• Twelve Years' Experience in Spraying. 53 



and expect satisfactory results, they will be sadly disappointed, 

 and, as many have done before, condemn spraying. After we 

 have fertilized, cultivated and pruned, if we want perfect fruit and 

 greatest success, we must spray, and spray thoroughly and intelli- 

 gently. I want to emphasize the foregoing facts. Twelve years 

 ago I was convinced, after giving my orchard the best care that I 

 could, that insects and disease were increasing, and when first I 

 heard spraying talked of, I thought it, as many have since, a great 

 disaster, and felt that I might as well quit the business first as 

 last. In the fall of 1886 I sold my winter apples for |2.25 per 

 barrel, net, for first-class fruit. After careful picking and grad- 

 ing we had 100 barrels of rejected apples on account of worms and 

 scab. There were about 25 barrels of windfalls beside, out of 300 

 barrels shipped to market. If they had been perfect they would 

 have brought over |250, and they were worth |25 or $30 for cider. 

 I reasoned that if spraying would do what people said it would, it 

 was certainly a good thing for me to try. I found that it would 

 cot only keep fruit free from worms and scab, but would greatly 

 lessen the number of windfalls. The first year's spraying is often 

 disappointing. Many start in to spray with very little knowledge 

 of what they are spraying for, or how to do the work. They do not 

 do the work at the right time, nor thoroughly, and they are fight- 

 ing insects and diseases that are well established; hence failure 

 to accomplish what was expected. Diseases and insects multiply 

 year after year, and we certainly cannot expect to destroy them 

 by one year's work. Insects do not start out to commit suicide 

 for our benefit, and will not eat the poisoned leaves if they can get 

 those that are free from it. Therefore, all the foliage must be 

 covered and kept so, if we expect good results. The man who gets 

 best results from spraj'ing is the one who sprays annually, at the 

 right time and for a definite purpose, covering the whole tree with 

 the mixture. I would not spray a tree that had no fruit on it as 

 many times as one that was bearing, but I would spray it once or 

 more, for insect and disease germs are there and must be held in 

 check, less they multiply. 



