New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.  &88 
sufficiently wide to make it possible to relocate them after plow- 
ing. Accordingly, the field was divided into ten equal plats, each 
being 73 by 157 feet, having an area of,3, of an acre. During 
three successive seasons, 1898 to 1900 inclusive, the plats were 
planted with onions (six rows 15 inches apart on each plat) and 
every alternate plat treated with sulphur and air-slaked lime 
applied in the drills at the rate of 100 pounds of sulphur and 50 
pounds of lime per acre. The remaining five plats were left 
untreated for checks. Thus there were five treated plats and five 
untreated plats alternating with them. (See diagram on page 
85.) 
Notes for 1898.—The seed was sown April 23. On June 1 an 
attempt was made to determine the percentage of smut-infested 
plants on the various plats by taking a portion of a row contain- 
ing 100 plants and noting the number which were smutty. These 
observations showed that on an average 64 per ct. of the plants 
on the treated plats were smutty, while on the check plats 914 
per ct. were smutty. A similar count made on June 10 showed 
414 per ct. of the treated plants and 75 per ct. of the untreated 
plants infested. It may be asked why the latter count shows 
a smaller percentage of infested plants. The answer to this 
question is as follows: Some of the affected plants enumer- 
ated in the first count had dried up and disappeared by the time 
the second count was made. Many of the diseased plants barely 
succeed in pushing their heads above the surface of the soil before 
they are killed, and the tissues, being very soft, decay and dis- 
appear quickly. The truth of this last statement is shown by the 
fact that to get 100 plants one must'invariably cover a greater 
distance on a check row than on a treated row, notwithstanding 
the two rows received the same amount of seed. At best, such 
counts are only approximations, because it is impossible to avoid 
overlooking a good many of the affected plants. 
The small yield in 1898 was due to a hail storm, during the lat- 
ter part of July,and wet weather, which caused many of the bulbs 
to rot. The crop was harvested August 10. 
2Ror an account of the rot see Bul. 164 of this Station. 
