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The  Rural  New-Yorker 
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Yol.  r.xxv. 
NEW  YORK,  FEBRUARY  5,  1916. 
No.  4364. 
Potato-Spraying  Lessons 
Experience  from  the  Season  of  1915 
Part  I. 
ATE  B  LIGHT. — The  1915  epidemic  of  late 
1  flight  and  rot  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the 
United  States  was  the  worst  we  have  had  in  recent 
years,  perhaps  the  worst  since  the  first  great  epi¬ 
demic  of  1S45,  which  caused  the  famine  ill  Ireland. 
The  potato  crop  was  reduced  from  Maine  to  Ne¬ 
braska.  worst  of  all  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania. 
In  my  own  section,  Southern  New  York  and  North¬ 
ern  Pennsylvania,  the  attack  came  earlier  than  in 
other  years.  A  large  proportion  of  the  vines  were 
killed  before  the  tubers  had  attained  much  size  or 
had  time  to  develop  much  starch.  Later  many  tu¬ 
bers  were  rotted  by  germs  falling  from  the  diseased 
vines  and  reaching  the  tubers  through  the  soil.  For 
these  reasons  much  of  the  stock  which  escaped  the 
rot  was  of  small  size  and  poor  cooking  quality.  The 
attack  in  Northern  New  York,  as  will  he  shown 
later,  came  later  in  the  life  of  the  crop,  and  so  did 
section  around  me  only  the  most  careful  spraying 
was  successful  in  preventing  great  loss. 
EARLY  SPRAYING. — The  greatest  need  of 
spraying  this  year  came  earlier  than  in  most  blight 
years,  at  a  time  when  the  heavy  crops  of  hay  and 
grain  all  had  to  be  gathered  as  best  they  might  lie 
between  the  rains.  Weeds  in  potatoes,  corn  and 
cabbage  took  more  labor  to  subdue  than  in  other 
years.  I  had  to  do  more  hand  hoeing  on  the  late 
starting  weeds  this  year  than  in  all  the  previous 
five.  ( )n  top  of  that  an  unprecedented  river  flood 
in  July  compelled  a  readjustment  of  my  plans  of 
work.  Early  potatoes  were  lower  last  Summer 
than  in  years.  Millions  of  bushels  of  Southern  po¬ 
tatoes  were  sold  at  prices  which  meant  great  loss¬ 
es  to  the  growers.  Some  farmers  who  usually  spray 
potatoes  in  this  section  felt  that  they  could  not  af¬ 
ford  to  stop  other  work  to  spray  when  there  was 
so  much  to  do  and  so  little  time  between  rains. 
Many  farmers  are  too  liable  to  concentrate  all 
their  attention  on  one  thing  and  forget  others  which 
may  be  of  more  value.  They  are  more  liable  to 
ity  and  practically  no  rot.  The  average  yield  of 
the  only  adjoining  county  for  which  I  have  figures 
was  37  bushels  with  poor  quality,  small  size  and 
some  rot  in  storage.  An  average  of  100  or  more 
carloads  annually  has  been  shipped  from  the  next 
railroad  station:  this  season  not  one.  The  potatoes 
raised  here  have  not  even  been  sufficient  to  supply 
the  nearby  villages.  They  have  to  buy  from  Michi¬ 
gan.  and  even  from  as  far  off  as  Minnesota.  Be¬ 
cause  of  the  frequent  rains,  an  unusual  river  flood, 
many  weeds  in  hoed  crops  and  the  time  spent  in 
handling  hay  and  grain,  I  only  sprayed  four  times 
in  July  and  August,  compared  with  eight  in  the 
same  time  in  the  blight  season  of  1912.  A  neigh¬ 
bor's  field  adjoining  was  dying  with  blight,  and 
showering  mine  with  millions  of  germs.  I  had 
seen  very  few  blighted  leaves  rill  August  30th,  when 
suddenly  many  appeared.  Scientists  say  that  we 
can  always  expect  blight  when  the  conditions  are 
right  for  it.  Potatoes  are  constantly  growing 
through  most  of  the  season.  Each  new  leaf  as  it  is 
formed  is  open  to  the  irresistible  attack  of  the 
A  Farm  Outfit  for  Spraying  and  Soaking  Potatoes.  Fig.  51 
less  damage.  Heavy  and  almost  continuous  rains  in 
July  and  most  of  August,  with  damp,  cool  and  mug¬ 
gy  weather  between  the  storms,  produced  just  the 
conditions  most  suited  to  the  rapid  spread  of  the 
late  blight  and  rot.  If  a  period  of  dry  weather  had 
not  followed  in  September  the  loss  would  have  been 
even  greater  than  it  was.  Unlike  some  other  blight 
years,  like  1912.  there  was  little  trouble  with  rot  in 
potatoes  stored.  This  was  because  the  infected 
tubers  remained  so  long  in  the  ground  that  they 
were  easily  discovered  and  thrown  out  in  picking  up. 
BORDEAUX  MIXTURE.— Spraying. with  Bordeaux 
mixture  is  the  best  means  <>f  preventing  late  blight 
known.  Spraying  was  an  unusually  difficult  job 
last  year.  The  soil  of  many  fields  remained  so  full 
of  wafer  between  the  frequent  rains  that  it  was 
often  impossible  to  drive  the  horses  on  the  land  with 
sprayers  without  danger.  Hand  spraying  takes  too 
much  labor  to  bo  practical  on  farms.  I  can  easily 
spray  an  acre  an  hour  with  machine.  Hand  spray¬ 
ing  would  have  meant  that  part  of  my  potatoes 
would  have  to  he  abandoned  for  lack  of  time  to 
spray  them.  Under  the  severe  conditions  of  the 
neglect  a  comparatively  new  thing  like  spraying 
than  others  to  which  they  are  more  accustomed. 
One  neighbor  stopped  spraying  because,  ire  said, 
"I  have  just  got  to  have  that  hay  for  my  dairy.” 
1  lis-  potatoes  yielded  90  lmshels  per  acre  against 
230  for  mine,  and  thp  value  of  the  difference  in 
yield  on  two  acres  would  he  more  than  that  of  all 
the  hay  lie  saved.  1  did  not  spray  for  13  days 
while,  besides  other  work,  I  cut.  cured  and  thrashed 
20  acres  of  oats.  There  was  no  blight  apparent  in 
the  potatoes,  and  I  thought  I  was  safe  in  letting 
more  than  a  week  go  without  spraying.  That  was 
just  the  time  when  the  blight  got  a  start  in  my 
crop  which  was  hard  to  sto|*,  "When  a  farmer  takes 
the  time  and  expense  to  plant  a  field  of  potatoes 
lie  should  feel  that  lie  has  "just  got  to”  find  the 
time  to  spray  them  well  in  blight  years.  I  have 
found  few  other  jobs  in  farming  that  pay  as  well 
as  spraying  for  the  time  used  and  cost  of  material. 
Spraying  pays  almost  every  year,  hut  most  of  all 
in  blight  seasons. 
RESULTS  SECURED. — My  potatoes  yielded  230 
bushels  per  acre  this  year,  with  fine  Cooking  qual- 
ldight  germs,  unless  covered  with  a  protective  coat¬ 
ing  of  Bordeaux.  The  copper  in  the  Bordeaux  very 
slowly  dissolving  is  instantly  fatal  to  the  blight 
germs.  ’While  it  is  not  possible  to  keep  blight  off 
\ines  entirely,  we  knew  by  experience  that  spray¬ 
ing  frequently  will  prevent  most  of  the  injury.  At 
any  rate  it  pays,  and  that  is  what  we  farm  for. 
People  who  object  to  farmers  thinking  of  making 
money  may  be  satisfied  by  remembering  that  the 
sprayer  saves  two  leaves  of  the  potato  plant  where 
one  would  have  died  before,  and  two  potatoes  where 
one  would  have  rotted  before.  I  tried  to  make 
money  for  myself  and  save  the  potatoes  for  the  "two 
blades  of  grass”  people  by  getting  busy  and  spray¬ 
ing  September  1st,  4th,  9th  and  16th.  making  eight 
applications  in  all.  The  vines  were  now  so  large 
that  it  was  necessary  to  use  pressures  of  over  200 
pounds  in  order  to  drive  the  spray  down  among  the 
plants.  Without  this  the  tops  were  not  blown  about 
enough  to  coat  both  sides  of  each  leaf,  or  reach  the 
lower  parts  of  the  plants.  Also  cracks  were  then 
forming  in  the  soil  above  each  new  tuber,  and  this 
thorough  spraying  prevented  rot  by  placing  Boiv 
