New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I2I 
SPRAYING IS PROFITABLE, 
Judging from the experiments thus far made it appears that 
spraying for blight is an operation which no potato grower in New 
York can afford to neglect. Thirty-three farmers’ business experi- 
ments made during the past three years show an average net profit 
of $22.79 per acre due to spraying. | 
DIRECTIONS FOR SPRAYING. 
Commence spraying with bordeaux when the plants are 6 to 8 
inches high and repeat at intervals of ‘to to 14 days throughout the 
season, making, in all, five or six applications. When’ bugs are 
troublesome add paris green or other poison. 
INTRODUCTION. 
During the season of 1905 the Station continued the ten-year 
potato-spraying experiments begun in I902. ‘lhese experiments 
are designed to determine how much the yield of potatoes can be 
increased, on the average, by spraying with bordeaux mixture. The 
plan is to continue the experiments during ten consecutive seasons 
and take the average increase in yield as the index of the value of 
spraying potatoes in New York State. The experiments are to be 
conducted in two localities ; namely, at Geneva and Riverhead. Two 
methods of spraying are to be compared as to their efficiency : Some 
rows are sprayed every two weeks regularly while others are 
sprayed only three times during the season. At each place the 
area of the experiment field is to be three-tenths of an acre each 
season. The rows sprayed every_two weeks alternate with those 
sprayed only three times and with others not sprayed at all. For 
further details see Bulletins 221, 241 and 264. 
Supplementary to the above experiments, the Station has con- 
ducted a series of business experiments similar to those made in 
1903 and 1904.1 Under the direction of the Station, fourteen 
farmers in different parts of the State have carried on experiments 
designed to determine the net profit in spraying potatoes in different 
ways under actual farm conditions. 
*For a detailed account of the business experiments in 1903 see Bulletin 
241, pages 267-283; in 1904, Bulletin 264, pages 116-152. 
