The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1909. POTATO BLIGHT IN TASMANIA. SOME TIMELY PRECAUTIONS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 20 September 1909, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1909. POTATO BLIGHT IN TASMANIA. SOME TIMELY PRECAUTIONS.

d the Nelson grower, for the blight ras present in this district in eomefhat mild form, and there is no telling fhether it will return or not. The Hawkesbury authorities wrote:— Seeing that there is no actual cure or this trouble, though by judicious reatment great loss can usually be'presented — (l)Trv and prevent the fungus txom sstablishing itself by— (a) Taking special precautions as to the 'origin .of "seed tubers." Do not buy without knowing place ot origin, and a reasonable guarantee that it was free from the disease. (b) Plant no tubers that are diseased. It would be a good plan to make a rule to plant no uncut tubers ; the interior ib thus exposed and any '•browning" of the flesh should oonderan it at once. (c) Boil or burn all peelings, rotten and waste potatoes. (d.) Go in for saving some potato "apples" (fruits), and by use- of the seed try and raise new varieties of potatoes, and thus establish suitable seed tubers without buying them abroad. (2) In the ordinary course of cultivation with respect to potato crop, Took out for— „ . (a) First signs of thus disease ; spots on the leaves, followed by attacked parts, turning black, then by rapid rotting of the stem and leaves. All this may occur in 48 hfeurs or under. b) When the trouble in in the crops burn all decaying parts where possible, and all haulms, or rot them well in a manure heap ; they should not lie about. . , (c) Bordeaux mixture applied to the plants at. an early stage will prevent the trouble spreading, and is the best means for combatting it. Normal strength should be used. (d) Beep planting minimises the chances of tubers being reaehecj by the zoospofes. is) Thick-skinned red varieties are j less liable to attack than white-skm-ned. . , , (f) Nitrogenous manures render plants more susceptible to vjrulgjit attackPotash manures assist them to re- . jsist attack. () If it appears, change of ground is absolutely necessary. Tomatoes are liable U) attack, therefore should not be plahtetf on affected ground. (h) Bags, bins, etc., used for storage should be periodically disinfected.

NEW ZEALAND passed through her period of trouble with- the potato blight some years ago, and it has been Tasmania's turn recently. Owing to the near, ness ci the latter state to Australia, and the fact that tho federation caused , complications with regard to tho prohibition of importation, there has been much more of a scbto in Australia than when New Zealand .was affected. The disease has also made its appearance in yicloi'ia, Westralia, and in some of the northern pavU of New South Wales, al- . though in a mild iorrii. Sfl far as 'fasmania is concerned, the " groSvers will . have to "dree their weird," and pay for neglect in the past by drastic remedial measures, involving a good deal of eraflUistio:) and consequent destruction of large aieas of crop, and the lying fallow for years oi mauy jju£ djeds of acres of soil. • • • * c t There seems to bo some confusion with regard to the term. "Irish Blight" as applied indiscriminately to anything wrong with the potato. Mr L. D. Mullan, -of Hawkeßbury, New South Wales, who was in the potato trade in Londonderry, Ireland, writing to the "Sydney Daily Tejegraph," cays the terms used in Ireland for the potato diseases were "The Spotted "BliS»C ? ' '''BoiJed °T Frosty Blight," "flack Rof, 1 ' '.'•Whi^ ur fermenting Rot," "White Spotted Rot," "Yellmy Blight," "Skin Disease, 1 ' and a decay in the stpm or top.. -The first-menfioned disease, "Spbtied Blight,' which cpmes with spots on the leaf, is the jeasv destructive, and cases have been known where ft light crop has been obtained from beds whet? sue]} a disease attacked the tubers. But the most disastrous of all' is the "Boiled or Frosty Blight." When it comes, it means a potato failure. It makes its appearance at night, and the next morning it is gasily discovered at a distance of, say, forty J# fixty chains, by the rank 'odour in the air.* y?he lops are all soft and dark-coloured, and hays the appearance of having been dipped in hot water, '••'■# p .« • a "Black Rot" is very much in evidence in Ireland, and probably that is the disease, now termed "Irish Blight,'-' that is affecting Tasmanian potatoes, and which had to be grappled " with in New Zealand some time ago. It comes in the tuber in black veins and,. spots, and in a short time the tuber becomes all black ' and develops into a soft pulp. Potatoes so affected may be used for domestic purposes when the affection is only light. In many cases they are used in Ireland when they are half bad. "White or Fermented Rot" is a particularly bad form of the disease. The tuber becomes soft and fermented, and is not fit to be iised in any way. These four forms of blight are the worst. The next is "Yellow Blight," which is the only affection that is termed a blight in the tuber in Ireland. When a potato so affected is cut, it is found to bo y/eljojy in colour and soft, with a watery glots. Jj> }s not fit for' domestic use, but when boiled majr be used for pigs, etc. The white or brewa spotted d* 3 : ease is not often met with! The same may be said about the diseased stem, which comes from diseased seedlings. The fkin disease is an insect not visible to the jiE&ed eye, and may be described as something HJig the scab or scruff on potatoes experienced in Ise.w South Wales. • • • • • * According to the b*6t authorities, potato dispa^es must come sooner or later into soil where potatoes- are grown in the same land year after year, In fact, similar disaster will overtake any kind of crop planted in the one area for a few years, just as disease overtakes the unchanged, and; uncleaned pig pen or fowl yard. Mr MuJlan cays, jvith regard to his own practical expediences;: — "Potatoes, turnips, and cabbages will breed diseases, if not in the tuber, in the tops. Your colonial experimentalistsmay write erudite articles on spraying, pic, mbre especially those experts who aYe backed up by Govrnmental aid. This is very goed £« paper, but not on the land. There- 'a/a '"> Government experts in Ireland, and less Gevejnm^nt aid there than here. The remedy applied in that country is good seed, taken a dis. :anc«, planted in virgin soil, or. 'in soil ased for 'pastwal purposes, producing lew kinds of potatoes from the potato lpple, «tc. Commercial interests .are ,yell eared for in the Commonwealth, >ut 1 venture to say that if great 'pare is lot taken in this hot country with regard -to potato-growing, diseasee will >ecome a plaeue." At ths time when New Zealand poato cropß were suffering from disease — Hay, 1905 — the Hawkesbupy CtoJ^ge JJ.S.W.), issued some use£uJ_Jiiijts to powers, and they may prove of value lere too, for it is by no means certain hat New Zealand is as yet immune. In act, blight, in one form or" another, has iade its appearance with unpleasant egxrtarity {if Bpme districts, ever since i was first observed, and another more r less general outbreak as in IS§5 wpujd c most disastrous in view of the vfriial potato famine that is now prevailig in Australia owing to the conditions aling ia Tasmania. The' precautions iggested by the Hawkesbury College, ierefore, may be publisjjfd with benefit