108 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



sulphur and lime. For use under this condition we have been better 

 pleased with an eight or ten per cent kerosene emulsion than with a 

 two per cent soluble petroleum mixture, which is as strong as these 

 commercial preparations can be used upon the foliage. In the case of 

 large trees, it will often be possible to spray the trunks and main 

 branches with sulphur and lime even after the leaves are out, if care 

 is taken not to get very much upon the young growth. Treated in this 

 way it will carry trees over until the fall or winter that without a 

 summer application would be seriously injured. 



CO-OPERATIVE EXPERIMENTS. 



The work that has for a number of years been carried on in a co- 

 operative way has been considerably extended and not only have new 

 lines of work been taken up but the experiments have been distributed 

 over the state, and more attention has been paid to the details of the 

 work. To a certain extent it is of the nature of a demonstration than 

 of original research, as the methods and remedies that are being tried 

 have all been tested and found beneficial. The principal object of this 

 work is, in addition to showing the* farmers and fruit growers the 

 methods of carrying it on and the results secured, to ascertain with a 

 greater degree of exactness the extent to which the work can be carried 

 with profit, and the results that can be secured in a commercial way 

 under the various conditions of soil and climate. 



In former years, the work has been along the line of variety tests 

 with trees and plants furnished by the station, and of testing various 

 fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides and methods of applying them, 

 to orchard fruits. The new work has been along the following lines : 



Orchard Culture MetJiods. — Although a large per cent of the acreage 

 of the peach orchards are kept in cultivation, nearly all of the apple 

 orchards are in sod and are used either as pastures or meadows. As 

 a result, the trees make but slight growth and the fruit is generally 

 lacking both in quantity and quality. Even in peach orchards that are 

 cultivated, the results have not always been satisfactory, especially 

 when the trees are located upon knolls from which the snow blows 

 in winter and root-killing results. Unless cover crops are used, which 

 is not always the case, the soil soon becomes deficient in humus and 

 not only washes badly but suffers seriously in dry seasons. As a par- 

 tial corrective of these difficulties, many fruit growers have adopted 

 what they call a sod mulch treatment, that is, the trees are kept in sod 

 and the grass is cut and either placed under the trees as a mulch or 

 allowed to remain where it falls. In most cases this has failed to give 

 the results desired, from that fact the mulch thus obtained is in- 

 sufficient. To be effectual the mulch should be sufficient in quantity to 

 prevent the growth of grass under the trees and for a short distance 

 beyond the ends of the branches. To provide this mulch it will usually 

 be necessary to use straw or other waste materials under the trees in 

 addition to what can be grown between the rows. After the trees 

 come into bearing, and even before if it is needed, a sufficient quantity 

 of stable manure should be spread about the trees to enable them to 

 make a growth of at least one foot and to develop the fruit crop to 

 perfection. 



