6 TREATMENT OF DAMPING-OFF IN CONIFEROUS SEEDLINGS. 
The tests here outlined are being continued on a more extensive 
scale, and it is hoped that the present season’s work will give such 
results that there can be no doubt as to the conclusions to be drawn 
from them. 
PROCEDURE IN EXPERIMENTS. 
The plots used were located in seed beds 12 feet long and 4 feet 
wide, each bed being divided into three equal parts 4 feet square. 
The chemicals were used in fine powders or in solutions, according 
to their original form and nature. The solutions were applied with 
an ordinary sprinkling can, while the powders were sifted on the 
beds with a very simple form of duster having a perforated bottom, 
through which the powder was shaken. The solutions were applied 
to the soil before the seeds were sown, and then again about five days 
after the seedlings had come up. The powders were applied to the 
beds only after the seedlings had been up for three or ,four days. 
They were apphed in very hght coatings, which were renewed. 
promptly after each rain. This renewal is not necessary except for 
a period of about two weeks, beginning three or four days after ger- 
mination, when the seedlings are most susceptible to the attacks of 
the damping-off fungi. 
POWDERS USED. 
Sulphur.—Sulphur was obtained in three forms: Washed, resub- 
limed, and precipitated. Favorable results were given by all, but 
the first led the others slightly. It was noted, too, that a distinct 
odor of sulphur could be detected at least 8 inches above the surface 
of the plot treated with washed sulphur, while no perceptible odor 
could be detected over the other two at a greater distance above the 
surface than 1 or 2 inches. This difference was as marked several 
days after the sulphur had been apphed as it was immediately after 
the application was made. 
Diy Bordeaux mixture.—Dry Bordeaux mixture made according 
to Scott’s formula” was also tried, but the method of preparation 
is too tedious and time consuming to be of use in the case of a disease 
like damping-off unless the mixture is made up some time in advance. 
It is seldom practicable fcr the nurseryman to give the necessary 
time for its preparation, owing to the pressure of other duties at this 
period of the year. This powder was accordingly discarded for a 
copper sulphate and lime mixture which is easily and quickly made 
up as required and apparently should give as good results as the Bor- 
deaux preparation. 
Copper sulphate and lime—Powdered sulphate of copper was 
mixed with powdered lime, at the rate of 1 pound of the former to 

2@Waite, M. B. Fungicides. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers’ Bul- 
letin 243, pp. 11-12, 1906. - 
