488 THE farmers' handbook. 



Preparing for Market. 



Intimately bound up with the whole matter of profitable potato-raising is 

 the demand of the market. It is not sufficient alone to grow potatoes, but it 

 is equally necessary to send the product to market in a condition so as to 

 be most acceptable to the buyer. In these days of keen competition buyers 

 pick and choose to an extent not realised by one who has not witnessed the 

 disposal of goods put on the market. The most essential points are to 

 grade, classify, and bag in clean, new bags. In grading, all diseased, de- 

 formed, over-large and undersized tubers should be rejected from first grade. 

 Before bagging, care should be taken to remove all soil that might be 

 attached to the tubers, and the bags should be shaken down to ensure tight 

 packing, but not too tight, for either too loose or too tight packing results 

 in bruising, and decay follows. Second-hand bags are frequently the 

 medium of carrying diseases that attack the potato, and they should certainly 

 not be used unless they are clean wheat or flour bags, or have been obtained 

 through agents who can offer some guarantee that they have been disinfected 

 by boiling or steaming at a sufficient temperature before despatch to the 

 farm. New bags may. perhaps, be a little more expensive in the initial cost, 

 but they well repay the extra outlay. Each crower should adopt a special 

 brand or mark, preferably a stencil plate, and use it on his first-grade pro- 

 duce. If he is marketing other grades he should use another brand, and 

 mark the basrs second and third grades. 



Insect Pests of the Potato.* 



The potato is subject to many diseases, and, unfortunately, these appear 

 to be on the increase each year. Nearly all of them could be controlled, and 

 many eradicated, if the well-known preventives and remedies were applied. 

 It is seldom a farmer will be found making any attempt in this direction. 

 The probable reason is not that he is careless, and neglects his crops as far 

 as cultivation is concerned, but rather that he is ignorant of the trouble, and 

 is at a loss to know what to do and what remedies to apply to prevent or 

 exterminate them; or if he does know, he does not believe that the results 

 obtained would pay for the trouble involved. 



Potato Moth (Lita solanella). 



This pest is more or less in evidence in every potato-growing district 

 throughout the State, and the loss caused by it annually is enormous. The 

 injury produced by the worm is extremely evident to the housekeeper, as 

 much of the infected tuber is cut to waste, and is well known to all dealers 

 in potatoes, but very generally they do not understand the nature of the 

 insect producing the trouble. The injury done to the plant in the field is 

 considerable, but not so great as that to the potatoes in store. 



Potatoes left in the field after the previous season's harvesting provide the 

 main harbour, and moths bred from these are on the wing and ready to 

 infect the growing crop. The moths usually lay their eggs in the foliage, 

 generally at the base of a leaf ; the larva, when hatched, burrows its way down 

 the stalk, and when full grown seeks a secluded spot, generally in the wilted 

 tops, and there pupates. If any tubers are not completely covered with soil 

 they will be infested. Potatoes are liable to infestation whether left in 

 the field or placed in store after being dug. 



* Compiled by Officers of the Entomological Branch. 



