17 
* i 
TREATMENT OF FUNGOUS DISEASES. 
Report of E. S. Goff, Madison, Wisconsin. 
Sir : I have the honor to report the results of experimental work in the treatment 
of certain fungous diseases of plants as per plan approved by you in May last. 
E. S. Goff, 
Special Agent, Madison, Wisconsin. 
Mr. B. T. Galloway, 
Chief of the Division of Vegetable Pathology, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
The fruit farm of Mr. A. L. Hatch, on which the experiments here reported were 
conducted, lies 3£ miles southeast of the village of Ithaca, Richland County, Wiscon¬ 
sin. It crowns the summit of a hillock, and is not far from 1,000 feet above sea level. 
The soil is a light clay loam, underlaid by Potsdam Sandstone, and is in a good state 
of cultivation. 
The plan of work arranged included treatment for the apple scab, Fusicladium den . 
driticum, Fckl., the Septoria of the raspberry and blackberry, Septoria rubi, West, 
and the potato rot. The weather during the early summer, however, proved exces¬ 
sively rainy,* and the effects of some of the applications were undoubtedly destroyed 
by copious showers soon after the treatments. It was sometimes necessary to post¬ 
pone applications from day to day owing to the very frequent rains. The somewhat 
meager results secured in the treatment of apple scab, as compared with the season 
of 1889, are probably attributable to the excessive rainfall of the early part of the 
summer. 
In all of the experiments the spraying was performed with the so-called “ Little 
Climax” force pump, fitted with the Nixon nozzle. The Vermorel nozzle was 
tested for applying the Bordeaux mixture, but was little used, as the Nixon nozzle 
was satisfactory. The liquids were always applied in sufficient quantity to pretty 
thoroughly wet the foliage. 
EXPERIMENT IN THE TREATMENT OF APPLE SCAB. 
The fungicides tested the past season for preventing apple scab were : 
I. Copper carbonate dissolved in ammonia, as used in 1889, and also suspended in 
water. 
II. The sulphur powder, so called, tested in 1889, and introduced by Mr. E. Bean, of 
Jacksonville, Florida. 
III. The compound of ammoniated copper sulphate and ammonium carbonate fur¬ 
nished by your department as Mixture No. 5. 
* No systematic meteorological records were kept at Ithaca during the early part of 
the season, but the following notes were made by Mr. Hatch : “ Heavy rain May 9, 
10, and 12; May 31, rains since the 13th, severe and frequent; rain June 3, 4, and 5; 
June 15, rained heavily almost every day or night since the 7th ; June 18, hard rain ; 
June 29, heavy rain June 20,21,22, 23, and 24, thunder on the 24th, very hot since the 
23rd, 90° to 95° several days, with very humid atmosphere, more rain on the 29th; July 
11, very heavy rain; July 13, rain with wind and thunder; August 19, weather very 
dry since middle of July.” After August 1, a careful meteorological record was kept by 
a daughter of Mr. Hatch, in accordance with the rules of the Signal Service, from 
which it appears that 3.46 inches of rain fell on 12 days during August and 2.5 inches 
on 6 days during September. 
At Madison 7.02 inches of rain fell on 13 days in June and 1.81 inches in 7 days in 
J uly. 
4289—No. 1—2 
