SOME ORCHARD SPRAYING PROBLEMS AND 



EXPERIMENTS. 



By W. W. BoxNS, Horticulturist, Maine Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station. 



Mr. President, Members of the Pomological Society: 



According to the program, I am to lead a discussion under the 

 heading ''The Care of the Orchard." I shall take the liberty of 

 qualifying- that announcement by confining myself to one phase 

 of orchard management, and discuss briefly some orchard spray- 

 ing problems and experiments. 



This subject .was selected for several reasons: First, to em- 

 phasize the continuation and extension of intelligent, timely and 

 thorough spraying as a vital factor in the improvement of 

 i\Iaine's orchard industry. Second, to put before you an ac- 

 count of one phase of the work being carried on at Monmouth 

 at the experimental farm, the acquisition of which was due in 

 no small degree to the interest and efforts of your members. 



It seems appropriate to me that at meetings of this nature we 

 should come before you with an account of what is being done 

 in the experimental field, rather than dwell upon distinct ways 

 and means of orchard practice already well established and un- 

 derstood. The work of the Maine Station, as you know, is 

 distinct from that of the Agricultural College. The latter is 

 the means of spreading agricultural gospel from the foundation 

 of determined facts and principles. The function of the Sta- 

 tion is to attempt the solution of new problems and the dis- 

 covery of underlying principles, so that these when solved and 

 discovered can be transmuted into rules for practice and spread 

 through the College and the other agents for agricultural exten- 

 sion work. 



The time has long passed when the necessity and value of 

 spraying for the control of insect and fungus enemies of the 

 orchard has to be proved. In the large regions devoted to fruit 

 growing in the Middle, Central and Pacific Coast States spray- 

 ing has long been an accepted part of the annual orchard treat- 



