484 Report of the Mycologist op the 



In consideration of the fact that potassium sulphide undergoes 

 a chemical change when exposed to the air for any considerable 

 length of time, a fresh package of this chemical was opened for 

 each application. 



The Bordeaux mixture used was made according to the for- 

 mula, six pounds of copper sulphate to forty-five gallons of water 

 with sufficient lime to neutralize the copper sulphate, as shown 

 by the potassium ferro-cyanide test. 



At each spraying care was taken to wet every plant as thor- 

 oughly as possible. It is somewhat difficult to make spraying 

 mixtures adhere to carnation foliage; particularly is this true of 

 those varieties which possess a considerable quantity of the so- 

 called " bloom." The variety Uncle John, however, has but little 

 " bloom " and holds spraying mixtures fairly well. 



The results of the spraying experiments are interesting and 

 instructive. While summing up results and drawing conclusions 

 we should constantly keep in mind the following and be governed 

 accordingly : 



First, This is but a single experiment, and a question of this 

 kind should never be considered settled by one experiment, no 

 matter how strong the evidence may appear. Next season's ex- 

 periments may give different results. 



Second, The test was a m<5st severe one. Of all the varieties 

 grown at the present time, Uncle John is probably the most 

 susceptible to rust. Moreover, the season of 1895 on Long Island 

 was an unusually favorable one for rust, and the experimental 

 plants were constantly exposed to infection from rusty plants in 

 a neighboring field. 



None of the solutions appeared to injure the plants or retard 

 their growth in the least. Both Bordeaux mixture and salt solu- 

 tion proved complete failures as preventives of rust, there being 

 no noticeable difference between treated and untreated plants; 

 all of the treated plants were rusty after twelve thorough appli- 

 cations. Copper sulphate solution and potassium sulphide solu- 

 tion were about equal in efficiency. Of plants sprayed with 

 these solutions less than 44 per cent, in each case were rusty 



