New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 155 



of the soil and the tubers show brown streaks in the flesh at the stem 

 end but do not rot. Stem bhght is not prevented by spraying. The 

 cause is unknown. 



Failure to get results in potato spraying is sometimes attributed to 

 the alleged imperfection of bordeaux mixture as a fungicide. Occa- 

 sionally such erroneous views get in print.-*^ To be sure, an easier 

 and more effective method of preventing the ravages of potato blight 

 is to be desired, but the urgent need at the present time is not for a 

 better fungicide. The real need is that farmers shall learn to use 

 bordeaux mixture properly.21 For spraying potatoes, at least, 

 bordeaux mixture is all right and it is a practical remedy for the 



^"Curtis, F. C. Give us a better fungicide. Rural New Yorker 62: 775. 

 Oct. 31, 1903. This article was ably answered on page 818 of a later issue 

 of the same paper. 



"Notwithstanding all that has been said and written about the prepara- 

 tion and use of bordeaux mixture there is still extant a vast amount of 

 'ignorance concerning it. The truth of this is shown by the following letter 

 received at the Station during the past season : — 



, N. Y., June 29, 1903. 



" W. H. Jordan, 



" Geneva, N. Y. : 



" Dear Sir : — If all farmers have the same trouble with bordeaux mixture 

 I have I don't blame them for being reluctant about its use. 



" Last Friday I had the nicest potatoes in my garden of any I have seen. 

 Today they look as though I had sprinkled them with a pail of water and 

 a pound of paris green. 



" Friday morning I sprinkled them with a flower sprinkler, as a sprayer 

 was not at hand, with bordeaux mixture which I have made as follows : In 

 an old milk can I placed 15 gallons of water. In a cloth flour sack I placed 

 4 lbs. of quick lime and then put 6 lbs. of blue vitriol on top of that. Then 

 I placed the sack in the water and left it about a week, shaking and stir- 

 ring when I came near it. The solution looks like the ink I am writing with 

 or soot water. 



" For every quart of solution I used two quarts of water when I sprinkled. 

 The vines seem to be burnt as if I had used an over-dose of paris green. 



"Any information as to where I made a mistake will be sincerely received. 



" Very respectfully yours, 



The only comment we care to make is, that people who will not follow 

 directions have only themselves to blame if they get into trouble. 



