28 
Colorado Agricultural Collkck 
sack and kept suspended in the solution for from an hour and a 
half to two hours. This solution will penetrate the sclerotia and 
kill the spores, after which the seed can be planted with safety, so 
far as this disease is concerned. The potatoes treated cannot be 
used for feeding livestock, as the solution is exceedingly poisonous. 
The solution may be used three to four times, after which a new 
mixture should be made. 
% 
Potato Scab .—This well-known disease is common in every 
section of the State, and during some years does considerable dam¬ 
age to the crop. The disease is external, penetrating the tubers only 
to a very small extent. Its greatest damage is to the appearance and 
keeping quality. 
There is very little excuse for the existence of this disease, as 
it can easily be controlled by treating the seed potatoes. The same 
treatment as recommended for the Rhisoctonia disease should be 
used, that is, the potatoes, before cut, should be dipped into a solu¬ 
tion containing 4 ounces of corrosive sublimate to 30 gallons 
of water. The easiest way of treating* the seed is to make 
up the solution in a barrel holding about fifty gallons. The barrel 
should contain about thirty gallons of the solution and the potatoes 
placed in a gunny sack and suspended in the solution for an hour 
and a half, after which the seed may be cut and planted. Precau¬ 
tions should be taken not to feed the treated seed to livestock, as 
the poison is very deadly. 
Numerous complaints have been received that the scab has 
occurred in some fields in spite of treatment, and often when clean 
seed has been used. In such cases the presence of the scab fungus 
is undoubtedly due to the feeding of cattle on the field the season 
before planting. This disease propagates very readily on the 
manure dropped by the cattle, and in this way the land becomes 
infested. If the disease is in the soil, the treatment of the seed 
potatoes cannot be effective against it. Clean land, as well as clean 
seed, is essential for the production of clean tubers. 
CELLAR FUMIGATION 
One of the fertile sources of loss in potato storage is due to 
poor and disease-infested cellars. The cellar should be cleaned out 
and fumigated every spring after potatoes and other stored articles 
have been removed. 
. The best method of cellar fumigation is undoubtedly the for¬ 
malin permanganate method. The following formula is recom¬ 
mended : 
For every 1,000 cubic feet of cellar space, 3 pints of formalde¬ 
hyde and 23 ounces of potassium permanganate. The permanga- 
