EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 333 



They ripen in the order named : Gififard, Clapp Favorite, Bartlett, Flem- 

 ish, Howell, Bosc, Seckel, Angouleme, Danas Hovey, Kieffer. Anjou 

 and Sheldon would be valuable market varieties, but they are very slow 

 in coming into bearing. 



APPLES. 



The apple crop was lighter than for some years past, although quite 

 a number of varieties bore full or nearly full crops of fine fruit. A 

 large per cent of the trees blossomed full but the fruit failed to set, 

 owing probably to two conditions. First, the very heavy rains while 

 the trees \vere in bloom and, second, to the very heavy crop last year. 

 The cold and the excessive moisture in the early part of the growing 

 season was exceptionally hard on the foliage, particularly to those 

 varieties susceptible to scab fungus, and while the spraying controlled 

 it upon the fruit, it did not always do so upon the foliage. 



Spraying. 



For several years we have recommended spraying apple trees with 

 Bordeaux mixture just before the blossoms opened, for the purpose of 

 preventing the scab upon the blossoms and the small fruits, but as it 

 is not always possible to do this, we have suggested the use of copper 

 sulphate solution (2 pounds to 50 gallons of water) before the leaf-buds 

 open. To determine the comparative merits of these treatments a num- 

 ber of trees were sprayed with the copper solution in April, and other 

 trees of same varieties were left unsprayed until the blossoms began 

 to show color, when they were sprayed with Bordeaux mixture and 

 Paris green. When the fruit set, very little difference could be noticed, 

 but there w^as rather more scab fungus upon the fruit and slightly more 

 upon the foliage of the trees sprayed with copper sulphate, than upon 

 those sjjrayed with Bordeaux mixture just before the blossoms opened. 

 While a difference was noticeable in favor of the Bordeaux, the spray- 

 ing with copper sulphate gave good results and ordinarily can be de- 

 pended upon and, as it is cheaper and easier to prepare and apply, it is 

 well worth using to control the scab fungus. The fruit showed no scab, 

 except on varieties susceptible to the disease, when either mixture was 

 used. When it is possible to get over the orchards just before the 

 blossoms open with Bordeaux mixture, it will give a little better result 

 in controlling scab fungus than the early spraying with copper sulphate, 

 especially in wet seasons and on varieties subject to the attack of the 

 fungus. A number of trees were sprayed with sulphate of iron, both in 

 a clear solution and with lime, making the applications at the time of 

 the regular sprayings. No beneficial results were noted with the excep- 

 tion that this solution did not russet the fruit as did the regular 

 Bordeaux mixture, while it failed to control the scab and hence cannot 

 be recommended in the place of the copper mixtures. 



Russctted Fruit. 



In some years considerable harm is done to apples, and especially 

 those intended for a fancy trade, by what is known as the russetting 



