Notes and Brief Articles 



293 



18 and 24 inches high. Unfortunately, I took only the measure- 

 ment of the circumference. The plant would sit on top of a 

 bushel-and-a-half basket of the usual form and extend beyond 

 the basket on all sides." 



In order to prevent a large percentage of loss in the new crop 

 of potatoes after storing, the Department of Agriculture is mak- 

 ing the following suggestions to farmers : 



Get rid of every bit of vegetable matter in the storage cellar; 

 sweep and brush until it is clean ; then give a thorough dose of 

 fungicide, either gas or spray, the quickest and easiest to apply 

 being formaldehyde gas. For each 1,000 cubic feet of space, use 

 10 ounces of formaldehyde and 5 of potassium permanganate. 

 Pour the formaldehyde over the permanganate in a deep con- 

 tainer, and then leave the cellar immediately, because the gas is 

 given off at once. Should it be found that these chemicals are too 

 expensive, the Department recommends Bordeaux mixture of 

 5-5-50 strength. It may be applied with hand sprayer, pump, or 

 broom ; it is effective when thoroughly used and it does not cost 

 much. It is expecting too much, says the department, to look for 

 potatoes fit for market from a dirty, ill-ventilated cellar. Time, 

 money, and work spent in growing a crop are wasted if the 

 potatoes are stored where dead potatoes are carrying over the or- 

 ganisms that cause rots. Dry-rot attacks newly stored potatoes 

 through bruises and wounds and spreads throughout the stored 

 supply. Many farmers have cellars that now contain piles of 

 sacks of potatoes, all rotten, sacks and all, and constituting a wet, 

 foul mass that helps to decay the timbers and menaces the crop 

 to be stored. 



Byron David Halsted 



Professor Halsted died at his home in New Brunswick, New 

 Jersey, on August 28, 1918, after a protracted illness. He had 

 occupied the Chair of Botany in Rutgers College for nearly thirty 

 years and had previously been professor in the Iowa State Uni- 

 versity. 



