A Study of Meadow-Crop Diseases in New York 117 



Since it is not always easy for those who are only indirectly concerned 

 with meadow- crop diseases to distinguish the various maladies in the field, 

 a rather full discussion of symptoms is given for each. 



The names of meadow-crop pathogenes in many instances are sadly in 

 need of revision. A careful mycological study has been made of those 

 considered in this paper, in order to clarify this situation, but the correct 

 name for some of them still remains unsettled. 



Many observations and experiments upon the factors governing spore 

 germination have been made in connection with the work on several of the 

 pathogenes, which throws new light on this phase of their life history. 



It is a common assumption that the control of meadow-crop diseases 

 by the application of fungicides is impractical and visionary. Interestingly 

 enough, however, almost no one has tried heretofore to control these 

 diseases with fungicides to see whether the idea really is impractical. 

 Inasmuch as the majority of New York farmers of necessity must own a 

 machine for the application of fungicides to such crops as potatoes or fruit, 

 they should use that machine as much as possible in order to reduce over- 

 head expense. Since almost all, if not all, the farmers grow some hay 

 crop, usually timothy, clover, or alfalfa, they should find the control of 

 the disease of these crops profitable. It may be agrued that the machine 

 would destroy more of the crop than the increase from the applications of 

 fungicides, but it is a well-known fact, which the writer verified during field 

 experimentation, that meadow crops possess a remarkable power of recovery 

 from being " trailed down " when they are young and growing vigorously. 

 This ability to recover diminishes as the plants grow older. Wherever 

 field tests with dusts demonstrate the feasibility of control by judicious 

 applications early in the season, injury from driving through the crop will 

 be of little importance. 



Dusts only have been considered during the course of these investigations 

 because of practical difficulties in the application of liquid sprays. The 

 advantages' of dusting that are of peculiar importance in this connection 

 are: (1) the smaller weight to be transported; (2) the greater speed with 

 which the operation is accomplished ; (3) the lightness of the dust enabling 

 it to filter down through the thick mat of leaves, giving better coverage; 

 and (4) the less time and labor required. Of course, copper-lime dust 

 must be applied when the leaves are wet, but, since the growth of meadow 

 crops is more dense than most others, the leaves remain wet longer. Sulfur 

 dust has been tested more intensively in this work than has copper- lime 

 dust because of its greater adaptability for field work. 



A grand summary of all tests made with fungicides appears in table 34. 

 Since there are two tests in each experiment, the number of separate 

 experiments for any particular treatment is just half the number of tests. 

 An odd number of tests indicates that one duplicate was lost. 



Other points of a more general nature concerning the fungicide tests 



