270 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the first one or two nodes of the stem, the tubers produced are under 

 size, immature, and somewhat prone to scabbiness. If planted shallower 

 than three inches, the variation in temperature and moisture is too great 

 for proper development, the tubers are crowded, and there is a large 

 proportion of small, compound, exposed, and scabby tubers, and a 

 tendency to produce tubers on the stalk. Those tubers which grow 

 between the depths of one and a half and four inches are of more 

 uniformly good quality in appearance and cooking, and of better size and 

 development, than those growing deeper or shallower. Long tubers 

 which grow sloping in the ground show a difference between the bud 

 end and the stem end ; the latter cooks more mealy and in most cases 

 is m'ore netted, while the bud end has a smooth surface. It is believed 

 that good quality is developed under a uniform soil temperature of 

 65° to 75°, and that great fluctuation in temperature, such as those tubers 

 growing above the one and a half inch level are more or less subject 

 to, is detrimental to the best development of the tubers, while a 

 temperature uniformly below 65° is not conducive to the best develop- 

 ment and ripening of the tubers. — F. J. C. 



Potatoes, Rotting, due to PhTjtophtlwra infestans. By 0. D. Woods 

 {U.S.A. Exj). Stn. Maine, Ann. Bep. 1905, pp. 1-5). — It is concluded, 

 as the result of experiments detailed in this report, that the infection 

 of potato tubers occurs chiefly, if not entirely, in the field before 

 digging, and is usually the result of diseased haulm, the disease being 

 transmitted in the majority of cases, not directly through the haulm, 

 but indirectly through the soil. Potatoes may be infected directly in 

 the field from spores introduced in the manure, or from rotten 

 potatoes spread or left in the land the preceding year. Whether the 

 plants have or have not been protected with Bordeaux mixture there is 

 far less liability of loss from rotting in the cellar in the case of late-dug 

 potatoes. — F. J. C. 



Potato Spraying- with Bordeaux Mixtures. By C. D. Woods 

 {U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Mcmie, Ann. Rep. 1905, pp. 6-12).— Trials with dry 

 against liquid Bordeaux mixture of ordinary strength yielded results 

 greatly in favour of the latter, and the same occurred when ordinary 

 Bordeaux mixture was tried against Bordeaux mixture + sugar, the 

 addition of which renders the copper hydrate soluble. The yield, when 

 sprayed with ordinary Bordeaux mixture in the latter experiment, was in 

 one case 103 barrels and 120 barrels on two plots, as against 102 barrels, 

 97 barrels, and 91 barrels on three plots ; in another instance 175 bushels 

 per acre against 118 bushels per acre. The cost of making the soluble 

 Bordeaux mixture is heavier, and che labour involved greater. — F. J. C. 



Potatoes, Spraying-, for Prevention of Leaf Blig-ht and 

 Blotch. By E. P. Sandsten and J. G. Milward {U.S.A. Exp. Stn. 

 Wisconsin, Bull. 135 ; April 1906 ; 7 figs.). — The early blight, caused by 

 Macrosporium solani, and the late blight, caused by Phytophtliora 

 infestans, are prevalent in most seasons in Wisconsin as in this country. 

 The present bulletin gives the result of experiments in several districts 

 in spraying potatoes with Bordeaux mixture. In nearly every case the 



