HO EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



one exception, for twenty-one days, and ploughed ground has been like a mortar bed. 

 It has even been impossible to get upon well under-drained land part of the time." 

 The same condition of affairs is chronicled by Messrs. M. Petti t, A. H. Petti t, C. P. 

 Carpenter and E. J. Woolverton, in the Grimsby district. Writing from St. Catharines, 

 under date of June 15, Mr. M. Burred, says "that owing to the disastrous weather we 

 have been at at a standstill. For more than two weeks it has been raining daily, and 

 not only has all farm work been suspended, but spraying operations have been impossible 

 an account of the softness of the ground." 



Mr. A. H. Pettit says, on June 20th : " We shall again go to spraying as soon as 

 we can float a wagon with the barrel in it." 



Following on the heels of the downpour came a period of ideal weather for the 

 development of fungous growth. Never, to my knowledge, has the apple scab fungus 

 (Fusicladium) appeared in such a virulent form. The fungus coming before the fruit 

 had much more than formed, attacked the foliage so severely as to cause it to resemble 

 and be easily mistaken for the ordinary twig blight. In many districts apple trees pre- 

 sented a scorched and browned appearance as if suffering from blight and severe 

 drought. Most varieties lost a large proportion of their leaves, which of course resulted 

 in a corresponding loss of the fruit. This visitation, however, had the effect of em- 

 phasizing the value of spraying as a factor having an important bearing on increasing 

 the yield in seasons of severe fungous visitation, as well as improving the quality of the 

 fruit. I mention this now to elucidate the apparent discrepancy in the yields of treated 

 and untreated trees. To sum up briefly, untreated trees lost their foliage and conse- 

 quently their crop of fruit. Spraying prevented the growth of the fungus on the 

 foliage which was thereby retained and with it a large proportion of the fruit. These 

 are points worth remembering. Peaches, cherries and plums were treated with the 

 two-fold object of preventing loss from a fungous disease causing the fruit to rot on the 

 tree, and insect attacks. Apples and pears to prevent injury from scab and spot 

 (Fusicladium) and insect pests. The results owing to the difficulties outlined above, 

 were not conclusive in every instance ; this was reasonable in consideration that in one 

 or two cases no spraying was done between May 4th and June 5th, owing to the con- 

 tinuous rainfall. Another cause affecting the completeness of the report was the failure 

 of some of the experimenters in the hurry of marketing operations to record carefully 

 the yields of the sprayed and unsprayed trees. Writing of this phase of the question 

 one of the Committee very sensibly remarks that " there seems to be a little difficulty in 

 getting reliable statistics as to numbers, weights, &c. When the exact moment arrives 

 for counting specimens and weighing fruit the experimenter will probably be so rushed 

 with other work that the details of the experiment may be neglected and the value of 

 the whole test seriously impaired." 



However, I am pleased to state, that the records which have been secured, are suf- 

 ficiently convincing of themselves to be entirely satisfactory, although it is to be regret- 

 ted that full returns could not be obtained in every case. 



PEACHES. 



Experiments mainly designed to prevent rot and leaf-curl were carried on in the 

 orchards of Messrs. J. H. Broderick and Eli Gregory & Son, of St. Catharines, Ont., 

 with the help of these gentlemen and the kind co-operation of Mr. Burrell. 



The trees should have been sprayed according to the programme outlined in the 

 accompanying calendar, but owing to the earliness of the season they were too far ad- 

 vanced to risk the application of copper sulphate. Treatment accordingly began on 

 May 1st, with Bordeaux mixture: four pounds of copper sulphate, four pounds of 

 lime to 50 gallons of water. The second application was made on May 15th. Three 

 ounces of Paris green were added to each barrel of mixture. The trees were treated 

 again on June 4th, June 20th, and July 5th. On account of some indications of injury 

 to the foliage the formula was weakened for the last two applications, to three pounds 

 each of copper sulphate and lime and the same quantity of water. Up to July 5th, 

 rain was more or less constant. On July 31st, Mr. Burrell reported that there seemed 



