294 MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



Planting Potatoes on New Land. — In the Journal of Apjrieultnral 

 Research, United States Department of Agriculture, Vol. VI. No. 15, 

 issued July 10, 1916, there is an article by 0. A. Pratt, Assistant 

 Pathologist of the Bureau of Plant Industry, on experiments with clean 

 seed potatoes on new land in South Dakota. The writer of the article 

 states that it has been generally assumed by plant pathologists that if 

 disease-free potatoes were planted on new land the resulting potatoes 

 would be free from disease. Pathologists and potato growers believed 

 that in these new lands just reclaimed from the desert there would lie 

 a wonderful opportunity for the production of disease-free potatoes. 

 It is found, after an investigation lasting one year, that planting clean 

 potatoes on new land did not guarantee a disease-free production, and 

 second, that a smaller percentage of disease might appear in the produc- 

 tion when clean seed was planted on alfalfa or grain land, than when 

 similar seed was planted on virgin or raw desert land. 



In these experiments all precautions were taken against planting 

 diseased seed, and after cutting, the tubers were disinfected for one 

 and one-half hours in a solution of mercury bichloride. — E. J. V. 



Marin County Appoints a Horticultural Commissioner, — The Super- 

 visors of Marin County have appointed Mr. Thomas P. Redmayne as 

 Horticultural Commissioner. Like forty-four other counties of Cali- 

 fornia, Marin County has awakened to the advantages to be derived 

 from such an officer. We wonder when the growers of Solano County, 

 one of the most important fruit districts in California, will rub the 

 sleep from their eves, and demand the appointment of a horticultural 

 officer.— E. J. V. ' 



Statistics on the Cost of Bringing Orchards Into Bearing. — There 

 is a decided demand for statistics on the cost of bringing orchards into 

 bearing. Such figures are extremely rare, and their value is unques- 

 tioned, particularly to the prospective planter with a very limited 

 capital and very limited knowledge. If one who is contemplating the 

 planting of an orchard could know just what it would cost, many a 

 failure would be averted. If any of our readers have such figures, 

 or know of any one who has just started an orchard and who is keeping 

 a set of books, he will certainly confer a great favor on the editor by 

 informing him of that fact. — E. J. V. 



Community Buying. — In these days of organization of the farmers 

 into units which are known in certain counties in California as "Farm 

 Bureaus," we can see how efficiency on the farm and in the orchard 

 may be increased by the community purchase of farming implements 

 such as tractors and trucks. Taken individually, the groAvers can not 

 afford to purchase a truck or tractor for the small amount of plowing, 

 cultivating or hauling they would have to do, but if they can secure 

 for comparatively small outlay, the use of a tractor or truck for a few 

 days each month, a considerable amount of time and money would be 

 saved. — E. J. V, 



Certified Seed Potatoes. — We are receiving numerous requests 

 from potato growers who are contemplating growing certified seed 

 under the Certified Seed Potato Act, for an inspection to be made 

 of their fields, and the Commissioner of Horticulture has arranged for 

 this in.spection to be done by Mr. W. V. Shear, Secretary of the West 



