46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



in the market would warrant ; and in that way we haven't 

 sprayed potatoes. I think perhaps I bought the first spray- 

 ing machine that was brought into the valley, principally, 

 though, for the purpose of controlling a celery plot rather 

 than a potato plot. I haven't used it on potatoes at all, but 

 have been able to put a fairly merchantable potato on the 

 market at an early date, and get my profits, and let the other 

 people do the spraying. We have this summer had consid- 

 erable trouble with celery blight, yet I haven't taken out 

 my spraying machine ; I haven't found yet that the addi- 

 tional expense warranted it. We raise sixteen to twenty 

 acres of celery, and we had a great deal of the blight in 

 August, but one or two pieces on new land escaped. The 

 growing of a good crop, it seems to me, depends on the 

 proper condition of the soil. It has been my aim, more 

 than any other small grower in the valley, I think, to change 

 the plots. We had one or two of the best pieces I have 

 ever seen in western Massachusetts, and as good a piece as 

 I ever saw, but that was on land that was heavily maniu-ed 

 for a number of years, and never had celery on it. There 

 was no appreciable blight on that piece. I looked at the 

 celery around Worcester late in the summer, and I also saw 

 some good pieces there, — I think perhaps they had less 

 blight than we in the Connecticut valley ; but our crop, 

 taking the immediate vicinity at large, was badly hurt 

 by the blight. I would like to ask the professor whether in 

 his experience there was any remedy for this troublesome 

 celery blight that comes in dry weather. 



Professor Joxes. It would be unwise for me to attempt 

 to advise a man of Mr. Smith's experience in celery grow- 

 ing. Practically no celery is grown in Vermont, and we 

 have carried on no experiments with it. Of course you are 

 familiar with the statements of those Avho have experimented, 

 that proper spraying will control celery blight ; and I have 

 seen this done, but on only a small scale, and under condi- 

 tions not comparable to jom's. I certainly approve of Mr. 

 Smith's general point, — that in growing any plant the first 

 aim should be to grow it under as nearly perfect soil and 

 cultural conditions as possible ; by so doing, a large proper- 



