Potato Culture in Colorado 
31 
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 Rhizoctonia disease should 
be used, that is, the potatoes, before cut, should be dipped into a 
solution 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 50 gallons. The barrel should 
contain about 30 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. Precautions 
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 be¬ 
comes infested. If the disease is in the soil, the treatment of the 
seed potatoes cannot be eflfective against it. Clean land, as well 
as clean seed, is essential for the nroduction of clean tubers. 
Dry Rot —Dry rot is caused by one of the fusarium organisms 
and is essentially a disease of the cellar or storage. It has been 
particularly bad in the western valleys where it has caused serious 
losses to the growers. The dry rot should not be confused with 
the fusarium wilt disease, common in the field where it attacks 
growing plant and tubers. As a rule, the dry rot disease does 
not attack perfectly sound tubers, but tubers which have become 
bruised or cut in harvesting, or in handling. The disease is favored 
with high temperature and high moisture contents of the cellar 
or storage, and spreads rapidly from tuber to tuber under these 
conditions. 
Last season a large percentage of the crop was stored under 
unfavorable conditions, and the tubers in many instances immature 
and the skin peeled easily in handling. The potatoes contained 
a relatively high percentage of water. Due to the heavy frosts, 
the potatoes were placed in storage rapidly, giving the tubers 
little or no chance to dry out, or cure, before being stored. The 
cellars were also utilized to the fullest capacit}^ and potatoes were 
piled h’gh in the bins. 
