246 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



RECENT PROGRESS IN POTATO DISEASE WORK 



IN MAINE. 



W. J. Morse. 



What I consider to be the most important thing relative to 

 progress in the study of potato diseases in Maine I am going to 

 mention first. This is the rapidly growing knowledge of, 

 interest in, and appreciation of the importance of potato dis- 

 eases which is shown by potato growers themselves. In the ten 

 years that I have been connected with the work in this state I 

 can assure you that I have seen very gratifying changes in this 

 respect. These are the most encouraging signs of the times. 

 No matter how thorough the investigations are, or how suc- 

 cessful the methods of disease control which are worked out 

 prove to be, no real progress is made from an economic stand- 

 point if you do not have the sympathy and active cooperation 

 of the potato growers themselves. 



Much that I have to say today is largely based on a single 

 fact which, with great frequency, is overlooked. This is, 

 that the seed tuber is the all-important agent in the propagation 

 and spread of potato diseases. 



I believe that, in the past, both farmers and pathologists 

 have been looking at the matter of potato disease control from 

 what is fundamentally the wrong view-point. Moreover, I be- 

 lieve that the pathologists are fully as much, if not more, to 

 blame than the farmers. It is true that some farmers have 

 shown a very strong desire to plant culls for seed, but in my 

 opinion we, as pathologists, have done our best to let them get 

 away with it. This is not because we have given too much at- 

 tention to the development of efficient methods of seed disin- 

 fection and spraying, but because we have not sufficiently em- 

 phasized the fact that healthy, vigorous seed is the primary 

 requisite for obtaining a healthy crop, and that disinfection is 

 but an additional precautionary measure, designed to assist in 



