato soils and, third, that It was asso
nIated With lack of potash In these soil
! or 10 the fertilizer used. Later expert
mental work showed that these conciu y,
siups were we'll founded, hence the d'm
cnlty was at once solved and the way 7
avoid Il fuse of stable manure Aor sma'
amounts of potasb) demonstrated
Cbas. ID. Woods, Director.