■EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 219 



COMPARISONS. 



Three otlier small orchards of from ton to twenty trees each were 

 sprayed for neighbors, but Avere not given the first spraying before the 

 blossoms opened. The fruit was more scabby and the trees not so 

 uniformly nor so heavily loaded, but each orchard contained more fruit 

 than the families needed. From one of these orchards, we picked 32 

 bushels of fruit after the family was supplied; from another we pur- 

 chased 50 bushels and as many more were given away or sold to neigh- 

 bors; while from the third, we harvested $03.06 worth of apples on 

 shares after three families had been supplied. Unsprayed orchards in 

 close proximity to each of these bore next to nothing. 



In one of the old orchards, five trees of varieties like the other nine 

 were left unpruned and unsprayed. One of these trees, which promised 

 some fruit, was given the last two sprayings, and several barrels of 

 fairly good fruit were picked from it. Another tree yielded a bushel 

 of wormy and scabby fruit, and the others, none worth picking. AH 

 blossomed full. 



The young orchard of an acre yielded about 750 bushels of fruit, or 

 an average of about 25 bushels per tree. This yield is interesting, 

 chiefly when compared with that of the surrounding orchards, as it 

 probably contained more good fruit than all the other orchards in the 

 adjacent two or three townships. Three small orchards which Avere 

 sprayed for neighbors all had fair crops of fruit. These orchards have 

 been object lessons and have demonstrated to all unbelievers that there 

 is virtue in spraying. 



Within a half mile of the one-acre orchard, are two orchards of the 

 same age. One has been well pruned, but not sprayed, and yielded 

 about enough fruit for a family. The other had been neither pruned 

 nor sprayed and yielded nothing worth picking. 



This season, the weather at blossoming and some time later, was 

 warm and moist, ideal conditions for the rapid development of the 

 apple scab fungus. This worked upon the stems and blossoms and young 

 fruits, causing them to drop profusely. It got such a vigorous start 

 upon the remaining fruit and the foliage and so weakened it, that 

 with the drought of late summer and fall, the trees dropped a large part 

 of the fruit they had been able to carry through the June drop. Upon 

 many of the trees, three-fourths of the unsprayed fruit had dropped by 

 October 1st, while the dropping was not above normal on the well- 

 sprayed trees. 



Aside from the orrhards previously mentioned, we have contracted two more for a six-year 

 period, and liave an option on a third. One of the^'e contains about 75 trees from 10 to 70 years of 

 age, and they are in fair condition, with just a touch of the ^cale. We have spent nine days pruning 

 this orchard at a co^t of $13.50, excUi'ive of lurnirg the bru'h. 



The second orchard is a different proposition. Trees are pood varieties mo^tlv^ Northern Spv- 

 but crowded and badlv' infested with the '■cale. The trees are not h'gh, but half the limbs are killed 

 bv scale and crowding, and its care will be .^-omething of an experiment, but I believe it will pav out. 

 We have pruned 40 of the best trees at a co^^^t of fio.go. A power .=pra' er with t'-ree-hor^e engne 

 and 200 gallon tank has been purchased, and we '=hall soak these scale-infested trees with lime-sulphur 

 in the spring, which I think will soon put new vigor Into them. 



