68 Report of the Botanist of the 



Owing to late planting and lack of fertility the crop at Mattituck 

 was a failure. At the other three places the yields of the sprayed 

 fields over unsprayed fields in the same localities were as follows : 

 At Greenlawn, 80,917 per acre; at Deer Park, 40,675; and at 

 Smithtown Branch, 43,226. At Greenlawn the total yield of 

 merchantable pickles per acre was 120,917. 



The cost of spraying per acre for each application was as fol- 

 lows: At Greenlawn, $3.39; Deer Park, $2.76; Mattituck, $3.20; 

 and Smithtown Branch, $2.43. 



The value per acre of the increased yield above the. cost of 

 spraying was as follows: At Greenlawn, $73.74; Deer Park, 

 $22.51; Smithtown Branch, $37.00. 



The crop on these three experiment fields was profitable ; that is, 

 after deducting the total cost of growing, gathering and spraying 

 from the value of the crop there was left, in each case, a net profit.. 

 At Greenlawn the net profit was $67.13 per acre; at Deer Park, 

 $13.35 per acre; and at Smithtown Branch, $6.74 per acre. 



At $1.25 per thousand, pickles can probably be profitably 

 grown on Long Island if spraying is practiced and the crop given 

 proper care. 



In practice, the cost of spraying can be made considerably 

 smaller than it was in these experiments — it can probably be re- 

 duced one-half. 



According to our estimate, the average yield of unsprayed fields 

 of late cucumbers on Long Island in 1898 did not exceed 34,000 

 per acre. 



On Long Island, cucumbers should be sprayed as follows: Com- 

 mencing some time between July 15 and August 1, spray thor- 

 oughly with Bordeaux mixture (l-to-8 formula) once every eight 

 or ten days until frost. 



INTRODUCTION. 



During the past six or seven years late cucumbers in south- 

 eastern New York have suffered severely from disease. On Long 

 Island and in Westchester County where cucumbers are grown 

 extensively for pickling the losses from " blight " have been so 



