The Spraying of Orchards. 119 



am convinced that Paris green is the most valuable material that 

 can be used as it is our safest insecticide and possesses also strong 

 fungicidal properties. When to this poison is added properly pre- 

 pared Bordeaux mixture, the apples borne by the trees should be 

 gathered in almost perfect condition. 



Spraying as affecting the hearing of orchards. — The apple-scab 

 fungus has been held responsible for many if not all of the failures 

 of the New York apple orchards to bear during recent years. It 

 was supposed to destroy the young fruit after the blossoms fell, or 

 the blossoms themselves were so injured by the fungus that the fruit 

 did not set. There is undoubtedly much foundation for this theory. 

 Mr. L. T. Yoemans, of Walworth, N. Y., showed me a row of 

 Baldwin apple trees which had failed to produce any fruit during 

 the past year. This row was the outer one of the orchard and it was 

 BO close to the next one on the interior that a spray cart could not 

 enter. For this reason it was not treated, and although the 

 remainder of the orchard, which was well sprayed, yielded an enor- 

 mous crop, this untreated row scarcely bore an apple. The age of 

 the trees, soil, cultivation, and other circumstances wei'e the same in 

 both cases. 



This theory will not always explain the non-bearing of apple 

 orchards. The one which has been treated by this Station during 

 the past three years has had liberal applications of fungicides and 

 insecticides, with the exception of this year, yet it has not borne a 

 full crop for many years. In 1893 a little more than half a crop 

 was produced, but in 1892 and again the past season the crop was 

 very small. One of the objects of leaving a check tree each year as 

 already described, was to determine the extent to which the theory 

 would apply to the McGowen orchard. The treatments have been 

 of some benefit, for the sprayed trees averaged more than twice as 

 much fruit as the unsprayed, but still the yield was very light. 

 Some orchards appear to bear independently of spraying. There is 

 some other cause for the trouble and I believe it may be improper 

 cultivation or fertilization. Several years will be required to deter- 

 mine this point, but the station has the work now under way, and 

 the results are awaited with considerable interest. 



The causes of the rust. — The exact cause of rusty fruit is difficult 

 to find, and as so often happens when the reason for a certain fact 

 is unknown to us, we lay it to the weather. The weather then, con- 

 sidering its nature and the unusual abundance of rust even in 



