New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 



419 



that the popular opimons of the people concerning agricultural 

 practice are usually based upon fact. Empiricism has often led 

 science. 



The experiment was made in cooperation with Messrs. White 

 and Rice, of Yorktown, N. Y., and much credit is due these gen- 

 tlemen for the painstaking manner in which they carried out the 

 details of the experiment. The land used for the experiment was 

 in a young plum orchard and was fairly, though not absolutely, 

 uniform. In 1896 it had grown potatoes which were so scabby 

 that a large part of the crop was unmerchantable. In October, 

 1896, the land was plowed and harrowed, and divided into six 

 plats, lying side by side, as shown in the accompanying dia- 

 grammatic table. On October 12, rye was sown on three alter- 

 nating plats, three other plats being left as checks. In spite of 

 the lateness of seeding, the rye made a good growth, being about 

 six inches high when plowed under, April 26, 1897. No fertilizer 

 was used on any of the plats. The plats were planted April 28. 

 Four rows were planted in each plat and exactly 175 pieces of 

 '•' seed " (cut to two eyes) in each row. The " seed " consisted of 

 slightly scabby tubers grown on the same land, and was of the 

 variety Carman No. 1. In each plat two of the four rows were 

 planted with tubers which had been soaked one and one-half 

 hours in corrosive sublimate solution, containing 2^ ounces of 

 corrosive sublimate in 15 gallons of water. The remaining two 

 rows in each plat were planted with untreated tubers. 



Yield of Sound and Scabby Potatoes on Rye Plats and Check Plats. 



Plata. 



I. 

 II. 



HE. 



IV. 

 V. 



VI. 



Manurins. 



Check 



Eve... 



Cheek. 



Eye... 



Check. 



Eye... 



Total check plats. 

 Total rye plats... 



Ko scab. 



Lba. 

 308 

 211 

 248 

 154 

 229 

 161 



Scabby bnt 

 merchantable. 



785 

 526 



Lbs. 

 263 

 162 

 216 

 198 

 182 

 212 



661 

 572 



Unmerfhant- 

 iible. 



Lbs. 

 236 

 321 

 319 

 248 

 134 

 224 



689 

 793 



Total. 



Lbs. 



807 

 694 

 783 

 600 

 545 

 597 



2,135 

 1,891 



