420 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN 



CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE. 



DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE IN ITS BROADEST SENSE, WITH SPECIAL 



REFERENCE TO PLANT DISEASES, INSECT PESTS, AND 



THEIR CONTROL. 



Sent free to all citizens of the State of California. Offered in exchange for bulletins 

 of the Federal Government and experiment stations, entomological and mycological 

 journals, agricultural and horticultural papers, botanical and other publications of a 

 similar nature. 



A. J. Cook, State Commissioner of Horticulture Censor 



E. J. VosLER Elditor 



ASSOCIATE EDITORS. 



Geo. p. Weldon Chief Deputy Commissioner 



Harry S. Smith Superintendent State Insectary 



Frederick Maskew Chief Deputy Quarantine Officer 



Entered as second class matter December 29, 1911. at the post office at Sacramento, 

 California, under the act of July 16, 1894. 



Sound Potato Seed— Why Not? AYe are glad to present the report 

 of the Emergency Potato Convention held at Stockton September 25th 

 and 26th, which Secretary E. J. Vosler gives in this issue of The 

 jMonthly Bulletin. Rarely are so many experts of the highest order 

 at any gathering. 



Mr. George Shima, the "potato king," reported that whereas three 

 hundred sacks of potatoes were no exception a few years ago now 

 scarce one hundred sacks are produced. There seems almost no doubt 

 but that the cause of the decline in California rests with two fungi, 

 the wilt fungus and Rhizoctonia, or "little potato." Two other evils 

 confront the potato grower: one is a nematode (eelworm) : the other, 

 the tuber moth. Two points of great importance are established: If 

 our seed is free from insect and fungous taint and our soil is equally 

 clean, then we will grow great crops of perfect tubers. This is the 

 problem then, clean seed and a clean soil. Yet the experts at the con- 

 vention told us that seed from many localities in all the states is more 

 or less infested, in some sections more than in others. Other states 

 also have serious diseases not yet known to California. 



Again, we must either plant potatoes on untainted soil or else free 

 our soil from diseased germs by a long and well-planned rotation of 

 crops. In any case we must grow our own seed, else we can not be 

 sure that it is safe to plant. At present our greatest effort must be to 

 produce seed free from infection. A plan is outlined as follows: Mr. 

 George Shima said he would provide ten acres of virgin soil on which 

 nothing but tule had ever grown, as the land had just been reclaimed. 

 'Sir. E. H. Phreaner of Placerville has also promised to secure ten acres 

 of rich mountain valley land on which no crop has ever been grown. 

 We believe this will give us one of the requisites for success in our 

 undertaking, but can we procure clean seed to plant? I hope and 

 believe we can. If not, then we must work hard to secure the nearest 

 approach to clean seed that is possible. ]Mr. W. Y. Shear of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, an expert in all phases of potato 

 culture, reports that potatoes grown in the valleys along the Sierra 



