New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 15 



About one hundred and fifty samples of beets were analyzed 

 and a general summary of the results is given in Bulletin 135, 

 showing that the average percentage of sugar in the beets was 

 15.3 per cent. The present indications are that this work will be 

 largely increased in 1898. 



Plant nutrition. — Investigations are in progress concerning the 

 plant-food needs of fruits and vegetables and the effect of certain 

 compounds in fertilizers upon the quality of fruits. 



The composition of cider and vinegar. — A study of the composi- 

 tion of cider and cider vinegar is now going on with a view to 

 discovering some means of distinguishing between real and arti- 

 ficial or adulterated cider vinegar. 



Department of Horticulture. 



Of the nine horticultural bulletins issued by the Station in 

 1897 five discuss plant diseases and the methods of treating them, 

 and one relates to apparatus used in treating insects and diseases 

 which are injurious to plants. It should not be inferred from 

 this that subjects relating to plant pathology occupy two-thirds 

 of the time of the horticultural staff, although it is true that 

 much attention is devoted to work of this kind. 



Plum leaf spot. — For several years questions pertaining to the 

 treatment of the leai spot of plum and cherry have been under 

 investigation. The work which Mr. Fairchild started in 1891 to 

 determine the best means of preventing injury to plum and 

 cherry nursery stock was followed until a satisfactory line of 

 treatment could be confidently recommended. Investigations 

 were then undertaken with the same disease in the orchard. A 

 repoTt of the progress of this work in 1895 was given in Bulletin 

 98 and the Annual Report for that year. The experiments were 

 continued in 1896 to determine whether the disease may be con- 

 trolled by two treatments with Bordeaux mixture, 1-to-ll for- 

 mula, and if so when these treatments should be made. The 

 results, as set forth in Bulletin 117^ show that two timely and 

 thorough treatments with this mixture may control the disease 

 on plums in some seasons, but three treatments generally give 



