THE POTATO ROT. 103 



it remedied the trouble at once, aud in harvest the yellow part of the field was 

 as wood us the rest. 



Mr. Webber : I had in my vegetable garden, on a heavy clay sub-soil, under a 

 foot of dark mould, great trouble with cut-worms. I sowed five bushels 

 of salt per acre aud was troubled no more by cut- worms. As to wheat, I think 

 our worst troubles are the want of drainage and the March freezings. I have 

 often had wheat fields in early March that promised forty bushels per acre. 

 The warm sun melts the top inch of the soil and at night the thermometer 

 drops to IC^ F. and freezing the top lifts the wheat from its lower roots that 

 have never been thawed out and kills it. This is on undrained soil. 



Mr. Norris : Mr. Geddes speaks of the land roller. I think it one of our 

 most useful tools and use it before and after sowing wheat. 



Mr. Bow : Some years ago I rolled wheat on sand after sowing and as a 

 result the wind blew the sand from the roots. On clay, if rolled when damp, 

 after sowing, a hard surface will be formed that much of the seed will never 

 break through. I pack the ground as well as 1 can before sowing and so get 

 the best results, finding that the headlands where the horses turn and pack the 

 soil very solid, are the best parts of the field. 



Mr. Fischer : If we want our soil so compact, why plow ? why not simply 

 harrow a seed bed? 



Mr. Geddes : As to wheat heaving, I would ask Mr. Webber if he ever tried 

 rolling in the spring ? 



Mr. Webber: No, because the soil was too damp. It would only make mud. 



Mr. Gedd' s : Is not Mr. Bow's experience about the compacted ground where 

 his horses turn giving the largest crop due to completer cultivation there ? 



Mr. Graham : I rolled thoroughly and then pulverized and put a ton of 

 salt on four acres, then sowed wiieat and rolled again, (4 times in all) and 

 got 35 bushels per acre. 



Mr. Robert Ure : Light sands should be rolled; not heavy. 



THE POTATO ROT. 



BY A, A, CROZIER OF GRAND RAPIDS. 



IRead before the Farmers' Institute at Hudsonville, February 2, 1886.] 



The potato rot has been more than usually destructive the past season. 

 The estimated loss from this cause is nearly a third of the crop in Michigan, 

 and greater in New York and other neighboring States. Whether these esti- 

 mates are correct or not, there are many localities where the crop of late pota- 

 toes has been almost destroyed by rot, and the fear of loss in other cases has 

 often prevented dealers handling the crop except at extremely low prices; 

 so that though prices are now high in many sections of the country, growers 

 have not obtained the usual benefit. 



The appearance of the rot the past season followed the unusally wet weather 

 of the latter part of summer, and potatoes which ripened early were gener- 

 ally sound. The rot has also been most severe on clay soils. Reports from 

 a number of potato growing districts in the northern part of the State, 



