No. 4.] FUNGOUS DISEASES. 95 



vigor of sprayed vines is greater than that of adjacent vines 

 "which have received no treatment, all tlie other conditions 

 being the same for both. Whether this distinctly beneficial 

 action of the Bordeaux mixture is due to a decrease in the 

 rate of transpiration of water from the leaves, caused by the 

 presence of the copper salt, or whether the land plaster, into 

 which the lime of the mixture is in a great measure changed, 

 acts as a fertilizer, is a question which has not yet been 

 settled ; but the fact remains as not the least of the advantages 

 obtained by the use of Bordeaux mixture as a fungicide. 



This concludes the list of most generally useful liquid 

 fungicides. But one or two adapted to special purposes 

 should be mentioned. One of these consists of eight ounces 

 of formalin added to fifteen gallons of water, and is used as 

 a wash for seed potatoes, to disinfect them from the germs 

 of the scab fungus. Formalin is a powerful antiseptic, and 

 it bids fair to supersede the solution of corrosive sublimate 

 formerly recommended for the treatment of potatoes, as it is 

 equally efl'ective, and does not possess the extremely poison- 

 ous character of the sublimate. 



Wherever cereals are raised in large quantities, the so- 

 called Jensen hot-water treatment is becoming increasingly 

 popular. It consists in immersing the seed-grain for five to 

 ten minutes in water heated to 135° F. By this means the 

 smut of wheat, oats and barley may be practically prevented. 

 The pecuniary advantage derived from this simple process by 

 the large grain-growers of the West during the past decade is 

 incalculable. In Idaho alone, in 1893, one-fifth of the oat 

 crop, valued at $120,000, was destroyed by smut. Later 

 experience showed that fully 90 per cent of this loss might 

 have been prevented by the simple expedient of subjecting 

 the seed-oats to the action of hot water for a few minutes 

 before sowing. 



Among the many fungicides which are used as powders or 

 vapors, sulphur, or mixtures the basis of which is sulphur, 

 easily head the list. Even for out-door work, powdered 

 sulphur is often an invaluable fungicide, as, for example, in 

 treating the leaf-blight of celery, when no other fungicide 

 seems to be quite as etfective. Experience has taught us to 

 apply the sulphur to the plants on a dry day, in full sunshine, 



