122 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



If there has been one thing that has been emphasized in this 

 meeting thus far more than anything else, it has been the neces- 

 sity of spraying thoroughly to control our insect pests, and if 

 there is one thing that needs emphasis more than anything else 

 it is that very thing. For I doubt if there is one factor that is 

 more important than that in building up a better and more prom- 

 ising and more successful fruit industry in the State. There 

 are a number of factors which enter into the development of 

 an important and a successful and a modern fruit industry. 

 Good pruning is one. Good fertilization is another. The 

 proper selection of nursery stock is another. All of these have 

 been mentioned, but as I say, the emphasis at this meeting has 

 been put upon spraying, and rightly so, because that probably 

 is the most important of any single factor. 



There is one side of the insect and disease control problem, 

 however, to which comparatively little attention has been called, 

 and it may well be mentioned for a moment at this time, and 

 that is the matter of good orchard sanitation. We can control 

 most of our orchard insects and most of our orchard diseases 

 by means of the spray pump and arsenate of lead and lime and 

 sulphur, with other materials that go along with them, but there 

 are certain pests which the spray pump is not able to reach. 

 We have got to handle these pests in another way. I refer 

 especially to the railroad worm, the trypeta, the apple maggot, 

 as it is variously called, and to another pest which though per- 

 haps not quite as serious is still doing a great deal of damage in 

 most of our apple orchards, viz., the curculio. Those are two 

 serious apple insects in this State. I don't remember of having 

 been in an orchard where I have carefully looked at the fruit but 

 that I have seen more or less of the work of both of these pests. 

 I have been in some orchards in the State where perhaps 50% 

 to 75% of the apples on a single tree would be injured by the 

 curculio, and I have been in other orchards where 100% of the 

 apples upon the tree, and probably 98% of the apples in the 

 whole orchard were not only injured but ruined by the apple 

 maggot. Now what are we going to do to control these pests? 

 Are we going to be able to meet them? To meet these pests 

 at the present time is not exactly an easy proposition, but it is 

 within our reach, and the remedy, as I suggested a moment ago, 

 is that of clean culture or good orchard sanitation. By clean 



