REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 93 



to Utilize the natural deposits of shell mud and marl or limestone, in Prince 

 Edward Island and Nova Scotia respectively, in checking the disease, 

 instead of burnt lime which is hardly economical. Very encouraging 

 results have been obtained particularly when these substances were used 

 in large quantities and applied at least six months, and preferably longer, 

 before the turnips were sown. Good evidence has been accumulated to 

 show that the growing Club Root menace in the Maritime Provinces is 

 merely an indication that the original dressing of shells or marl which all 

 the land received once in the days of our grandfathers or fathers is in need 

 of being renewed. 



Nine field experiments were conducted on the Late Blight of Potatoes 

 in the year 1916, which on the whole gave results equally as striking as the 

 experiments carried out in 1915. An instructive example may be quoted 

 to show how the best effects of spraying are not always evident when the 

 potatoes are graded at digging time. A large plot of the variety Cummin's 

 Pride, part of which was sprayed and part unsprayed, gave 65 bushels more 

 per acre on the sprayed than on the unsprayed portion. This was pretty 

 good as far as it went, but when the whole crop was picked over about a 

 month later in the cellar the unsprayed lot had rotted to the further extent 

 of 66 bushels to the acre, whereas only 1| bushels of the sprayed crop had 

 rotted. When the crop was ready to sell off the difference in favour of 

 spraying in this experiment stood at 119 bushels of potatoes to the acre. 

 It was characteristic of the season of 1916 that a great part of the loss due 

 to blight occurred as a rot in storage. This was shown in some of the 

 experiments carried out by the laboratory in which the keeping qualities 

 of the crop were followed up, it being found that although there might be no 

 apparent increase in the field the benefits of spraying asserted themselves 

 later by preventing the frequently large amount of rot which appeared in 

 the unsprayed checks. 



A considerable amount of time during the winter is given up to exten- 

 sion work in making known to farmers the practical results obtained. 

 This takes up somewhat more than half the winter months, the remainder 

 being devoted to investigation and research in the laboratory. It is clear 

 in the present state of our knowledge that the greater proportion of time is 

 more economically spent in extension than in other branches. Great 

 interest is shown in the lectures which are in demand not only at the regular 

 short courses in Agriculture of the Provincial Departments of Agriculture, 

 but also on other occasions when they are specially asked for. Gratifying 

 results are already apparent in Prince Edward Island, where most of the 

 'lecturing has been done heretofore, in the extension of potato spraying 

 with Bordeaux mixture to ward off the late blight. A scheme is now 



