MAINE AGRICULTURAL, EXPERIMENT STATION I9II 3OI 



to believe that any farmer in ]^Taine can eradicate blackleg from 

 his fields by careful selection of sound seed potatoes for one or 

 two years and their disinfection with formaldehyde. Publica- 

 tions of the Station have described the appearance of potatoes 

 afifected with blackleg and have given in detail the methods for 

 its control. 



OTHER DISEASES OF THE POTATO. 



Owing to the great losses caused by late blight and the 

 subsequent rot of the tubers in certain seasons, some attention 

 is given each year to the spraying methods which are being 

 used by the farmers. Experiments by the Station have shown 

 that the disease can be prevented by timely and thorough 

 application of properly made bordeaux mixture. It has also 

 been found that none of the dry fungicides which have been 

 recommended as substitute? for bordeaux control the disease. 

 The importance of a knowledge of the organism which causes 

 the late blight, and of the thorough treatment necessary to 

 its control, cannot be over emphasized. Poor methods of 

 spraying are responsible for the greater part of the loss 

 caused b}- the late blight fungus, despite the fact that it has 

 been shown repeatedly that the disease can be controlled in 

 seasons when the weather conditions are most favorable to 

 the growth and spread of the fungus. 



Besides these chief lines of investigation, considerable atten- 

 tion has been given to the factors concerned in the failure of 

 seed potatoes to germinate in certain seasons. This is an 

 important problem and can only be solved by the accumulation 

 of a large amount of data in regard to the conditions under 

 which such failures occur. Certain definite conclusions have 

 been reached which will soon be published. 



APPi,E DISEASES. 



Apple diseases cause a large amount of loss in Maine each 

 year. This loss is not confined to the damage which may be 

 done to the fruit of a single year because there are certain 

 diseases which attack the wood and eventually cause the 

 death of the tree. The only apple disease which had received 

 much attention in this State up to 5 years ago was apple scab. 



