THE POTATO APHIS.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6929, 31 January 1906, Page 3

THE POTATO APHIS.

♦ NOTHING TO FEAR FROM U'

Mr M. Murphy has carried out further experiments for the destruction of the potato ap'iis (says the Christchuroh Star), which is working havoc- now among t 'bers in many districts of the colony. The result of his experiments letdi him to believe that thore is very little to fear from the blight if treated in time. Mr Murphy has used kerosene emulsion, Little's dip, Bordeaux mixture and M'Dougall's insecticide. Ail are very effective, he says, if used in proper proportions, but the one most destructive to the blight is M'Dougall's insecticide, because it is so easily mixed, aud m >re suitable for fine sprays, the other mixtures tending to block the holes. For the potato disease, however, it is useless to mix in a less proportion than one pint and a half of insecticide to twelve gallons of water. One pint will only kill some of the aphides, but the larger proportion kills the wh de of them. If this dressing is used in the beginning with a proper nozz'e, it will, Mr Murphy says, Pork a complete cure. Ore pint t» two! re gallons, he thinks, would be sufficient for i ise spraying and the like. Mr Murphy pr.duc d several exhibits of blighted potato plants out of hisown garden which he had operated upon. One stalk dressed with the weaker solut : on, was fairly 'alive," but the other, which had been dipped into the pint aid a half mixture, was covered with dead insects. The aphis, Mr Murphy Bays, is quite as bad as the Irish blight, although there is nothing worse than that. Another potato scourge is the early blight (Macrosporium solani), in which the leaves curl although there is no insect.