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New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 255 
-were great, as in 1894 and in 1904, but in these seasons the injury 
occurred in localities, while in 1905 it extended over the entire 
apple-growing territory of the State. Many apple growers main- 
tained that they did more harm than good by spraying with bor- 
deaux mixture in 1905. Some growers declared their intention of 
giving up the use of this fungicide in future spraying operations ; 
a few having suffered severe losses in preceding years had given 
it up. The extracts from letters written by apple growers of the 
State, published in the first pages of this bulletin, give an idea of 
the damage done in 1905. The conditions seemed to warrant a 
careful investigation of bordeaux injury. The campaign was begun 
with a preliminary survey of the field in the fall of 1905. 
A PRELIMINARY SURVEY. 
To get an idea of the amount and the nature of the damage 
done in spraying apples in 1905, a circular letter was sent to 116 
apple growers in the State; 108 replies were received. The follow- 
ing is a synopsis of the information so obtained: 
1. The amount of bordeaux injury in 1905.— Of the 108 men 
who replied, 98 had used bordeaux mixture in 1905. Of these, 
69, or 70 per ct., had had spray injury. Their injury varied in 
degree from “badly spotted foliage” to a loss “of one-half the 
foliage in a ten-acre Baldwin orchard;’’ one man reports that his 
“apples were nearly all thinned off the trees” and that he had 
“lost nearly all of the first leaves in his orchard.’ Another re- 
ports that his crop was lessened by 100 barrels. The letters on 
pages 224 to 228 give further accounts of the losses suffered. 
2. Spraying materials and formulas Of the 69 men who re- 
ported “ spraying injury,’ 55 used an excess of lime in making the 
bordeaux mixture used. Of these, three used a 4-8-50 formula; 
one a 3-10-50; one a 5-12-50; and two a 5-15-50 formula. In 
these cases of more than double and more than triple the amount 
of lime than of copper sulphate, the injury varied from a slight 
amount to a heavy dropping of foliage and badly russeted fruit. 
These seven cases would not vary in degree of injury in any par- 
ticular from’ any other seven that might be chosen from the 69 
injured orchards; the great excess of lime seemed to make little 
difference in regard to injury. Of the 48 remaining cases in 
which an excess of lime was used, eighteen used a 4-6-50 formula ; 
twelve, 5-5-50; seven, 3-60-50; and eleven, 4-4-50. 
