3 1 Director's Report of the 



self-sterile varieties in deciding what varieties may be mingled 

 with them to provide for cross-pollination. 



Ringing grapevines. — Conclusions drawn from results of ex- 

 periments are as follows: 



Vines should be vigorous and not be ringed too severely. 



A ringed vine cannot carry as large a crop of fruit to maturity 

 as an ungirdled vine. 



Vines grown on renewal system should have all arms ringed and 

 all fruit back of the ring should be removed. Fruit on unringed 

 arm is inferior, while fruit back of a girdle is worthless. 



With many varieties, when properly done, ringing does not 

 seriously injure the quality of the fruit. 



Not all varieties should be ringed. 



Too severe ringing will kill the vines. 



With some varieties and in some seasons girdling will hasten 

 time of ripening 8 or 10 days and in some cases increase size of 

 bunch and berry at least a half. 



DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY. 



Spraying experiments on cucumbers. — During the season of 

 1898 co-operative spraying experiments on late cucumbers were 

 conducted in four different localities on Long Island : Green Lawn, 

 one and one-half acres; Smithtown Branch, two acres; Deer Park, 

 two acres; and Mattituck, two acres. Owing to lack of fertility 

 in the soil, the experiment at Mattituck was a failure. At the 

 other three places the sprayed fields remained practically free 

 from the downy mildew or " blight " and gave an average yield 

 of 86,000 marketable cucumbers per acre, while unsprayed fields 

 in the same localities and under approximately parallel conditions 

 yielded on the average about 35,000 per acre. 



From the results of experiments made during the past three 

 seasons we are convinced that the spraying of late cucumbers on 

 Long Island is a highly profitable practice. 



