8 
Bulletin 62. 
parasite may be doing incalculable injury long before the 
grower is aware of its presence. This is especially true if 
the weather conditions are moist and favorable to its 
increase and spread. 
EXPERIMENNTS IN 1 899 FOR THE CONTROL OF THE DISEASE. 
t 
Observing in 1898 that the disease was apparent only 
on certain fields, I made a collection of seed from these for 
planting the following year, to see if it was communicated 
by the seed. This seed was planted in the spring of 1899 
away from other melons for the purpose above mentioned, 
and for some preliminary spray work for the control of the 
disease. 
Three rows, each 250 feet long, were planted, the 
middle one being reserved for spraying with the Bordeaux 
mixture, using the others as checks. The row was sprayed 
june 22 , and again June 30 , with Bordeaux mixture —4 
pounds of copper sulphate (blue stone) to 40 gallons of 
water. At this time there was something on the 
vines that looked like blight. The next spray¬ 
ing was done the 22 d of July, at which time the blight was 
in evidence and spreading rapidly. The row was again 
sprayed July 31 and August 11 . 
The weather previous to June 19 had been very dry. 
Subsequent observations have shown that the spread of the 
disease, previous to this time, would not have been rapid 
enough to be discerned, even if the weather had been moist. 
After June 20 , rain and dews were plentiful; 
seven inches of rain fell during July, 5.14 inches of this in 
the week commencing July 14 . The vines were completely 
submerged and the spray, no doubt, mostly destroyed. The 
weather conditions following were very favorable to 
the spread of the disease. 
Owing to the weather conditions during July, it was not 
apparent that any benefit was secured from the two earl> spray¬ 
ings, but a decided benefit was obtained from those made 
after July 22 . 
Thesprayed vines remained green and in agrowingcondi- 
tion long after the others had succumbed to the disease, 
and fruit of good quality was picked from them the first 
week in September. Two weeks previous to this the last 
merchantable melons were taken from the unsprayed vines 
and they, at all times, were inferior in quality to those 
picked from the sprayed vines. They ripened prematurely 
and the taste was insipid; this alone being sufficient 
