New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 99 
CAN FARMERS OBTAIN AS GOOD RESULTS? 
Some persons are inclined to question the reliability of the 
results obtained in potato spraying experiments like those 
reported in this bulletin. They doubt that such results can be 
duplicated in ordinary farm practice. It cannot be denied that 
such doubts are, to a certain extent, justified, and, therefore, it 
is worth while to devote some space to a discussion of this 
subject. 
In the experiment at Geneva the yields obtained were so far 
above those obtained by farmers in the surrounding country as 
to arouse curiosity concerning the methods of culture employed. 
On this account the methods have been given in full on page 82. 
Even on the unsprayed rows the average yield per acre was 219 
busheis, or about double the best yields obtained by farmers in 
the vicinity. In seeking to account for this large yield on 
unsprayed rows several have called attention to the fact that 
fertilizer was used at the rate of 1,000 pounds per acre, and 
expressed the opinion that this quantity was excessive and larger 
than a farmer could afford to use. On many farms, already 
rich in fertility, it would no doubt be wasteful to apply fertilizer 
at the rate of 1,000 pounds per acre for a potato crop; but in the 
experiment at Geneva the condition of the land was such that 
the application of that quantity seemed justified. By a fortunate 
accident it was made possible to determine accurately the benefit 
obtained from the use of the fertilizer. In weighing out fer- 
tilizer for the experiment, the two outside rows, O. A and O. B 
(see diagram on page 81) were forgotten and no allowance of 
fertilizer made for them. The result was that these two rows 
were planted without fertilizer. Throughout the season they 
were treated in exactly the same manner as the unsprayed rows 
in the experiment. They received no bordeaux mixture, but were 
treated with paris green for “bugs” at the same time as the 
unsprayed rows. When the potatoes were dug row O. A, with- 
out fertilizer, yielded at the rate of 137 bushels per acre, while 
the nearest unsprayed row, row 3, with fertilizer, yielded at the 
rate of 235 bushels per acre. On the other side of the field, row 
O. B, without fertilizer, yielded 100 bushels per acre; while the 
