12 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



ally a plant showing this. trouble is seen in Maine, often asso- 

 ciated with the mosaic disease. The cause of curly dwarf is 

 also unknown. 



I have now described the more important potato diseases 

 which we met in our trip across the continent and have stated 

 something as to their occurrence in Maine. I now wish to 

 make a brief comparison with disease conditions farther west 

 and to tell you something about potato growing in the states 

 visited. 



While we spent a part of one day in western Vermont, our 

 real potato disease studies after leaving Maine began in New 

 York. Entering the state at Plattsburg on Lake Champlain we 

 proceeded westward through Clinton and Franklin counties 

 to Malone and from there to Rochester. From Rochester we 

 first worked eastward to Geneva and then westward to Buffalo. 



In northern New York, with few exceptions, the fields were 

 not equal to the average in Aroostook. There was much less 

 blackleg, but Rhizoctonia, wilt, leaf-roll and similar diseases 

 were much in evidence. The mosaic disease, as in Maine, was 

 particularly common on the Green Mountains. It is interest- 

 ing to note that we did not see this disease again on this trip, 

 but I have recently been told that this year it appeared over 

 much of the territory covered. 



In northern New York very little commercial fertilizer is 

 used in comparison with Maine, particularly Aroostook. Some 

 cases were found where from 400 to 700 pounds per acre were 

 applied, but usually it was from 200 to 300 pounds. In some 

 towns around Plattsburg they were using stable manure shipped 

 from Montreal, costing $12 for a carload of 43 tons with 75 

 cents a ton for freight added. To one accustomed to the close 

 planting practiced in northern Maine there seemed to be a 

 big waste of land here, for it- is common to plant three feet 

 apart in checks. In some sections visited on the trip, I believe 

 in Michigan, the hills in a few fields were 40 x 40 inches. 



In western New York, in Ontario, Livingston and Munroe 

 counties, we saw a district of considerable importance as a 

 seed growing area. At that time this was not at its best on ac- 

 count of having experienced a long drouth. This made the 

 effects of Rhizoctonia and wilt very prominent. 



