I 



228 MAINE AGRICUI^TURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9II. 



one-half day getting ready, making an additional expense of 

 about one dollar." 



By proceeding in a manner similar to that just described seed 

 potatoes can be disinfected with formaldehyde solution quite 

 rapidly and with comparatively little expense. Any sound cask 

 such as a molasses, kerosene, or alcohol barrel can be used and 

 with good care these should last for many years. The number 

 of barrels needed will be from 2 up, varying with the number 

 of barrels of potatoes to be treated and the rapidity with which 

 the seed is needed for planting. The use of two lots of barrels 

 is essential to rapid work. By this means the solution is made 

 to work all of the time — one-half of the barrels can be emptied 

 and filled again with a fresh lot of potatoes while the solution 

 is acting on the other lot. Placing the barrels on a low platform 

 enables the operator to quickly and easily draw off the solu- 

 tion without waste into pails from which it is turned into the 

 other barrels which contain another lot of potatoes to be treated. 

 Generally this platform consists of a single wide plank, elevated 

 a little higher than the top of a common pail, and the barrels 

 are placed in a row upoti it. 



Adjoining the narrow platform on which the barrels stand 

 should be another which is large and broad, and upon which 

 the disinfected tubers are poured out to dry. This larger plat- 

 form is not absolutely necessary. A piece of canvas spread on 

 the ground will serve the same purpose or the potatoes may be 

 dried on clean, dry grass land. 



