The Spraying of Orchards. Ill 



The dates of the applications. — The trees were sprayed upon the 

 following dates : 



1. April 21. The buds had burst, but only the tips of the leaves 

 could be seen. 



2. May 7. Nearly one-fifth of the blossom buds had opened. 



3. May 19. A few of the blossoms were still upon the trees. 



4. May 31. 



5. June 16. 



It was the intention to make one more application about June 30, 

 but at this time so much of the fungicide could still be seen upon 

 the trees that further treatment was thought unnecessary. As but 

 little rain fell during the next two months, the mixture could still 

 be seen upon the leaves in September, so that even if another treat- 

 ment had been made it would have been of little value. 



The rust. — On June 29 the orchard was examined and a serious 

 amount of rust was discovered. It was found that the Red Astra- 

 chan, Fallawater, and the King apples showed injured foliage and 

 fruit, partly in consequence of the Bordeaux mixture which had 

 previously been applied. Baldwins were not so seriously hurt, and 

 Fall Pippin showed no trace of any such trouble upon the fruit. 

 Here then was another difficulty, only traces of which had been 

 noticed during the past year but which now appeared nearly as for- 

 midable as the scab or the codlin moth. Upon the leaves, it ap- 

 peared to show itself in the form of reddish-brown areas, generally 

 quite small, and probably of minor importance as regards injury to 

 the tree. Upon the fruit, the affected portions turned grayish 

 brown, and later in the season such portions were rough and ap- 

 peared yellowish brown in color. A microscopic examination of 

 these injured tissues showed that the coloring matter normally 

 present when the fruit is ripening was entirely wanting, and the 

 walls of the cells that are situated under the epidermis or outer skin 

 of the apple had become thickened and seemed to have acquired a 

 corky texture. Any external irritation of the apple may cause 

 such a formation, and it undoubtedly was so caused last spring.. 

 This subject is more fully discussed on pages 120-122. 



Grading the apples. — In 1893 the apples of this orchard were 

 graded upon the following basis : " The amount of scab or other 

 fungous injury upon an apple determined its grade, the injury done 

 by worms being rather secondary, for the apples were comparatively 



