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Show I POTATO CROP Si JO BE 1 SB Eugene H. Grubb, Expert, Re-, Re-, gards the Situation as Ex-tremely Ex-tremely Grave. H SCIENTISTS ARE ALERT Group of Learned Men to B j Tour Country to Study Situation. Tho potato crop of I bo Ihrttcd States is i i danger. Tho great sfiiple vege j table th;it. can now be found in prac-j prac-j lically every home in the world, is doomed to destruction, A disease that j ) l:rs been lurking unseen I'or years lias i been discovered by scientists, who as- sort that unless its spread is stopped at once the potato will soon cease to be roiniiion, will bo a rare luxury for u HT brief time, and then disappear from the face of the earth. Descendants of this feneration will speak of the potato hh an extinct tuber, which flourished for a ears and then dwindled away, r he vic-jl vic-jl tim of a. disease with which science was unable to eopc. Um ! But scientists are determined that i such shall not be the storey of their do-( do-( scendnnts. Thoy will not see the great ft food suppl.y mainstay of this and other . nations swept away. For a time thoy j will lay asuic their individual hobbies j and join their forces in an 'effort to f fwid a remedy for tho sick vegetable. kW i1 They do not bolittlo the danger, but they are prepared to meet it ana will 1 demonstrate to tho skeptical world that the most common vegetable is not to be overlooked in scientific circles. j Potato Expert Talks. According to Eugene 1L Grubb, po-J po-J tato expert for tho Union Pacific and ij Oregon Short Lino railroads, who is re- fl 1 garded as nuthoritj- on the actual rais- ing of potatoes, tho situation is so sori- oiis that the entire crop is in danger. ) Unknown plant gorms, supposed to ( have been brought from some foreign Hj i country, have attacked the crop in all Hj sections. Utah, the greatest po'ito I state in tho country, has had to import -i 50 per cent of her seed potatoes, so I heavy has been tho attack in tho west. i That tho diseases are spreading rap- 1 id' is shown from the fact that tho : dreaded "leaf roll" which has caused 4 such heavj losses in Colorado and west- mmm j era. Nebraska, has now mado its ap- J pcaranco in Maine and Now York. Sev- 1 oral other diseases, entirely new to sc once, have made simultaneous attacks upon the potato plant in Europe and mmM j America. As first stops toward discovering a I cure for the ills with which the potato is suffering, some of the foremost sci-Hj sci-Hj '! entists of the world are to be gathered 1 from Germany, France, England and j America. They will go into the potato i fields of Maine, New York, Ohio. Mich- mM 1 igini. Wisconsin. Minnesota. Nebraska, Hj j Colorado, "Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Ore- : gon. Washington and California for j personal observation. H j Will Start From East. I The party will start from Bangor, mM j Me.. August 1, and will finish its work t in San Francisco aboilt October 1. No mM time will be wasted in trying to teach mM the farmers how to grow more or bet- tor potatoes, but the members of the : scientific party will study the nature of 1 the diseases that have attacked tho po-j po-j tato plant. Practieall.y all of the ar-i ar-i rangements have been made i'or the i trip. The itinerary is complete and .1 . the monc3r secured for the expenses, j Gorman and American scientists who 1 will head the party have already been I named, although " the English and French experts have not been selected, j While on its way the party will livo j in a train of eight ears which will bo ; placed at its disposal, without change, 1 from Bangor to San Francisco and back to New York. One car will be lit-ted lit-ted with a laboratory wifli the best microscopes and other scientific instru-ments instru-ments obtainable. Thero will be came-ras came-ras and experts to work them and the chemical laboratory will be as complete as is found) in, most modem universi- Itinerary in Detail. In detail, the itinerarv will include ' Aroostook county, Me., western New J York, Ohio, the potato district of Mich-ig'Hi. Mich-ig'Hi. points in southeastern' and north- central Wisconsin, St. Paul and points in northern and northwestern Minne Kota, Allianco and Mitchell in Nebras-lea, Nebras-lea, Greeley and other points in north-orn north-orn Colorado, eastern Wyoming, Salt , Lake City and other Utah points, Ida- ho Falls. Aberdeen and Jerome in Ida-3io, Ida-3io, southern Washington, Portland and the Rogue River valley in Oregon, , Stockton, the San Joaquin valley and 1 San Francisco in California. Travol-iug Travol-iug will be done at night as much as possible and stops of from one to four duys will be made in oach place vis- Among those who will be on the spe-rial spe-rial train arc Government Counselor Dr. 0. Appel of the Imperial Institute for Agriculture and Forestry of Bor-1 Bor-1 lin, the recognized leader of Europe in j this work; Dr. IT. W. Wollenwober, also ! pf Germany, who is the best authority in tho world on Fusarium diseases of plants; Prof. L. R. Jones, head of. plant 1 pathology, University of Wi-conBiu; E. I H. Grubb, the potato expert of Car-j Car-j Ijondale, Colo., who, is employed by the 1 Union Pacifci and the Or 0 gon Short j Line railroads, and some other oxpert ! to be choson later, will represent the j American bureau of plant industry. i Other Experts Included. 1 In addition to the regular members I of tho party, when it Is completo, will , bo experts of tho state universities of H..i the states visited, who it is expected will accompanj' the partj through their ; own states. Af tor the return, a Teport will be J mado to the United States government and the other governments represented j and to each state visited. The report will contain the result of the survey j made by the ecientistH and will treat oxhauatively of potato troubles j throughout tho country, ns well as those peculiar to each state. i The results pf the work scarcelv will l bo tabulatod in time to be of benefit j to the crop of 1913, but it is 'hoped i that such discoveries will be mado by 1 'J the scientists that in time all tho one-mics one-mics which at profient afflict the po-tato po-tato will be exterminated. The survey is financerTbv a coterie of Tailroads, which operato'in the po- tato statos. The roads joined in the movement aro the Union Pacific, New York Central, Great Northern, Northern North-ern Pacific, Burlington, Northwestern and South em Pacific, The aBsossment against the Union Pacific alone is $100,000. D. E. Burloy, trenoral passenger agent , for the Oregon Short Line, who is an enthusiast on tho question of potatoes, is boaTtily in favor of -the movement. He probably will accompany the special spe-cial train through Idaho and Utah nnd perhaps through Oregon and "Waahing-i "Waahing-i ton. |
