1906. 
849 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
WHAT CAUSED POTATO BLIGHT? 
R. H. P., Marcellus, N. Y .—In preparing 
my land for potatoes the past Spring I plowed 
under a tough sod consisting of Timothy and 
clover. This lot had been down to grass for 
at least four seasons. This being the case, 
the clover was pretty well exhausted all over 
the lot. I plowed about 10 inches 
deep the last part of April, then I har¬ 
rowed it as soon as I finished plowing, 
let it stand for a while, and kept harrowing 
it at intervals up to May IS. On that day 
I took my fertilizer drill and distributed 800 
pounds of hardwood ashes on one acre, and 
1,000 pounds of commercial fertilizer to the 
acre on the rest. I then harrowed again, and 
on May 22 planted to potatoes, planting the 
whole piece with the same variety, and using 
whole potatoes for seed. I marked the ground 
£6 inches apart, and then took a double mold 
board plow and opened a furrow six inches 
deep, placing the seed in this furrow. I then 
took my two-horse cultivator and covered the 
seed. This method of covering left a ridge 
on every row. Six days after planting I went 
over the whole piece with a leveling harrow. 
As soon as the young plants commenced to 
show up, I went over them with my cultivator, 
and covered them with about an inch of soil, 
then harrowed with a spike-tooth, tipping the 
teeth back so as not to break the young 
sprouts. The whole three acres was treated 
alike. Level and shallow culture was given 
them after the first cultivation, which was 
deeper than the ones following. The vines 
grew rank and vigorous. The vines on the 
acre receiving the wood ashes were not so 
rank as the other two acres treated with com¬ 
mercial fertilizer, but they resisted the blight 
in every stage, and stayed green 14 days 
longer than those treated with commercial 
fertilizer; yielded 150 bushels per acre, while 
those receiving the fertilizer produced 100 
bushels per acre. The analysis of the fertil¬ 
izer was 2-8-10. What was the analysis of 
the wood ashes, and why did they resist the 
blight? 
Replying to R. H. P.’s inquiry, it is 
impossible to tell what the analysis of the 
wood ashes was unless he purchased them 
with a guaranteed analysis attached to bag 
or car, whichever way he obtained them. 
If the ashes were orf the best grade, and 
had been well cared for, R. H. P. only 
applied between 40 and 50 pounds of actual 
potash to the acre, while on each acre 
where he applied the commercial ferti¬ 
lizer about 100 pounds of actual potash 
were used; hence if potash had anything 
to do with the prevention of the blight 
the commercial fertilizer should have 
given the best results. T he only other 
element that the ashes contained (which 
plants could utilize to any extent) was 
the lime, of which there may have been 
240 pounds in the 800 pounds of ashes. 
I doubt, though, if the lime had any effect 
on the blight. Some Long Island potato 
growers have a theory that the nitrogen 
of the fertilizer produces a rapid, rank 
growth which will resist the blight; a 
theory which they have not proven as yet, 
and one which R. H. P.’s results surely 
contradict. My opinion, based on a num¬ 
ber of years of observation on actual field 
tests, is that neither the fertilizer nor the 
wood ashes of themselves contained any¬ 
thing that either caused or prevented the 
blight. The fertilizer simply caused a 
rank growth of vines, which under the 
weather conditions at Marcellus was 
favorable" for the blight. We all know 
that heat combined with moisture is fav¬ 
orable for the growth of Potato blight, 
and, in fact, for nearly all molds and mil¬ 
dews ; and, conversely, we should recol¬ 
lect that sunlight and dry air are sure 
death to these low forms of plant growth. 
In fact, sunlight and dry air are better 
germicides than any spray mixture or dis¬ 
infectant. 
R. H. P. says: “The vines on the acre 
receiving the wood ashes were not so rank 
as the other two acres treated with com¬ 
mercial fertilizer.” This explains the 
condition perfectly—the vines on the acre 
receiving the ashes were open enough to 
admit sunlight and air, so that the leaves, 
also the ground under them, were com¬ 
paratively dry. Where the fertilizer was 
used the vines were probably rank enough 
so that part of the leaves and the ground 
under them were constantly moist and 
shaded. The “blight plant” got a foothold 
under these conditions, and when the 
weather became muggy and cloudy, for a 
few days the blight became epidemic, with 
the result that the fertilizer portion of 
the field was ruined, while the portion 
of the field where the vines were not so 
rank did not harbor the blight, and, even 
though they may have been thoroughly in¬ 
fected during the wet period, the weather 
changed again in time to check the disease 
and this portion of the field escaped. R. 
H. P. does not say whether the potatoes 
were sprayed to prevent the blight. Even 
though he did spray, if he did not begin 
early enough and spray frequently and 
thoroughly the same conditions would 
have been observed between the rank and 
thin vines. Of course it is possible that 
other causes helped to bring about the 
above results. The most valuable part of 
R. H. P.’s experience lies not In the kind 
and amount of fertilizer used, in the prep¬ 
aration of the soil, nor in the cultural 
methods, but in the fact that potato vines 
whjch lived 10 days to two weeks longer 
than their fellows, produced 50 bushels 
more per acre of potatoes. That is if by 
planting 10 days to two weeks earlier we 
can get our potatoes 10 days nearer ma¬ 
turity before the blight strikes, or if by 
thorough spraying we can keep the blight 
off two to three weeks longer, we are sav¬ 
ing from one-third to one-half our crop. 
L. A. s. 
These questions are hard ones to an¬ 
swer, but from my limited experience 
should say that the soil was in want of the 
particular fertilizer that the wood ashes 
contained. I am of the opinion that what 
this farmer called blight was not blight 
at all; I should say that the two acres 
that had the fertilizer on got a very quick 
start on account of this fertilizer, but as 
the season for the maturing of the crop 
drew near there was not enough of the 
elements that the crop required to carry 
it through. I never saw a piece of potatoes 
in this station that was struck with the 
blight but what it took the whole piece, 
regardless of the conditions of the soil 
in the different parts of the field, unless 
they had been sprayed. datus clark. 
Tompkins Co., N. Y. 
Our opinion would be that the use of 
whole seed with a good fertilizer pro¬ 
duced a large growth of vines, and be¬ 
cause of this they blighted. It has been 
our experience that the use of large quan¬ 
tities of seed, or making the soil very 
rich with stable manure or commercial 
fertilizer (especially that containing any 
nitrogen) made a large growth of vines, 
or located behind some piece of timber 
where the air did not circulate well, or 
any condition that would help keep the 
vines damp after a rain or heavy dew, is 
quite sure to produce blight in a season 
that is favorable for this disease. We 
find that with spraying we can nearly dou¬ 
ble the amount of seed and fertilizer on 
our soil with profit. We are using quite 
large quantities of fertilizer, but do not 
use any nitrogen, as we have found it to 
be unprofitable with us, but use all we can 
in an organic form in the soil in the way 
of a sod, and after growth with a light 
coat of manure, brainerd & beaumont. 
Wyoming Co., N. Y. 
I can see no reason why the potatoes 
fertilized with wood ashes should resist 
the blight more than those where the com¬ 
mercial fertilizer was used. A single in¬ 
stance of this kind, or a single experi¬ 
ment, proves nothing, and without know¬ 
ing more of the case I could hardly ex¬ 
press an opinion. The spores of the fun¬ 
gus which cause the late blight of the 
potato are believed to winter on the tuber 
and not in the soil. The best fertilized 
and most vigorous appearing vines are 
often most seriously affected. Like a 
stroke of lightning, no one can foretell 
where it will strike. Thorough spraying 
with Bordeaux Mixture as a preventive 
measure before blight appears and at in¬ 
tervals during the growing season has 
proved so efficacious that no potato grow¬ 
er can afford to neglect it. F. e. gott. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
Poisoning Foxes. —Please say to Mr. Cos¬ 
grove he is using too much strychnine. Tell 
him to try about what he can take upon 
point of the small blarte of his pocket knife. 
That is ample for a skunk. It only requires 
a tiny bit. F. c. c. 
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