EXPERIMENTAL WORK WITH CRANBERRIES. 45 



sible to say definitely what caused the falling off in the fruiting on the 

 sprayed areas, it seems highly probable that the Bordeaux mixture was 

 in some way injurious when used during the blooming period. This can 

 be determined only by further tests. 



The new disease, spoken of as the "blossom end rot" in last year's 

 report, was much in evidence, after picking, among the Howe berries of 

 the station bog again this year, most of the rot among those berries being 

 evidently due to it. During the month of October, samples of Howe 

 berries were collected from 54 different bogs, for the purpose of gaining 

 some knowledge concerning the distribution and severity of this disease 

 on different parts of the Cape, as such knowledge seemed not only desir- 

 able from the scientific standpoint but also more or less essential for prac- 

 tical purposes. The bogs from which these samples came were distrib- 

 uted as follows: Chatham, 2; Harwich, 4; Mashpee, 1; Falmouth, 1; 

 Nantucket, 1; Wareham, 16; Carver, 7; Marion, 2; Rochester, 2; Plym- 

 outh, 3; Middleborough, 2; Pembroke, 2; Hanson (including Bryant- 

 viUe and South Hanson), 11. 



The " blossom end rot " was found to be present in varying amount in all 

 the samples collected, and the examinations (made from December 11 to 

 December 15, inclusive) appeared to produce no certain evidence that 

 there is any very distinct sectional variation in the degree of its preva- 

 lence among the different portions of the Cape. The largest percentage 

 of loss found to have been certainly caused by this disease, at the time 

 of examination, in any of these collected samples, was roughly SVs per 

 cent., and the smallest loss found in any sample was rouglily 1% per cent. 

 Much of the rot present, however, which did not show the characteristics 

 of this disease definitely was probably, nevertheless, caused by it. 



Experiments with Copper Sulphate in the Flowage. 



In June, tests were begun looking for the control of fungous diseases 

 on cranbeny bogs by the application of copper sulphate in the flowage. 

 These tests were carried out on the flooding sections of the station bog. 

 The strengths of the copper sulphate tried were 1 part to 50,000 parts of 

 water (1 pound in 6,250 gallons) on sections 23 and 25 and 1 part to 

 100,000 parts of water (about 1 pound in 12,500 gallons) on section 27. 

 The copper sulphate was first dissolved in pails of water, and the solutions 

 were distributed as evenly as possible in the flowage of these sections by 

 throwing them into the flowage by the cupful. This treatment was 

 applied to these sections on June 3 and again on June 16. 



On section 23, each treatment was continued about twenty-three hours, 

 the chemical being applied to the flowage within an hour or two after the 

 section was completely flooded. As the whole bog was flooded at the same 

 time that the flooding sections were flowed for this treatment, the vines 

 were more or less wet for several hours before the copper sulphate was put 

 in the water. 



