■lo Sept.. 1909.] TJic Victorian Potato Industry. 593 



THE VICTORIAX POTATO INDUSTRY. 



The Inter- State Conference and the Irish Blight. 



T. Cherry, M.D., M.S., Director of Agriculture. 



The outbreak of a formidable vi.sitation of Irish Blight in New Zea- 

 land in 1904 after a slight preliminary attack in 1893, the report of a 

 mysterious disease being present in Tasmania during the past two seasons, 

 and the announcement that the blight was present in Queensland in May 

 of the present vear have all rendered this Department apprehensive about the 

 condition of the Victorian potato crop. Hence, in spite of the angry re- 

 monstrances from several potato growing districts we have insisted on strict 

 inspections as far as possible of all produce loaded in the railways whether 

 for home consumption or for export. This insj^ection has revealed the wide- 

 spread prevalence of eel worm disease to a greater or less extent, but it has 

 at the same time placed us in the position of stating with confidence that 

 Irish Blight last autumn only occurred in one small district in South Gipps- 

 land. It is to be hoped that growers who grumbled at the severity of the 

 inspection will now see that it has proved a blessing in disguise. 



As soon as the occurrence of the disease in Tasmania was officially an- 

 nounced, New South Wales prohibited importations from that island. In 

 Victoria we could have done the same thing were it not that the Inter-State 

 trade was carried on under an agreement made at the 1908 Conference of 

 Ministers, which reads as follows : — 



" That no State shall prohibit the importation of fruit, vegetables or plants 

 exported to it from another State on account of any disease affecting such fruit, 

 vegetables or plants which is common to both such States, provided that the 

 exporting State has adopted and is carrying out methods to suppress or cope with 

 such disease similar to that adopted bv and being carried out in the importing 

 State." 



As the existence of the disease in Victoria was announced on the same da\ 

 .as that in Tasmania, we could not prohibit importations till our own area 

 was quarantined. This was done on the i8th August and the prohibition 

 against Tasmania issued on the same day. In the meantime, about 18,000 

 bags of potatoes have been landed in Melbourne. 



Importance of the Export Trade. 

 The climatic conditions of Australia make it certain that Victoria will 

 always have many advantages which ought to give us the control of the 

 potato supply of the Commonwealth. To say nothing of the suitabilitv of 

 the sandy loams and volcanic soils and the absence of pests, the distribu- 

 tion of the rainfall in the spring, summer, and autumn months makes the 

 -crop a comparatively certain one over large areas of the State. When the 

 yield is below the average this is almost invariabh due to the dry season. 

 The long bright sunshine of the summer favours the activity of the living 

 parts of the leaf in forming sugars that are transferred to the growing 

 tubers where they are stored as starch. The absence of hot moist cloudy 

 weather is the chief protection against fungoid diseases. Probably in no 

 part of the world is the production of moderate crops from healthv plants 

 a matter of greater certainty than in Victoria. On the contrary, the heavy 

 rainfall in the potato districts of the other States while making for a big 

 yield in a good season will also make the control of all diseases a much 

 more difiicult problem. With us the conditions which make for moderate 

 yields are the very ones which constitute our chief safeguards against 



