264 Report of Farmers' Institutes 



plot. Pods having even small anthracnose spots should be re- 

 jected. The amount of clean seed needed will depend upon the 

 size of the seed plot, to be sure, and this in turn depends upon 

 the acreage the farmer intends to plant to beans. The seed plot 

 should be of sufficient size to produce enough seed for planting 

 the main fields the following year. The shelled seed should be 

 carefully re-sorted and stored where it will not become mixed 

 with other seed. It should be planted in hills two feet apart and 

 in rows not closer than three and on&-half feet. The field should 

 be at least 80 rods (more is better) distant from any other bean 

 field or place where any beans are grown. The seed plot should 

 be sprayed several times during the season with bordeaux mix- 

 ture. This is especially necessary if a wet season prevails. !No 

 person should go into this plot or any bean field when the vines 

 are wet, nor should he ever go directly from another bean field 

 into the seed plot. Whenever anthracnose is observed on any 

 vines or pods in the seed plot they should be promptly removed to 

 a distance from the plot. At the time the vines are ready to 

 pull, especially desirable pods should be selected for the following 

 year's seed plot. The remainder should be thrashed with a flail, 

 or in some other way that will prevent a mixture with other bean 

 seed. 



This method, while apparently cumbersome, is in reality com- 

 paratively cheap and easy to carry out compared with results 

 secured. Failures are sometimes unavoidable, but with a reason- 

 able amount of thought and care very satisfactory results can be 

 secured. 



POTATO DISEASES 



Owing to the extreme severity of the attack of late blight the 

 past season this disease was unusually difficult to control by spray- 

 ing. In many cases fields very thoroughly sprayed blighted quite 

 badly. Nevertheless, we believe that spraying has generally 

 been profitable. At the Geneva Experiment Station rows sprayed 

 with lime-sulphur blighted as early and as severely as unsprayed 

 rows, and gave a smaller yield by about fourteen bushels per acre, 

 while rows sprayed with bordeaux remained green considerably 

 longer and outyielded the un'sprayed rows by about sixty-five 

 bushels per acre. Lime-sulphur is entirely worthless as a spray 

 for potatoes. 



