lohe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
229 
Potato-Spraying  Lessons 
Experience  from  the  Season  of  1915 
I‘art  II. 
PUMPS  AND  NOZZLES.— Experiment,  stations 
have  found  that  tlieir  spraying  with  hand 
pumps  has  almost  always  given  larger  gains  in 
yield  than  that  with  the  horsepower  machines  on 
the  market.  They  have  used  great  care  to  coat 
every  leaf  at  each  application,  using  amounts  of 
Bordeaux  up  to  350  gallons  per  acre.  This  is  ne¬ 
cessary  to  cover  well,  because  of  the  low  pressure 
produced  by  hand  pumps.  Most  horse-drawn  ma¬ 
chines  apply  50  to  100  gallons  per  acre  and  the  pres¬ 
sure  is  often  less  than  50  pounds.  Few  machines 
use  over  125  pounds.  Most  machines  du  not  per¬ 
fectly  cover  the  vines  with  the  nozzles  we  have  in 
i 
use.  Power  machines  at  200  pounds  pressure,  a 
standard  with  many  for  fruit  trees, 
will  blow  the  material  into  .such 
small  drops  that  large  potato  tops  can 
be  coated  vt  thoroughly  with  100 
gallons  per  acre  or  less  at  each  appli¬ 
cation.  The  best  nozzle  equipment  I 
have  been  able  to  find  for  large  tops'is 
made  with  two  nozzles  per  row,  one 
being  on  each  side  and  pointing  in 
diagonally.  Manufacturers  say  that 
there  is  not  enough  demand  for  a  ma¬ 
chine  powerful  enough  to  cover  the 
plants  as  thoroughly  as  with  hand 
pumps  to  warrant  their  manufacture. 
The  Maine  Experiment  Station  Bulle¬ 
tin  No.  100  goes  very  thoroughly  into 
the  reasons  why  farmers  often  fail  to 
spray  well  enough  to  stop  the  blight. 
It  is  one  that  should  be  read  with  care 
by  every  potato  grower  in  the  sections 
where  blight  lias  ever  occurred.  Some 
of  its  statements  that  I  have  found  of 
great  value  in  New  York  State  are:  ‘'A  sprayer 
which  does  not  cover  every  leaf  with  a  thin  film 
of  spray  may  be  practically  useless.”  “Never  omit 
to  spray  on  account  of  rainy  weather;  this  is  just 
the  time  when  spraying  is  most  needed.”  “Every 
leaf  should  he  covered  at  each  application,  regard¬ 
less  of  whether  it  takes  50.  100  or  150  gallons  per 
acre."  “The  tops  should  be  protected  by  spray  up 
to  the  day  they  are  killed  by  frost  or  the  crop  is  dug.” 
VALUE  OF  BORDEAUX. — It  should  always  be 
remembered  that  spraying  potatoes  with  Bordeaux 
gives  other  benefits  besides  the  control  of  late  blight 
and  rot,  though  that  was  the  great  thing  this  year. 
In  hot  and  dry  seasons  Bordeaux  has  great  value 
in  increasing  potato  yields  in  a  way  not  yet  fully 
understood.  It  is  certain  from  many  experiments 
at  stations  and  by  farmers  that  sprayed  plants  in 
such  years  live  longer, 
are  healthier,  are  larger 
and  consequently  yield 
better  in  seasons  when 
there  is  absolutely  no 
late  blight  in  the  fields. 
There  are  seasons  when 
in  many  locations  the 
weather  conditions  were 
so  nearly  suited  to  the 
natural  requirements  of 
the  potato  plants  that 
they  were  able  to  de¬ 
velop  a icrop  up  to  their 
natural  maximum  capa¬ 
city  within  the  limit  of 
their  supply  of  moist¬ 
ure.  Such  were  the  sea¬ 
sons  of  1009  and  1!)14 
in  Western  New  York. 
Some  men  then  raised 
as  high  as  400  and  500 
bushels  per  acre  who  in 
sea  sums  of  either 
drought  or  blight  do  not  get  100.  In  wet  years  it- 
pays  to  spray  for  blight,  in  dry  years  to  increase 
the  yield  by  this  stimulating  action  of  the  Bordeaux. 
I  remember  how  in  the  season  of  1907,  for  myself, 
and  in  1 90S,  for  a  neighbor,  careless  hired  men  let 
sprayer  nozzles  stay  clogged  up  for  a  row  or  more 
at  a  time  before  cleaning.  This  showed  up  in  the 
Fall,  when  these  less  perfectly  sprayed  rows  died 
several  days  earlier  than  the  rest. 
INSECT  ENEMIES. — The  common  potato  bugs 
are  easier  killed  by  Paris  green  applied  with  Bor¬ 
deaux  than  by  any  other  poison.  The  extremely 
sticky  qualities  of  the  Bordeaux  spread  the  poison 
all  over  each  leaf.  Then  a  bug’s  first  bite  means  his 
death.  Many  delay  the  first  application  of  Bordeaux 
till  just  as  the  first  bugs  hatch  from  the  eggs.  They 
are  easiest  killed  when  so  small.  One  old  grower 
says  that  large  bugs  will  get  fat  on  any  poison.  I 
have  used  only  7<>  pounds  of  Paris  green  in  five  sea¬ 
sons.  costing  me  less  than  $10.  By  applying  just 
as  the  first  bugs  hatch  1  have  had  scarcely  a  trace 
of  bug  injury  in  that  time.  This  makes  the  cost 
of  perfect  protection  against  bugs  less  than  It  cents 
per  acre  each  year.  It  should  be  stated  that  when 
Bordeaux  is  not  used  arsenate  of  lead  should  be 
used  in  place  of  Paris  green.  Although  a  slower 
and  poorer  poison  than  Paris  green  it  will  not  burn 
the  potato  foliage  as  the  latter  will  when  used  with¬ 
out  Bordeaux  or  lime  in  combination.  The  little 
black  flea-beetles  that  make  so  many  holes  in  the 
leaves  injure  potatoes  far  more  than  is  generally 
known.  No  poison  kills  them,  but  Bordeaux  sprayed 
plants  are  injured  much  less  than  those  unsprayed. 
VALUE  IN  SPRAYERS. — tine  great  lesson  from 
the  past  season  has  been  the  value  of  reliability  in 
sprayers.  One  great  institution  lost  its  whole  po¬ 
Where  the  School  Reunion  is  Held  Fig.  61 
tato  crop  when  its  sprayer  broke  and  three  weeks 
were  lost  waiting  for  repairs.  By  that  time  the 
crop  was  so  far  gone  with  blight  that  the  field  was 
plowed  and  sown  to  wheat  Last  year  the  rains 
left  so  little  time  for  work  that  every  hour  lost 
through  breakdown  meant  money.  Compared  with 
the  mower  or  grain  harvester  the  sprayer  is  a  new 
tool.  When  1  bought  my  first  machine  in  1905  there 
were  but  few  makes  on  the  market.  Designs  are 
Constantly  being  changed  to  get  greater  efficiency 
but  the  best  are  far  from  perfect. 
AN  EXPERIMENT  OF  VALUE.— I  think  the  10- 
year  experiment  conducted  by  Prof.  F.  C.  Stewart 
of  the  Geneva  Station,  with  the  aid  of  farmers  all 
over  New  York  State,  to  be  in  some  respects  one  of 
the  best  ever  made.  Its  length  of  time  prevented 
seasonal  variation  from  affecting  the  net  results 
T 
The  Ayrshire  Cattle  Breeds. s  at  their  Annual  Meeting.  Fig.  62 
at  stations  that  hand  spraying  with  the  large  quan¬ 
tities  of  Bordeaux  they  use  will  almost  perfectly 
protect  against  blight  and  will  give  larger  gains 
from  plant  stimulation  in  hot  seasons  than  we  get 
with  machines  using  small  quantities  and  higher 
pressures.  It  seems  probable  that  either  a  large 
amount  at  low  pressure  or  a  small  amount  at  high 
will  protect  equally  well  against  late  blight  and 
rot.  Bui  from  some  indications  the  stimulating  ef¬ 
fect  seems  to  be  more  dependent  on  the  total  amount 
of  Bordeaux  applied.  If  such  an  experiment  had 
been  carried  out  this  season  with  say  three  pres¬ 
sures.  50.  125  and  200  pounds  each,  with  three 
quantities,  50,  125  and  200  gallons  per  acre,  we 
would  now  have  a  much  better  guide  to  the  best 
methods  of  spraying  in  blight  years.  Thoroughness 
certainly  paid  well  in  my  section,  but  1  do  not  know 
whether  the  cause  of  my  success  lay  in  the  number 
of  sprayings,  the  quantity  of  Bordeaux 
applied  or  the  high  pressure  used. 
Tioga  Co.,  N.  Y.  daxtiel  dean. 
Substitute  Hay;  New  Seeding 
I  have  a  throe-acre  field,  soil  rather 
sandy  loam,  fairly  fertile,  which  raised  a 
fair  crop  of  potatoes  in  1!)14,  fair  crop 
of  corn  in  11115.  I  wish  to  seed  it  down 
for  hay.  After  taking  the  corn  off  last 
Fall,  I  plowed  the  ground,  but  was  too 
late  to  get  a  cover  crop  on.  This  Winter 
I  have  given  it  a  thin  coat  of  barnyard 
manure,  five  or  six  loads  per  acre,  which 
I  shall  disk  in  as  soon  as  frost  is  out; 
shall  also  put  on  a  ton  of  ground  raw 
limestone  per  acre.  Can  1  sow  on  a  mix¬ 
ture  of  Red  and  Alsike  clover,  Timothy, 
Red-top  and  perhaps  other  grasses  this 
Spring  without  a  nurse  crop,  and  expect 
to  cut  a  crop  of  hay  this  Fall?  I  do  not 
want  to  lose  the  use  of  the  land  entirely 
this  year,  still  would  prefer  not  to  use  a 
muse  crop.  What  would  be  the  chance? 
Connecticut  it.  J.  I. 
rills  year  there  have  been  at  least 
25  questions  about  growing  a  sub¬ 
stitute  bay  crop  and  seeding  down. 
Many  of  our  readers  seem  to  have  an  old  piece  of 
sod  which  lias  failed  to  give  profitable  grass,  or 
some  open  field  which  they  want  to  seed.  They  are 
short  of  hay.  and  they  want  to  grow  an  early  crop 
to  be  used  as  a  hay  substitute  and  then  seed  down. 
All  sorts  of  plans  are  suggested.  We  doubt  if  it 
would  pay  to  seed  such  land  in  the  Spring  to  clover 
and  grass.  That  is  not  the  best  time  for  seeding  in 
New  England,  and  most  of  this  land  would  do  better 
if  it  can  be  left  in  some  other  crop  during  the  early 
Summer.  The  best  way  we  have  found  for  carry¬ 
ing  out  this  plan  is  to  seed  oats  and  peas  as  early 
in  the  Spring  as  possible.  Work  the  land  up  thor¬ 
oughly  and  use  either  a  good  coat  of  manure  or  a 
fair  dressing  of  fertilizer.  Broadcast  one  bushel  of 
Canada  field  peas  over  the  ground  anil  plow  them 
under  four  or  five  inches  deep  with  a  small  plow,  or 
chop  them  under  with  a 
disk  or  cutaway,  then 
broadcast  on  top  of  the 
ground  2U>  bushels  of 
oats  and  harrow  them 
lightly  under.  This  gives 
a  combination  crop  of 
oats  and  peas,  which  will 
give  a  very  fair  substi¬ 
tute  for  hay.  It  may 
be  cut  late  in  .Tune  or 
early  in  .July,  and  is 
cured  much  like  clover 
hay.  As  soon  after  cut¬ 
ting  as  possible,  plow 
this  ground  thoroughly 
and  give  it  as  thorough 
a  cultivation  as  possible 
all  through  the  rest  of 
the  Summer.  Chop  it 
up  time  after  time  with 
a  disk,  or  work  it  with 
a  spring-tooth  harrow. 
Level  it  down  and  then 
much.  The  number  of  widely  separated  locations 
had  the  same  effect  on  local  soil  or  climatic  varia¬ 
tions.  it  ‘lias  proved  that  farmers  in  almost  any 
part  of  the  State  may  expect  some  profit  from  ma¬ 
chine  spraying.  What  we  need  now  is  an  experi¬ 
ment  which  will  tell  us  how  to  use  machine  spray¬ 
ers  To  get  the  largest  possible  profit.  I  tried  last 
year  to  get  the  Cornell  Station  to  spray  the  field  cm 
their  farm  with  different  pressures  and  varying  the 
quantities  of  Bordeaux  per  acre.  This  would  give 
manufacturers  and  farmers  something  to  go  by  in 
designing  sprayers.  A  farmer  cannot  make  such  an 
experiment,  because  some  of  the  details  require 
work  which  he  has  no  means  of  doing.  For  exam¬ 
ple.  to  spray  50  gallons  of  Bordeaux  per  acre  with 
50  pounds  pressure  requires  different  sized  nozzle 
openings  from  those  which  spray  the  same  amount 
at  200  pounds.  We  know  from  many  experiments 
chop  again.  Make  it  as  fine  as  possible  and  early 
in  September,  seed  down  to  a  mixture  of  clover  and 
Timothy  and  a  combination  of  Red  and  Alsike  clo¬ 
ver.  On  most  New  England  land  it  will  pay  to  use 
at  least  one  ton  per  acre  of  slaked  lime.  When  this 
land  is  plowed,  after  cutting  the  oats  and  peas,  a 
dressing  of  chemical  fertilizer  will  also  pay,  as  it 
is  desirable  to  start  off  the  grass  as  quickly  and 
strongly  as  possible.  This  sort  of  treatment  will 
give  a  quick  stand  of  grass  and  a  good  seeding,  and 
will  also  give  in  the  early  part  of  the  Summer  a 
good  crop  of  oats  and  pea  hay,  which  makes  a  fine 
substitute  for  clover.  Other  crops  have  b«»en  sug¬ 
gested,  such  as  barley  and  oats  together,  or  either 
grain  alone  or  oats  and  vetch. 
A  Scotchman  has  invented  a  turnip-topping  ma¬ 
chine  which  saves  much  hand  labor. 
