New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 375 



cussion of some of the cabbage insects, the reader is referred to 

 Bulletin No. 83 of this Station. 



Celery. 



Center Blight. — The soft rot of the centers of celery plants, 

 which results from attacks of bacteria, has not yet been successfully 

 treated by spraying. No further work has been done at this Station 

 in treating this trouble since that reported in Bulletin No. 51 and in 

 the Annual Report of this Station for 1802. The suggestions there 

 given are (1) to blanch with boards instead of earth during hot 

 weather; (2) to leave neither the rotted refuse fixtm stripping the 

 plants nor the diseased plants on the fields where celery is to be 

 grown ; and (3) to keep the plants in an active growing condition 

 from the time they are planted till marketed, by cultivation, fertil- 

 ization and spraying for leaf-blight. 



Leaf Spot Diseases. — These diseases are caused by fungi of 

 different kinds. The investigations above mentioned showed 

 clearly that plants may become infested in the seed bed before they 

 are transplanted. The experiments in treating the diseases were 

 not conclusive, but led to the suggestion that the seedlings be 

 treated with Bordeaux mixture, 1 to 1 1 formula, before transplant- 

 ing. The treatment should begin soon after the seeds germinate 

 and should be repeated often enough to protect the new foliage as 

 it develops. Treatment in the field as soon as the plants are trans- 

 planted, and afterwards at intervals of ten to fourteen days, is also 

 suggested. Directions for making the Bordeaux mixture are given 

 in article 4 on Fungicides and Insecticides. 



The investigations showed that celery sprayed this way was not 

 at all injured for market purposes, as much copper being found in 

 the unsprayed plants as in the sprayed plants after they were stripped 

 ready for market. The very slight amount of copper found in both 

 sprayed and unsprayed was sulficiently accounted for by the slight 

 amount of copper present in the soil. In any case it would be nec- 

 essary to eat a good many thousand heads of celery at one meal in 

 order to introduce a serious dose of copper into the system. 



In the investigations referred to above it was found that one of 

 the fungous diseases of celery not only spots the leaves but also 

 attacks the seeds. It is therefore recommended that seed showing 

 black specks over its surface be not sown without first submitting 



