112 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



2-3 EDWARD VII., A. 1903 



The first indication of the disease is a wilting and turning yellow of parts of the 

 outer leaves and finally of whole leaves. The disease rapidly spreads to other parts 

 until the whole head is afiected and becomes an unsightly mass of rotting leaves. Some- 

 times the stem is so badly affected that the leaves wither, even though not all diseased. 

 When the ovitside leaves are destroyed the head bursts and becomes useless. The germs 

 of the disease usually enter from the margin of the leaves through the pores which exude 

 the drops of water so familiar to the cabbage. The germs lodge in these drops and 

 from them enter the leaf pores and gradually spread through the leaf. It is thought 

 that insects also carry the disease. The germs remain over winter in the decaying vege- 

 tables and in the spring infect the new plants. The germs are also spread by manure 

 from stock which have been fed with infected plants. 



The only known remedy for the disease is prevention. Cabbages should not be 

 planted on land where the disease has been the year before. 



The diseased leaves and plants should be taken away and burned as soon as noticed 

 and on no account should they be fed. All cruciferous weeds such as wild mustard 

 should be destroyed. Sow seed in new soil every year. 



Owing to the serious damage done to cabbage by this disease, its spread should be 

 prevented if possible. 



The late varieties which have been least afiected during the past four years have 

 been the Late Flat Dutch types, such as Premium Flat Dutch, Bloomsdale Large Late 

 Flat Dutch, All Seasons, Henderson's Selected Late Flat Dutch and Large Late Flat 

 Dutch. 



More information regarding this disease can be obtained from Bulletin, No. 65, 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, Wisconsin ; Bulletin No. 66 Vermont ; and Farmers' 

 Bulletin No. 68, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., U.S. 



VEGETABLES. 



Experiments in testing the different varieties of nearly all the kinds of vegetables 

 and experiments in different methods of culture were continued this year. Owing to the 

 cold spring and late frost, the melons failed and the cucumbers were poor but nearly 

 everything else did well. For the past three yeai-s selections have been made of beans 

 and pease with a view to originating earlier and more productive strains and in the 

 case of beans a marked difference in time of being ready for use is already noticed. 

 The expex'iments with potatoes have been the most varied, as the potato is such an 

 important vegetable. For the past four years a ' List of Best Vegetables for Farmers ' 

 has been given, but this is omitted this year owing to the lack of space and also for the 

 reason that no changes of any importance are necessary. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH POTATOES. 



The yields of the varieties of potatoes in the uniform test plots wei'e very good this 

 year. The largest crop was from the Peachblow, an old variety, which yielded at the 

 rate of 772 bushels 12 pounds per acre, being the highest yiela of potatoes ever recorded 

 at the Central Experimental Farm. The fine ci'op this year was due principally to good 

 seed, thorough cultivation and thorough spraying with Bordeaux mixture to prevent 

 blight and rot and Paris green to kill the potato beetl A good growing season also 

 favoured the development of the tubers. Fariy planted potatoes were injured by spring 

 frosts which injured the vines and weakened the plants. 



There were 131 varieties tested in uniform plots this year. The difference between 

 the highest and lowest yields was 618 bushels 12 pounds per acre which shows the value 

 of planting the most proauctive kinds. The loss from planting inferior varieties must 

 be enormous every year. The average yield per acre from all the varieties tested was 

 429 bushels per acre. 



