NORTH HADLEY, MASS. 
S 
Potatoes for Pigs. 
The Wisconsin experiment station as- 
certains that in fattening hogs 789 
pounds of potatoes took the place of 178 
pounds of corn meal, or in other words,* 
4-13 pounds of potatoes were required to 
take the place of 100 pounds of corn 
meal. This makes one pound corn meal 
worth nearly four and one-half pounds 
of potatoes. As several lots of animals 
were experimented on it is hardly possi- 
ble that the results are very far from 
the average. 
From the Farmers' Voice , Nov. ’91. 
Potato Parasites. 
A. G. Miller of the Lowville (New 
York) Farmers’ Institute, is reported in 
a contemporary to have spoken in sub- 
stance as follows concerning enemies of 
the potato : “ We must exterminate all 
these pests, and the farmers must wake 
up to this fact, and find out as much 
about them as possible. The worst 
enemy is one so minute that it cannot 
be seen, so silent that it cannot be heard, 
parasites of the fungus family— the 
potato rot. For fifty years this enemy 
has had a foothold on this crop, and has 
caused more loss than all others com- 
bined. The growth of this parasite is 
favored by certain climatic conditions, 
and is most active in heavy soils, where 
the moisture is greatest. This moisture 
favors the development of the fungus. 
The parasite is generated in the leaves, 
the stems and in the tubers. Fungi are 
plants living and feeding upon other 
plants. They cannot live in or upon in- 
organic mat ter like the soil. They have 
MUNituE (JO. PRIZE. no seeds or flowers, but have the power 
Type of Potato No. 2. of reproduction through spores, which 
have thread-like roots, enabling this parasite to fasteu itself upon other plants and to grow 
there. These roots find their way into the structure of the plant and cause its decay, l ie 
temperature which is the most favorable for the development of these spores is between sixty 
degrees and seventy degrees. At eighty degrees and upwards the vitality of the spores is 
destroyed. We call the result of this sporadic work, rust. These spores fall upon the ground, 
and are carried down into the ground to the tubers. Here these mycelium or roots affect the 
tubers the same as with the leaves. The potatoes which mature in the hot weather will have 
less rot, as the spores are killed by the heat at eighty degrees. The later potatoes are the 
most liable. When the spores fall upon a dry surface they will die, but when they fall upon 
a moist soil they live, and in a wet time these living spores may be conveyed directly to t ie 
tubers, and to the cellar. At forty degrees, little or no activity is manifest - so the tubers 
should be stored in as cool and dry a place as possible. Heavy soils favor the rot; sandy 
soils will dry out sooner, and the spores will die. On wet land they are kept alive and ac ive. 
It is best to plant the potatoes always upon dryland and avoid the wet spots Potatoes 
should never be gathered in wet weather, as the spores will be carried into the cellar. 
From the New York Weekly Witness. 
