Potash-Bordeaux with Cosmos.

The cosmos plants sprayed with potash-bordeaux were to all appearances as thoroughly infested by the stem blight as were the untreated plants.

Potash-Bordeaux with Sunflowers,

A portion of a row of sunflowers was sprayed seven times the present season with potash-bordeaux. From a careful comparison made near the end of the season, it was estimated that there was only about one-eighth as many rust pustules upon the leaves of the sprayed plants as upon those of the checks. The results obtained from the use of potash-bordeaux were slightly better than those which followed from the use of Bordeaux. Like Bordeaux, potash-bordeaux had no appreciable effect upon the sunflower stem blight.

Potash-Bordeaux with Hollyhocks.

As a preventive of hollyhock leaf blight, potash-bordeaux proved as effective as did Bordeaux. The leaves of adjacent unsprayed hollyhocks were considerably blighted.

Potash-Bordeaux with Cercis.

The four cercis trees sprayed with potash-bordeaux remained uninfested by leaf blight throughout the season. The unsprayed were slightly blighted.

Potash-Bordeaux with Peonies and Gladiolus.

Since the unsprayed pæɔnies and gladiolus were not attacked by disease the present season, no results were obtained from the use of potash-bordeaux.

EXPERIMENTS WITH AMMONIA-BORDEAUX.

A fourth fungicide, termed ammonia-bordeaux, was given a comparative trial with the three already considered. It was made up in the following proportions:

Copper sulphate.........

Ammonia......

Water..

5 pounds.

5 pints.

50 gallons.

The formula for ammonia-bordeaux, as above stated, differs from that for the fungicide known as Eau Celeste, in that the former calls for one-third less ammonia than the latter.*

In the ammonia-bordeaux it was desired to add only sufficient ammonia to produce an alkaline reaction. In preparing a given quantity of ammonia-bordeaux, the alkali should be diluted as recommended in case of lime, soda and potash. For example, if ten gallons of the mixture are to be prepared, the one pint of ammonia should be diluted to five gallons and thoroughly stirred into the copper sulphate solution.

As prepared at first, the mixture contained ammonia in excess of the quantity called for in the above formula, and as a consequence the foliage was greatly injured by burning. Later, the proportion of ammonia used was barely sufficient to produce an alkaline reaction, and the injury from burning was greatly diminished, but the foliage was still noticeably injured. The number of crops treated with ammonia-bordeaux was not so great as in case of the other three fungicides, but a sufficient number were treated, however, to give the mixture a fair trial.

On account of its caustic action upon the foliage, the use of ammonia-bordeaux can scarcely be recommended, although as a fungicide it was perhaps equal to any of the other three employed.

Ammonia-Bordeaux with Beets.

The ammonia-bordeaux was employed the present season as a preventive of beet}leaf blight. In all, twelve applications of the mixture were made. The untreated beet plots were badly blighted, but the plot sprayed with the ammonia-bordeaux was comparatively uninfested. The fungicide, as used for the first three or four applications, was found to contain a larger percentage of ammonia than was necessary, the result being that the beet foliage so treated was severely burned. After reducing the proportion of the alkali, the degree of burning was materially lessened, but the objectionable feature was not wholly removed. As a result the yield of roots from that portion of the field so treated was but little more than half as great as in adjacent plots treated with other fungicides. Compared with its check

*Instead of Eau Celeste, a less caustic mixture, known as Modified Eau Celeste, is sometimes used, in which the carbonate of soda in addition to ammonia is employed.

plot there is seen to be a difference in the weight of roots produced of 16.1 per cent. in favor of the check. In weight of foliage, however, that of the sprayed plot was greater by 21.9 per cent.

Ammonia-bordeaux with Potatoes.

The six applications of ammonia-bordeaux to the foliage of one plot of Early Rose potatoes were void of any practical results since little or no blight appeared upon the crop considered. The foliage was badly injured by the fungicide and the weight of tubers produced in the plot so treated was much lower than elsewhere.

Ammonia-bordeaux with Sweet Potatoes.

A portion of a belt of sweet potatoes was sprayed eight times the present season with ammonia-bordeaux. At the time the spraying of this crop was begun the percentage of ammonia used was considerably lower than was that employed in the earlier application elsewhere, so that no such destructive results followed as in case of the round potatoes. The percentage of leaf mildew (Cystopus Ipomœœpandurance Farl.) was noticeably less upon the vines sprayed with ammonia-bordeaux than upon those of the unsprayed.

Ammonia-bordeaux with Cosmos.

The degree of stem blight upon the two cosmos plants sprayed with ammonia-bordeaux was no less apparently than upon the untreated ones. Other spraying mixtures employed upon adjacent plants of the same sort gave equally unsatisfactory results. The foliage of the cosmos plants treated with ammonia-bordeaux was somewhat injured by burning.

EXPERIMENTS WITH CUPRAM.

The formula recommended for the preparation of cupram is as follows:

Copper carbonate........

Ammonia......

Water........

5 ounces.

3 quarts. 60 gallons.

If enough water is first added to the carbonate to form a thin paste, it will be found to dissolve more readily upon the addition of the ammonia. After dissolving, dilute the solution with water to the desired strength. Cupram is a fungicide that is used by many, in preference to Bordeaux, on account of its being somewhat more easily prepared and less conspicuous upon the foliage. As a preventive of plant diseases, Bordeaux is considered somewhat superior to cupram, and was therefore selected in the experiments of 1895 and 1896 as the standard with which to compare trial fungicides.

TURNIPS AND CABBAGES.-The soil of one belt in the turnip series was treated in 1894 with cupram at the rate of 3,420 gallons per acre, for the purpose of destroying, if possible, the club-root fungus. The turnip plants were materially injured by the application, but the prevalence of the root disease seemed unaffected. The application of cupram in 1894 to the soil of one belt in the cabbage series, at the rate of 3,120 gallons per acre, was followed by like negative results.

POTATOES.-The belt in the cabbage series, treated in 1894 with cupram, at the rate of 3,120 gallons per acre, was planted to potatoes in 1895. Twenty per cent. of the potatoes from this belt were free from scab, whereas all the potatoes in the remaining belts of the same plot were badly scabbed. In the spring of 1896 a second application of cupram, at the rate of 4,320 gallons per acre, was made to the same belt, previous to its being planted to a second crop of potatoes. All the tubers harvested from this belt were scabbed, and to about the same degree as those in the check belt.

BEANS.-In the first and second bean crop of 1894, three belts were sprayed with cupram of double the strength called for in the above formula, and with full and half-strength solutions of the same fungicide. The percentage of blight was much reduced in the belts sprayed with the two stronger solutions, but the plants receiving the quarter-strength application were almost as badly infested as those of the check belts.

TOMATOES.-Six belts in the tomato series were sprayed with cupram in 1894, but as the crop was almost uninfested by leaf blight or fruit decays, no opportunity offered for testing the fungicidal merits of this solution.

CELERY.-In 1895 four belt rows were sprayed five times with cupram, at intervals of ten days. The amount of leaf blight at time of harvesting was about 3.5 per cent. less in the sprayed area than in the check, and the product by weight was greater than in the check by seventeen pounds. The amount of blight in the plants sprayed with cupram was about 3 per cent. higher than in those sprayed with Bordeaux.

BEETS.-The proposed sprayings of beets with cupram in 1894 were abandoned, owing to the fact that even a half-strength solution of the fungicide severely burned the beet foliage.

CARROTS.-Double, half and quarter-strength solutions of cupram were applied to carrots in 1894. The percentage of leaf blight was light throughout the crop, but was noticeably less in the rows sprayed with the double and full-strength solutions. Half-strength was ineffective.

EXPERIMENTS WITH LIME.

TURNIPS.-Lime was applied in 1894 to three belts of the turnip series, 300, 150, and 75 bushels per acre, respectively. The results of the three years since these applications all show the excellent effect of lime as a remedy for the club-root. The reader may well consult the tables, under the head of " Experiments with Turnips," for a full statement of the effect of lime. After thorough tests for three years, it is evident that lime is not only a good remedy for the club-root, but also its effect lasts in large measure for three years.

SWEET POTATOES.-The Cinnaminson field, where lime in various quantities was applied last year, has been continued in sweet potatoes the present season. The lime has had the effect of reducing the crop, and does not check the development of the soil rot. There is the same noticeable change of form of the roots from the ordinary shape to that of turnips. In short, lime does not agree with sweet potatoes, and cannot be recommended as a remedy for the soil rot.

EXPERIMENTS WITH CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE.

In the field experiments of this Department, corrosive sublimate has been used during the past three seasons, both as a liquid and in its usual powdered form. For soaking potatoes to destroy the scab