410 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



kill all stages of larvee in the tubers. It was also found that the market- 

 ing qualities of the tubers were not injured in any way by the treatment, 

 provided the following precautions were taken : First, rotten and visibly 

 wormy tubers should be sorted out before the soaking treatment; 

 second, the water should be cool and clean; if possible, a stream of 

 running water should pass through the soaking tanks ; third, after soak- 

 ing the tubers ought to be sacked at once and piled in an airy storeroom, 

 to allow rapid drying; fourth, the tubers must not be exposed in the 

 open, either before or after soaking, as the tuber moth might la}" eggs 

 on them, which would not be killed by the soaking process. 



The speaker stated that when the tubers were soaked they became 

 saturated with water and the worms in the burrows were drowned. 

 Actual weighing of the tubers before and after soaking showed a gain in 

 weight of 20 to 30 per cent, and it sometimes required four to six weeks 

 for this extra weight to be lost by evaporation. This soaking treatment 

 was one which could be used by potato dealers with good results, 

 especially in the case of potatoes to distant markets. Such potatoes 

 should be dumped from the sacks and allowed to remain in a moth-free 

 room for about ten days, in order to allow any eggs to hatch. The 

 tubers might then be allowed to soak for thirty-six hours, with the 

 assured result of complete disinfection. 



Thorough Inspection to Avoid Quarantine. 



Mr. William Garden, county horticultural commissioner of San 

 Joaquin County, in an able discussion, asserted that these potato 

 troubles — with the possible exception of the tuber moth — Avere common 

 to practically all our potato-growing sections, and that this pest had 

 been taken from several of the states which were condemning Califor- 

 nia potatoes. Thorough inspection of all potatoes, both in and out of 

 the state, would do away with the necessity of quarantine measures. 

 The improvement of soil conditions and the elimination of rotting 

 potato cvills in this section ought to do a great deal toward reducing this 

 pest. Some of the seed tubers shipped in from other states were found 

 to be diseased. Mr. Garden urged that a better sj^stem of inspection be 

 inaugurated. 



Tuber Moth From Los Angeles County. 



Mr. William Wood, county horticultural commissioner of Los Angeles 

 County, pointed out that forty years ago the tuber moth was known to 

 him in Los Angeles County, and that for many years this county had 

 been shipping out potatoes into different states and sections of this state. 

 It seems strange, he said, that if the tuber moth could have become a 

 pest in those states, it had not done so before this time, considering all 

 the potatoes shipped out; 1912 was a bad tuber moth year for Los 

 Angeles County, as there was a heavy planting of early potatoes and 

 when harvest time came prices were so low that many of the growers 

 left their potatoes in the ground, making ideal conditions for the spread 

 of the tuber moth. 



In June and July of this year in Los Angeles County there was a 

 surplus of about 550 cars of the new potato crop. Every one of these 

 cars was inspected and passed. Fully one third of these potatoes was 

 ffrown on the badlv tuber moth infested land of two years ago. 



