NEW  YORK,  MAY  14,  1892. 
PRICE,  FIVE  CENTS. 
$2.00  PER  YEAR. 
VOL.  LI.  No  2207. 
Medicine  for  Plant  Diseases. 
On  this  page  are  shown  two  more  pictures  from 
Prof.  Maynard’s  excellent  bulletin  on  spraying.  Fig. 
150  shows  a  bunch  of  grapes  from  a  sprayed  and  one 
from  an  unsprayed  vine.  The  vines  were  sprayed 
April  23  with  the  Bordeaux  mixture — other  parts  of 
the  vineyard  being  sprayed  at  the  same  time  with 
sulphate  of  copper  and  sulphate  of  iron.  On  May  20 — 
just  before  the  blossoms  opened,  and  again  on  June 
13,  just  after  the  fruit  had  set, 
the  vines  were  again  sprayed  with 
the  Bordeaux  mixture  with  the 
addition  of  Paris-green — in  the 
proportion  of  one  pound  to 
200  gallons.  July  6  they  were 
sprayed  with  the  Bordeaux 
mixture  alone  and  on  August 
7  with  the  ammoniacal  car¬ 
bonate  of  copper.  If  the 
weather  had  been  moist,  the  last 
named  solution  would  have  been 
used  again  about  July  20.  As  for 
results,  Fig.  150,  shows  what 
effect  the  spraying  had  on  the 
fruit.  Fig.  151  shows  three  rows 
of  Delaware  grape  vines  in  a  vine¬ 
yard  at  Fitchburg,  Mass.  The 
middle  row  was  not  sprayed — 
while  the  other  two  were.  The 
sprayed  rows  retained  perfectly 
healthy  foliage  and  ripened  a 
good  crop  of  fruit,  while  the  un¬ 
sprayed  row  lost  nearly  all  its 
foliage  and  the  fruit  failed  to 
ripen  at  all.  About  May  1  these 
grape  vines  were  sprayed  with 
the  Bordeaux  mixture.  On  June 
17  and  25  they  were  sprayed  with 
the  ammoniacal  carbonate  of  cop¬ 
per  and  on  July  8  with  the  Bor¬ 
deaux  mixture.  This  picture 
gives  a  view  of  a  characteristic 
bit  of  New  England  scenery.  The 
experiments  with  the  Delaware 
grapes  were  conducted  by  Mr.  G. 
B.  Andrews.  On  some  of  his 
vines,  even  where  he  used  the 
fungicides,  black  rot  was  very 
prevalent.  Prof.  Maynard  thus 
explains  how  the  disease  may 
have  “dodged  the  medicine.” 
“We  must  understand  that  this 
and  most  other  parasitic  fungi 
grow  only  under  conditions  of 
moisture  and  high  temperature, 
and  that  the  spores  are  destroyed 
only  by  coming  in  contact  with 
the  soluble  copper  solutions. 
Now,  if  at  any  time  during  the 
early  summer,  such  conditions  of 
temperature  and  moisture  should 
occur  after  a  rain  that  had  re¬ 
moved  the  little  soluble  fungicide 
there  may  be  in  the  Bordeaux 
mixture,  the  spores  of  the  disease 
would  grow  rapidly  and  it  would 
take  but  a  few  days  to  destroy 
all  the  fruit  in  a  large  vineyard.  Such  conditions  did 
occur  between  the  first  spraying  of  the  vines,  May  5 
to  7  and  June  17.  In  that  time  there  were  12  days 
when  it  was  cloudy  or  rainy  and  high  temperature 
prevailed  for  several  days  at  a  time  at  different  in¬ 
tervals.  The  same  occurred  at  other  intervals  of 
spraying.” 
“  If)  during  any  of  these  intervals  and  especially  the 
last,  there  was  dew  or  moisture  in  small  drops  on  the 
foliage,  the  spores  would  grow  very  rapidly,  for  the 
interval  between  the  times  of  application  of  the  fun¬ 
gicides  was  nearly  six  weeks,  and  even  light  rains  in 
that  time  would  have  removed  all  the  fungicides. 
Then  another  precaution  should  have  been  taken,  that 
of  spraying  the  vines  and  trellises  and  perhaps  the 
ground  under  them,  with  strong  solutions  of  sulphate 
of  copper  or  sulphate  of  iron  before  the  leaves  un¬ 
folded,  to  destroy  all  spores  that  might  have  survived 
the  winter  in  these  places.” 
In  this  bulletin  (No.  17  Massachusetts  Experiment 
Station),  results  of  several  experiments  with  pota¬ 
toes  are  given.  In  one  case  I'aris-green  was  used 
with  the  Bordeaux  mixture— one  pound  to  200  gallons. 
This  killed  the  potato  beetles  anti  also  kept  the  vines 
green  much  longer  than  those  unsprayed.  With  a 
barrel  pump  placed  in  a  one-horse  dump  cart  10  or  12 
rows  were  sprayed  at  once,  and  with  the  device  illus¬ 
trated  on  page  260,  probably  a  wider  space  even  than 
this  could  be  sprayed, 
THE  INTERVIEW. 
Wheat  After  Potatoes. 
A  FERTILIZER  FARMER  TALKS. 
When  to  seed;  potato  diapers  as  plows;  how  to  measure 
far  placing  bags  ;  how  much  seed  ?  What  fertilizers  ? 
What  about  stable  manure  ? 
One  of  the  best  farmers  in  this  part  of  the  country  is 
Dr.  W.  S.  Coombs  of  Freehold,  N,  J.,  a  member  of  the 
New  Jersey  State  Board  of  Agri¬ 
culture.  Dr.  Coombs  is  a  fertilizer 
farmer.  He  has  about  200  acres 
and  raises  about  the  same  crops 
as  Mr.  Lewis,  viz.,  corn,  potatoes, 
wheat  and  hay.  lie  keeps  much 
more  stock  than  Mr.  Lewis, 
otherwise  his  methods  are  much 
the  same,  that  is,  he  uses  all 
stable  manure  on  corn,  and  heavy 
dressings  of  fertilizers  on  pota¬ 
toes.  Dr.  Coombs  has  been  very 
successful  with  his  wheat.  The 
It.  N.-Y.  recently  interviewed  him 
with  regard  to  this  crop  with  the 
following  result.  It  is  printed 
now  when  potatoes  are  being 
largely  planted  because  in  the 
doctor’s  rotation  the  success  of 
the  wheat  depends  largely  upon 
the  fertilization  and. cultivation 
of  the  potatoes. 
“  How  do  you  prepare  your 
land?  ” 
“  When  the  field  has  not  been 
in  potatoes  and  requires  plowing 
we  aim  to  plow  as  soon  after 
harvest  as  the  rain  will  admit, 
the  object  being  to  get  the  land 
in  as  perfectly  mellow,  fine  tilth 
as  possible,  particularly  at  the 
surface,  and  to  get  the  field  clear 
from  weeds.  When  the  field  has 
been  in  potatoes  we  do  not  plow 
for  wheat.  We  always  dig  pota¬ 
toes  with  a  horse  potato  digger, 
and  after  this  we  complete  the 
preparation  of  the  field  for  wheat 
with  a  spring-tooth  harrow  or 
with  a  cultivator  and  an  Acme  or 
other  good  pulverizing  and  crush¬ 
ing  harrow,  and  afterwards  a 
Thomas  smoothing  harrow.” 
“How  do  you  apply  the  ferti¬ 
lizer  and  the  seed?” 
“  We  use  a  grain  drill  six  feet 
in  width  with  eight  or  nine  tubes. 
As  usual  with  these  drills,  the  seed 
and  fertilizer  are  put  in  separate 
compartments,  but  they  pay  out 
together  through  the  tubes  in 
rows  seven  to  nine  inches  apart 
and  are  covered  to  the  depth  of 
two  to  three  inches.  With  a  little 
figuring  on  the  size  of  the  field  it 
is  very  easy  to  place  the  bags  of 
fertilizer  at  such  distances  apart 
as  to  easily  keep  the  drill  sup¬ 
plied.  Of  course  the  rate  per  acre  at  which  it  is  de¬ 
sired  to  apply  the  fertilizer  is  regulated  by  adjusting 
the  slot  in  the  drill.  Having  adjusted  the  drill  to  the 
gauge  of  500  pounds  per  acre,  we  fill  the  fertilizer  com¬ 
partments  of  the  drill  with  a  bag  of  fertilizer,  say  200 
pounds.  Now  if  the  field  is  725  feet  in  the  direction 
the  grain  drill  is  to  run,  then  the  trip  across  and  back 
would  be  1,450  feet,  and  at  12  feet  wide,  twice  the 
width  of  the  (Mil,  would  be  8,700  square  feet,  which 
is  Just  one-fifti)  of  »D  acre  (43,560  square  feet);  fivq  q{ 
Three  Rows  of  Delaware  Grape  Vines — Middle  Row  Unsprayed.  Fig.  151. 
