432 



Junior Naturalist Monthly. 



Potatoes call the plant doctor more often than the bean 



Diseases and pests of the potato are more common than those of the 

 bean. Of insect enemies it has two, the flea-beetle and the potato-bug. 

 The flea-beetles eat tiny holes about the size of a pinhead on the leaves, — 

 not clear through, but on the surface. These holes destroy many starch 

 factories and the wounds are places for the spores of fungi to enter and 

 grow, which causes leaves and stems to die as if they had ripened, and 

 before the potatoes are half grown. This produces the trouble commonly 

 called the " early blight," because it comes in early summer and mid- 

 summer. There is another blight that causes the potato to rot. It is 

 also due to a fungus that first attacks the leaves and later works down 

 to the potatoes themselves. Bordeaux mixture is the best remedy for 

 blight or rot troubles. 



The potato bug is the com- 

 monest foe. The blight is not 

 certain to come every year, but 

 the potato-bug never fails to 

 spend a part of the summer with 

 you. I recommend that the bugs 

 be brushed off into a pan having 

 kerosene oil in it. This soon 

 brings death, and I fancy a pain- 

 less one ; but for held culture, 

 the farmer sprays poison on the 

 vines by means of machinery. 



The results 



\\'hen school begins next 



September I am wondering how 



the contest will come out. I want 



to hear from every one of you 



who has planted either on the 



bean side or the potato side. You 



must tell me all about the yield 



and its value. If any of you are 



able to send photographs showing anything of interest in your work, I 



shall be glad indeed to get them. 



I hope that you will have the show at your schoolhouse, when school 

 opens. You can make the beans and the potatoes the main part of the 

 show, but you can also bring other vegetables and flowers and fruits. I 

 will write you again about the contest. 



Uncle Toiin. 



Digging the potato crop. 



