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New York AGRIcuLTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 19 
agricultural societies and farmers’ clubs throughout the State, 
and have been ordered by stations of several other States for 
distribution in those States. | 
In connection with this subject it is well to mention that we 
annually buy in this State $4,000,000 or $5,000,000 worth of com- 
mercial fertilizers, and through the supervision of this business 
on the part of the experiment stations uf the country it has 
resulted that in their purchase of $4,000,)00 worth of these 
products, the farmers of this State are able to save at least 
$6,000,000 annually. 
This may appear a paradox but it is literally true, since such. 
has been the improvement in quality and reduction in price 
of these commercial fertilizers during the past twenty ycars, that 
the farmers of to-day can for $4,000,000 buy the same eggregate 
of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric cid, for which they would 
have had to pay $10,000,000 or $11,000,000 twenty years ago. 
While business competition has been largely the cause of this 
improvement in quality and reduction in price, such competitior 
has arisen through the increased information concerning these 
‘products which the experiment stations have diffused among the 
* 
people. 2 
A delegation of grape growers visited the station lately to con- 
- fer with reference to certain diseases of the vine, foliage and fruit, 
2 
3 
} 
which were putting in an appearance in the vineyards. As evi- 
dence of the amazing rapidity of these invasions of disease, one 
gentleman who had inspected a diseased vineyard in one section 
of the State reached home on a Saturday, ana carefully inspected 
his vines to see if this new disease had eppeared in his own yine- 
yards, and said that he easily carried in une hand the vines and 
leaves he found infested, but the following Monday, as he said, a 
- hay rack would not have held the diseased vines, so rapid had 
—— ees 
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2 
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been the progress of this disease. 
The gooseberry as is known has largely disappeared from our 
market owing the mildew, and yet at the experiment station 
we have for successive years grown it absolutely free from any 
trace of mildew upon either foliage or fruit. 
OAM 
