148 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY REPoRT. 
in 1885, the average loss from rot on thirty-four plats of one- 
twentieth acre each was 65 per ct.488 The variety was White Star. 
Several other varieties rotted even worse, the loss being as high 
as 100 per ct. in some cases. (In this connection it should be 
stated that some varieties were found to be more susceptible to 
rot than others and that a vigorous growth of vines encourages 
rot.) 
The Station makes no claim to having had any important part in 
establishing the value of bordeaux mixture as a preventive of potato 
blight. Its chief service has been in showing what spraying will do 
for the potato crop in New York. Notwithstanding that losses 
from blight and rot are great and that experiments in Vermont'?? 
and other states have shown that the disease may be controlled by 
spraying, New York farmers have been slow to adopt the practice. 
of spraying potatoes. Moreover, the successful results of experi- 
ments made on the Station farm in 18911*! and 18921 and on 
Long Island farms in 1895143 and 1896'** failed to make much im- 
pression. As late as 1902 but few farmers in New York made a 
practice of spraying potatoes for blight. The argument advanced 
was that late blight is not destructive every season and, conse- 
quently, the spraying is done at a loss in some seasons, because it 
must be commenced before it is known whether or not blight will 
appear. For this reason it was quite generally doubted that the 
spraying of potatoes is profitable one year with another. Of course 
the weak point in this argument is the fact that spraying is of 
value not only for late blight but also for the control of other pests 
such as early blight, flea beetles and bugs, one or more of which is 
almost always present. 
Finally, it became evident to the Station authorities that New 
York potato growers would never adopt spraying until it could be 
shown by a long series of reliable experiments that it is profitable 
one year with another on the average. Accordingly, in 1902, a 
ten-year series of experiments was begun on the Station grounds. 
*58 Rpt. 4:65 (1885). 
*° Rpt. 4:230-244 (1885). 
* At the Vermont Experiment Station the average gain from spraying 
potatoes during 16 consecutive years has been 114 bu. per acre. ((Vt. Sta. 
Rpt. 19:267. 1907). 
™ Bul. 41:44-46 (1892); same in Rept. 10:485-487. 
™ Bul. 49:13-16 (1893); same in Rpt. 11:696—699. 
*8 Bul. 101:73-78 (1896) ; same in Rpt. 15:498—504. 
™ Bul. 123 (1897); same in Rpt. 16:376—400. 
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