SWEDE DISEASE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 156, 13 June 1936, Page 3

SWEDE DISEASE.

Methods 01 Control Of Brown Leaf. ANNOUNCEMENT BY MINISTER. Press Association —Copyright. Masterton, June 12. The Hon. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agriculture, made an announcement today regarding the prevalence and methods of control of disease attacking swedes. He said the disease known as mottled heart, or brown leaf, had become .extremely troublesome during the past season. Much attention had been paid overseas to a similar disease and satisfactory control measures had been suggested. The fields division cf the Department of Agriculture followed up the overseas work by carrying out experiments in the Dominion, and although the results were not yet completed they wore sufficiently encouraging to permit him to make the statement (hat the treatment which had been put under itrial and ,\yhich had been found very satisfactory lip, the fields division consisted:of applying 101 b per acre of ordinary commercial borax to the land at the time of sowing. A deficiency of boron in the soil was apparently the cause of a number of diseases of crops, and it was of interest to the farmer to know that such a simple and cheap remedy was so effective in controlling the disease. In order to facilitate the application of such a small quantity of borax it was considered that the material could be mixed with fertiliser without loss of efficiency from i the treatment. ! Too "•.•eat a concentration of borax hould be avoided, however, if manure

was being sown in contact with seed, and where the crop was being sown by means of a ridger, which allowed the fertiliser to be sown both with and below the seed, the borax should be mixed with the fertiliser, being delivered not actually in contact with the seed to avoid germination injury. Where turnips wore sown under the usual methods there appeared no danger of suf h injury if not more than 4ib of borax vV'as 'muted with each hundredweight of fertiliser^:#