266 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



ment is drawn from the parent tubers which are weakened ta 

 tliat extent. If several long sprouts have been broken off, or if 

 the potato has grown shrunken and soft, it becomes unable to 

 start strong, -thrifty plants and maintain them until the root 

 system has sufficiently developed to absorb food from the soil, 

 or until the sprout has pushed to the surface arid spread its 

 leaves w<hich elaborate part of the plant's food. The growth 

 is weakened and uneven and the result ds loss instead of profit. 



When the potatoes are taken from the cellar in the spring, 

 they should first of all be run over the rack, removing all de- 

 fective tubers. Put up those to be disinfected for scab and 

 blackleg, in two-bushel sacks. The sacks may then be lowered 

 by blocks and tackle into kerosene or gasoline barrels. They 

 should be comipletely covered with the formalin solution, made 

 by the addition of i pt. of formalin to 30 gallons of water, and 

 allowed to remain for two hours. They may then be lifted out 

 h; the same manner and spread on the potato house floor, a can- 

 vas or the grass outside, to dry. It will do no harm to soak the 

 tubers for more than two hours. Indeed, some farmers find it a 

 saving of time to put the tubers in soak in the morning befo.-e 

 they go into the field, change them at noon while the horses are 

 eating and again at night. Some of the mixture will be wasted 

 each time but it may be used as long as it lasts. 



If the seed is affected with blackleg, it is necessary to go a 

 step farther than in the case of scab. This fungous disease 

 does not appear to live from one season to the next in the 

 ground but only in the tuber. It is much more serious in the 

 South than in the North, and must be stamped out if Maine is 

 long to continue the important seed trade which has developed 

 with the Southern States in the last few years. Anyone who 

 will examine a potato affected with blackleg will find, perhaps 

 an eighth of an inch below the surface, and spreading in all 

 directions from the point where the tuber is attached to its stem, 

 a thin discolored layer which indicates the presence of the dis- 

 ease. When a potato having this appearance is cut into it should 

 be rejected and the knife dropped into a pail of the mixture 

 kept by the side of the cutter for that purpose. Several extra 

 knives should also be kept on hand. Great care should be 

 taken that disinfected seed is not stored in barrels, bins, and 

 boxes which have contained potatoes unless they, too, have 



