10 
Here a general retarding effect of the blue vitriol is visible, even 
when the application was made for the shortest time. The exceptions 
which appear are not sufficient to disturb the general result. There 
was also an enfeebling effect upon the young plants. On June 8 
there were in the lot from seed which were soaked in water for ten 
minutes G feeble plants, and in that treated with vitriol for the same 
time, 23; in the lot treated with water five hours, 12; in that with 
vitriol, 19 ; in the lot treated with water twenty-four hours, 4; in that 
with vitriol, 22 ; making a total from 300 seeds soaked in water of 22 
feeble plants, and from the same number soaked in blue vitriol, of G4. 
The next table shows the results of the same solution upon wheat, the 
dates and conditions being the same as above. 
III .—Blue vitriol upon wheat. 
Date. 
Ten minutes. 
Five hours. 
Twenty-four 
hours. 
W ater. 
Blue 
vitriol. 
Water. 
Blue 
vitriol. 
Water. 
Blue 
vitriol. 
June 5. 
77 
46 
60 
23 
45 
2 
G... 
81 
55 
77 
' 40 
82 
10 
7.. 
81 
58 
78 
42 
86 
16 
8.. 
82 
G2 
82 
43 
91 
23 
9. 
83 
74 
85 
45 
92 
29 
10. 
83 
79 
85 
45 
92 
34 
11. 
85 
80 
85 
48 
93 
37 
It will be noticed from the above table that the wheat germinated 
much more quickly than the corn, and that the injurious effect of the 
blue vitriol was somewhat greater. 
A more severe test was made with the same solution of blue vitriol 
(5 pounds to 10 gallons) upon the same sample of wheat by allowing 
about a pint of the seed to remain in the solution for thirty-nine hours, 
and the same amount in water for an equal length of time. At the end 
of that time the water was turned off, a part of the seeds of each lot 
kept damp by blotting paper, and the remainder planted. Nearly all 
the seeds which had been in water grew well, but none of those which 
had been in the solution of blue vitriol. 
The next trial was of a solution of copperas or green vitriol upon 
corn. Copperas is used as a fertilizer, as a fungicide, and as an insecti¬ 
cide. Griffeth in his treatise on manures (London, 1889) after treating 
extensively of its use as a fertilizer, mentions its value as a fungicide, 
and states (page 302) that all fungous diseases of wheat may be destroyed 
by a top dressing of 50 pounds of copperas per acre, or by soaking the 
seed in a 1 per cent, solution. 
In Bulletin 5 of the Iowa experiment station, on page 1G4, reference 
is made to the use of copperas as a remedy for cut-worms, the amount 
recommended being a little over 1 pound for a bushel of seed, with 
water sufficient to cover the grain. 
