188 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Will spraying with Bordeaux mixture prevent rust of straioherry foliage ? 



Mr. Merry: Two years ago this summer I bad a strawberry patcb tbat 

 commenced to rust; and, being told tbat Bordeaux mixture was a pre- 

 ventive of rust, I began applying it. My barrel gave out before I got 

 all over the piece; perhaps I had eighteen rows left, and I promised 

 myself that in the morning I would go back. I failed to do so. In a few 

 days I noticed that the portion of the patch which I had sprayed was 

 rusting badly. The jjickers said that on the part which had not been 

 spraj'ed the berries were better. 



Mr. A'anDeman: Was it all the same variety? 



A. Yes, the whole j^atch was alike, and had the same treatment. You 

 could see the difference as far as you could see the patch. 



Mr. Morrill: I never had any experience in that line, though I have 

 heard many people speak of it and say they couldn't control it. 



Mr. VanDeman: It occurs to me that, as the gentleman has said, it 

 might be that his spraying injurecg the foliage, and that the injury to the 

 foliage would cause a corresponding injury to the fruit. It might be, too, 

 that the germs of the rust were already working more vigorously on that 

 part which he happened to spray than the other part. It might be owing 

 to some other conditions. Perhaps it was just luck. If I had to guess at 

 it, however, I should attribute it to something in the mixture which 

 injured the foliage. 



Mr. Merry: This was rust. There was no injury to the foliage. The 

 rust spots appeared. You could see them anywhere, and there was no 

 dift'erence in the patch. It was rust, no burning about it. 



Mr. VanDeman: Had the rust begun before you sprayed? A. Yes, sir. 



Mr. VanDeman: Well, then, the mischief was mostly done. That 

 brings out one idea that everyone would do well to consider; that copper 

 sulphate used in spraying is not a cure for many of these things, but is a 

 preventive, and when used after the damage begins to show is almost 

 absolutely useless. It may prevent sjjreading, but it will not cure most of 

 these troubles after they have once gotten a start. 



Mr. Morrill : This brings to my mind what Lawrence Farmer said at 

 Eochester. He has a plan of growing strawberries in a country in 

 which rust is troublesome. He beds the plants in thin rows, for a month 

 or two before setting, in the fall, and one of the greatest advantages of 

 this is the ability to spray them three or four times with Bordeaux 

 mixture before he sets them in the field. He takes them up and heels 

 them in, sprays them two or three times, and then sets them out, early 

 in June. Now, that would be a peculiar statement to our strawberry- 

 growers, but he is said to be one of the most successful growers there is. 

 But that is one of the strong points he makes. He does not have to go 

 over the whole field, but he has the plants right there where he can get 

 at them with the spray. Like Prof. Wheeler, one must confess to being 

 unable to tell why certain methods do not always succeed, or why 

 others do. I can not tell you the reason, I only know^ the facts. That is 

 true in many of these instances. No man can tell us why these things 

 are so, but we know- a thing can be done, because we know it has been 

 done. You may fail doing it, and perhaps we can't tell you why. 



