828 
REPORT ON THE EXPERIMENTS WITH 
BOUILLIE BORDELAISE. 
The expei'iments undertaken at the request of the Board of 
Agriculture, by the Royal Agricultural Society, for the purpose 
of determining the efficacy of BouiUie Bordelaise for the prevention 
or cure of the potato disease, have been carried out in six localities, 
selected so as to represent the different conditions under which the 
potato is cultivated in England. Three were chosen in the West — 
one being on the farm of Mr. H. Hine at Poniphlett, Plymstock, 
Devonshire, another on the farm of Mr. W. Marsh at Pen-y-bedd, 
Carmartlien, and the third on the farm of Mr. Smith at Ludlow, 
Knutsfoi'd, Chcsliiio ; two were chosen in the East of England — 
one on the farm of Mr. Blagden at Epworth, in tiie north of 
Lincolnsliire, and the otlier on tlie farm of ]\lr. H. L. Cobb at 
Milton, Sitlingbourne, Kent ; and the remaining locality was on the 
farm of Messrs. Maiden, at Cardington, P>edfordshire. To the 
gentlemen named the Society are indebted for their efficient aid in 
carrying out the experiments, often at some inconvenience. 
The assistance of Mr. Edmond Ililey of The AVeir, Hessle, Hull, 
was secured to take charge of the practical carrying out of the 
experiments. Under the direction of Mr. Whitehead and Dr. 
Voelcker, Mr. Riley saw to the preparation of the mixture em- 
ployed, and to its proper application to the various crops, and in 
his visits to the localities he observed the progress of the experiments. 
The following report is largely based upon Mr. Riley's statements 
and letters. When tiie disease was supposed to have appeared at 
any of the stations, specimens of the affected plants were forwarded 
to the Consulting Botanist, and the presence of the parasitic fungus 
was determined by him or by his son, Mr. J. B. Carruthers. 
The experimental plots were portions of large potato fields 
which had been already planted. The varieties to be operated upon 
were not selected by the Society, but the particular variety planted 
by the farmer for his ordinary crop was made the subject of ex- 
periment. 
Tiie Bouillie Bordeluitic used consisted of 201b. of sulpLate of 
copper, 10 lb. of unslaked lime, and 100 gallons of water. The 
sulphate of copper was put in a bag, whicii was suspended over 
night in water until the sulphate was completely dissolved. The lime 
freshly slaked with water and kept till it was cooled was poured 
into the blue-stone solution through a sieve, which cauglit any 
stones, liard lumps, kc. The liquid was kept continually stirred as 
the lime was being added. 
Mr. Ililey warns purchasers of sulphate of copper against a 
spurious mixture supplied from Scotland, wliicli on analysis was 
found to be half sulphate of iron. The bright blue of tlie sulphate 
of copper (blue-stone) enables one easily to distinguisli it from the 
