The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1920-09-02
Advice of e. R. Bennett, Field
Horticulturist With Ex-
tension Division
1000 CARS REQUIRED
Only Enough Certified Seed
in State to Plant From 2
to 5 Per Cent

Boise, Idaho Aug. 2s.---In state
ment urging that potato growers OF
Idaho "look out for seed potatoes now,"
%. r. Bennett, field horticulturist of |
the University of Idaho extension di- !
vision, says that 1000 cars of seed will
be required to plant Idahos next years |
crop of potatoes. and that farmers |
must begin to select the tubers they |
/ will plant.
"Other things being equal" he says,
'the yield and quality of any crop of
potatoes will depend on the quality
and freedom from disease of the seed
used in planting the crop. This state
ment of well known truth has been
brought forcibly to my mind again and
again in the past month while looking
over some hundreds of fields of grow
ing potatoes that we have just seen
in trip over the potato growing coun
ties of Idaho.
I'VE pride ourselves on the big yields
and fine quality of potatoes grown in
Idaho, and we'll we may, for no state
ilf the union produces better, but we
have diseases in our potatoes-several
of them-and they are becoming more
numerous.
1.-Two wears ago we found Il few
plants in the fall that had gone down
from the effects Of the black leg di-
sease. On this recent trip we have
turned down great number of fields
Of seed potatoes because of the pres
ence of black leg. Last fall we saw a
fine field of potatOes--fine except that
there were here and there over the
field plants that had stems black and
H..
OF the tubers from these plants decay
ed Tubers from the plants with less
Of the infection did not show the dis
ease at ALL Seed from this field was
planted on many different farms in
that county and the seed looked good,
but there is now high percentage of
plants in every one of these fields that
have well developed cases of black
leg
'Rhizoctonia and fusarium are botl
4 also common The rhizoctonia and tc
a lesser extent the fusarium are al
ways with us. but we must not Ell
courage either of them By planting
seed known to be infected with them
We also have several other insidiou'
and elusive, though none the less dan
gerouS diseases. showing UP here ant
there In our fields The most common
Of these Is the calico, causing plant'
to have white patches on their leaves
1t is not fatal. but it does reduce tn
yield of the tubers Of that plant-an'
we don't want it. We find in man.
4 fields. especially OF the Idaho Rura
variety, many plants with small, wea
stems The lower leaves get rust
appearance cnd fall off. The plan
continues siekly al! season and make
less than half yield The diseas
comes back the next year in grea
numbers. We don't want 1t.
Among the gems this year we fin
in many fields great percentage
weak, dwarfed plants. Many grower
attribute this to dry weather at plan
ing time They are wrong. ines
plants, traced back to the seed, sne
many tubers that instead of sendln
cut normal sprouts, developed on
weak, spindly sprouts, the size OF
darning needle This is the 'spind
sprout' disease We don't want II.
I'VE might mention several other
but space forbids. What shall we az
There is a choice of three things Tn
we can do. First we can discard q
whole lot and get seed elsewher
though we may not help matters muc
1 as TIE ltliON SNtu hi'1
equally as bad Second. we can d
out and destroy all the plants in I
field that are weak or diseased. III
is feasible only where the percenfa
of bad plants is small, and it is
advisable where the fall stage OF 'bla
leg is evident. This method must
followed where certification of Sc
is desired, and the work must be do
thoroughly Third, wefnay go into
field when the plants are nearly II
ture, but before they are ripe or FRI
en- down, and after carefully exam
ing the plants, select those that are
sirable and have clean bill OF heal
for the next years seed.
This is the advisable method
the average man for improving or no
ing his standard of excellence OF
potato crop. Fields that, are pre-
badly mixed and that have a lot
disease usually have many good III
vidual lpants. These may be taken
and sowed by themselves for seed W
much profit
Does good, pure seed pay? u
week we were in a field OF one n
dred acres. The grower had plan
1t with potatoes purchased from
dealer. They were supposed to be g
seed of one variety that had d