STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 135 



tents are well mixed, and the "swash" of the water caused by 

 the motion of the wagon and the shape of the cask, keeps the 

 poison from settling. One rig is at work in the orchard while 

 the other is filling. In this way a large number of trees can be 

 gone over in a day. I use the same rig for spraying potatoes, 

 using a broad spray, keeping the hose as close to the ground as 

 possible, and giving it a quick side motion, covering four or five 

 rows at a time. 



The orchardist who can produce fair fruit free from worms is 

 reasonably sure of a good price, and, as matters look now, spray- 

 ing is the only way to secure such fruit. 



ON SPRAYING FRUIT TREES. 



BY J. G. VAUGHAN, ODIN. 



While I am not an expert on this subject, my own experience 

 and my own observation of others is offered, in the hope of 

 adding something to the common fund, where, I apprehend, some 

 exact knowledge is now needed. 



That the use of insecticides has become an absolute necessity, 

 few intelligent fruit growers will now deny; but many of the 

 earlier attempts were so unsatisfactory, that many refrained from 

 any effort for fear the injury to the tree would outweigh the 

 benefit to the present crop of fruit. 



My experience is confined to the use of arsenic; the first expe- 

 riment being on twenty large apple trees, in 18<S6, in the propor- 

 tion of one pound to one hundred gallons of water. This was 

 very effectual in destroying the canker worm and codling-moth, 

 but was equally fatal to the trees. After a lingering illness, they 

 all died. 



In 1887, one pound was used to two hundred gallons. This 

 destroyed the insects, but scorched the leaves badly, and some of 

 the most exposed branches died the following season. 



In 1888, one pound to four hundred gallons destroyed the 

 insects, and damaged the foliage slightly. Whether a weaker 

 solution would not have been equally efficient, I am unable to 

 say; but, "as a burnt child dreads the fire," we this year did not 

 spray at all, but had an injurious number of the codling-moth. 



My experience with arsenic in my own orchard, and observa- 

 tion of others who used Paris Green or London Purple, leads me 

 to believe that the use of either of these of the strength com- 

 monly recommended, is very injurious to our fruit frees. Even 

 where the trees are not killed outright, the injurious effects are 

 plainly visible in the shortened and stunted growth of the cur- 

 rent season, particularly on those branches most exposed in 

 spraying, probably because they received more than their share 

 of the poison. It was also plainly noticeable the following 



