426 Eeport of the Mycologist of the 



Spine. When the plants were well started they were thinned to 

 four in a hill. Throughout the whole season four of the eight 

 rows were kept well covered with Bordeaux mixture (l-to-8 

 formula) by frequent sprayings, while the other four rows were 

 noft sprayed at all. Spraying was commenced almost as soon as 

 the plants were out of the ground, in order^ if possible, to pre- 

 vent the ravages of the striped cucumber beetle, Diabrotica 

 vittata. For this reason Paris green was added to the Bordeaux 

 mixture used in the first three sprayings. The dates of spraying 

 were: May 28, June 1, 11, 22, July 2, 12, 16, 23, 30, August 7, 

 13, 20, 27, and September 7. In all^ the plants were sprayed 

 fourteen times and each time carefully so that the spraying was 

 of the most thorough kind. 



The weather was unfavorable for cucumbers, still they grew 

 fairly well. The first disease to make its appearance was a bac- 

 terial wilt disease which commenced its ravages about August 2, 

 and during the two weeks following killed perhaps 50 plants on 

 the unsprayed plat and only five or six on the sprayed plat. 

 On August 11 there were traces of anthracnose, Colletotrichum 

 lagenarium, on the unsprayed plat and from August 24 to the 

 end of the season this disease was very destructive on the un- 

 sprayed plat and also did some damage on the sprayed plat, 

 particularly toward the close of the season. The downy mildew 

 made its first appearance August 24 on the unsprayed plat where 

 it spread rapidly and did much damage, but it did not attack the 

 sprayed plat. ' 



A careful record was kept of the number and weight of the 

 fruits produced on the two plats. At each picking only those 

 fruits which were more than three inches long were gathered. 

 In other words, the fruits were allowed to aittain a considerable 

 size and most of them would pass in the market for " cucumbers " 

 as the large fruits are called to distinguish them from " pickles " 

 which are the small fruits used for pickling. The sprayed plat 

 yielded 3,263 fruits which weighed 1,159 pounds; while the un- 

 sprayed plat yielded 1,866 fruits, having a weight of 590 pounds. 

 Expressed in more familiar terms, the yield per acre on the 

 sprayed plat was at the rate of 71,100, weighing 25,265 pounds; 



