Smyrna times., 1946-10-10

jury or decay. Once decay gets
into a bin of food, it may quickly
spoil the whole lot.
Good ventilation is necessary in
successful food storage to carry off
odors and to maintain the proper
temperature and humidity. Win
dows should be darkened to keep
out light. Containers should be
set a few inches off the ground to
assure proper circulation of air.
Farm Fire Prevention
Agricultural, home demonstra-
tion and All club agents of the
Delaware Agricultural Extension
Service are cooperating this week
in the observance of Fire Preven-
ton Week. Following up an ap-
peal of Extension Director George
L. Schuster to all Delaware farm
ers and their families to enlist in
the fight on fire, the agents in their
meetings and farm and home visits
are pointing out that the use of
fire-safe construction and human
care, instead of carelessness, would
have avoided 80 per cent of the $85
million loss on farms last year.
With America and the world
calling upon farmers for every pos
sible bushel of wheat, truckload of
vegetables and pound of livestock,
the fight against fire on the farm
takes on added Importance.
All farm families are urged to
use this week to discover and get
rid of the common causes of fires
on the farm. To fight effectively
those fires that are avoidable,
every family is urged to know how
to call the fire department and to
know what to do in case of fire to
save life and property.
CONTROL LATE BLIGHT
A big question in the minds of
potato and tomato growers is
whether or not late blight disease
will be present in 1947. But DR..
John w. Heuberger. extension
plant pathologist of the University
of Delaware, says no one can ans
wer this question now for it de-
pends on the weather next year.
DR.. Heuberger points out that if
the spring of 1947 is wet and cool,
conditions will be favorable for the
development of late blight disease;
if, however, the spring of 1947 is
warm and dry, conditions will be
unfavorable for its development.
AS the fungus causing late blight
can over-winter only in two ways
in Delaware in potato tubers and
possibly in tomato seed-much can
be done now to help in late blight
control next year. A survey of
late potato fields made on October
and showed that many fields
over the state were rapidly being
destroyed by the late blight dis
ease. This means that tuber in
fection will be serious and thus
provide a means for the fungus to
overwinter. DR.. Heuberger gives
these steps farmers should take to
reduce the chances of blight next
season: First: Growers of late
potatoes should not dig their fields
until the vines are completely dead.
This will help to keep the disease
spores from injecting the tubers
during harvest. Potatoes should
be dug only when the ground is
dry. Second: All diseased pota-
toes at harvest time should be
picked up and either buried or
burned. About a month after har-
vest, sort over the potatoes in
storage and then bury or burn all
the dieased ones. Remember, the
major means of overwintering of
the fungus is in the potato tuber.
Third: Tomato growers should
fall plow deeply fields that were in
tomatoes this year. This will bury
the seeds so that they cannot pro-
duce diseased volunteer plants next
year. 1t is not felt by many path
ologists that infected tomato seed
is important in the overwintering
of the late blight fungus. Howev-
er, it can overwinter in the seed to
some extent.
Artificial Breeding Unit
On Monday evening, a group of
interested dairymen met at Caesar
Rodney High School to organize a
Continued on Page Seven)
|