144 — How to Make the Garden Pay. 



from scabby seed by soaking the latter in a weak solution of 

 corrosive sublimate. It is advisable to disinfect all seed pota- 

 toes in this manner. Prepare the solution as already directed 

 (page 136), wash the seed potatoes, then put as many as you may 

 wish to treat at one time into a coarse sack or basket, and lower 

 this into the solution until the potatoes are entirely submerged. 

 Leave them thus ninety minutes, then take them out, dry, cut, 

 and plant as usual. The same solution may be used over and 

 over again. But the greatest care should be exercised in its 

 use, for it is a powerful poison. All treated potatoes should be 

 planted. 



Diseases Affecting Seedlings. — The disease known as 

 " damping off" often causes much annoyance and loss to the 

 gardener, as it destroys a large proportion of the young seed- 

 lings in flats and beds under glass. The point of attack 

 usually is the root near the surface of the ground. The trouble 

 then extends to the stem ; the plant falls over and soon decays. 

 Onion growers who practice the " new onion culture," often 

 complain of serious loss of their seedlings, caused by this fun- 

 gus. I believe that the soil can be disinfected, and the roots 

 thus protected from attack. The most feasible plan is to water 

 the soil with a solution of permanganate of potash, say an 

 ounce to one hundred gallons of water, or of copper sulphate — 

 say an ounce to fifteen gallons, or with diluted Bordeaux mix- 

 ture, previous to sowing the seed, or if required perhaps after 

 the plants are up. I believe in the thorough disinfection of all 

 soils in which seedling plants are to be raised, and also 

 in spraying the young plants freely and frequently with 

 fungicides. It is also stated that soil may be disinfected 

 by giving it the conditions (heat and moisture) favorable 

 to the germination of the spores, and then, a few days later, ex- 

 posing it thoroughly to a very dry, hot atmosphere so as to kill 

 the sprouted spores. Baking soil in a hot oven will also be 

 liable to free it from infection. Still another method of prevent- 

 ing this damping off is to sprinkle flour of sulphur over the sur- 

 face, and then cover it with an inch of hot sand. Possibly a 

 small quantity of sulphur mixed with the soil may also have a 

 good effect in preventing this disease. 



Diseases of Spinach. — The two maladies which attack 

 the leaves of spinach and often destroy whole crops, are '^spinach 

 mildew'' and ''spinach anthracnoseV Spraying is out of the 

 question, for obvious reasons, and all that can be done is to try 

 to prevent infection by proper modes of culture. The refuse 

 leaves of every crop should be collected and burned, and the 

 location or soil of the spinach bed changed every year. Raking 

 a mixture of equal parts of air-slaked lime and sulphur into the 



