THE POTATO 69 



venture for the Irish growers, and the system is 

 spreading so rapidly in Ireland that the large quan- 

 tities of early potatoes now annually shipped from 

 Ireland to the British markets are very sensibly 

 affecting the prices and profits realized by the 

 growers on the Ayrshire and west coast generally. 

 The official report of the Irish department showed 

 that the crops of early potatoes in Ireland last year 

 had been all marketed at prices averaging over £30 

 per statute acre. 



"It was probably intended at first that the 

 efforts of the department in this direction should 

 be concentrated on the development of the early 

 potato-growing business. But the experimental 

 and demonstration work of the department broad- 

 ened out into new fields of far-reaching importance. 

 The crops of the earliest varieties of potatoes, 

 when the seed tubers are sprouted in boxes and 

 planted early in early districts, are usually mar- 

 keted before the disease begins to make its ap- 

 pearance in the fields. For some years the Irish 

 department had made an exhaustive series of 

 experiments in spraying the late or main crops 

 with Bouille Bordelaise or sulphate of copper solu- 

 tion, and had proved up to the hilt that this sys- 

 tem was of incalculable value in either altogether 

 preventing or at least very materially checking 

 the ravages of the disease. Professor Campbell 

 and Mr. Wallace came to the sound conclusion that 

 no variety of potato which was then on the market, 

 or was ever likely to be on the market, was proof 

 against the disease, and that while it was very 

 desirable to give a preference to those varieties 

 which showed the greatest power in resisting the 

 disease provided their flavor and yield were satis- 

 factory, yet the best plan of preventing or check- 



