Nhw York Agricultural Experiment Station. 355 



not only to fruit and foliage, but even to the blossoms of the 

 apple. In 1900, on the contrary, the foliage, blo&soms and fruit 

 in the apple orchards of Western New York were generally free 

 from its attacks. The benefit from spraying apple orchards, 

 therefore, was generally much less in 1900 in this section than 

 it was in 1898. The advantage or disadvantage of spraying in 

 bloom may be expected to appear in the most striking manner 

 in a season when the scab fungus and other diseases of foliage 

 and fruit are most aggressive, and when the blossoms are not 

 very abundant. It may be necessary to continue the investiga- 

 tions for several years before satisfactory general conclusions 

 on the subject are established. It is desirable, therefore, to pub- 

 lish this preliminary report to give an account of the progress 

 of the work and to direct the thought of those who are interested 

 in the subject towards the main points which are under inves- 

 tigation. 



Professor L. H. Bailey has very kindly offered the results of 

 the field experiments by the Cornell Experiment Station on 

 spraying apple orchards in bloom for publication in this bulletin. 

 Because of this courtesy we are enabled to present in one pub- 

 lication the results of the investigations by both the New York 

 and the Cornell Stations in 1900. The report of the field work 

 by the Cornell Station will be presented first and afterwards 

 the work of this (Geneva) Station will be considered. 



I. FIELD EXPERIMENTS OF CORNELL EXPERIMENT 

 STATION ON SPRAYING FRUIT TREES IN BLOOM. 



L. H. Bailey. 



There has been much discussion in the past two or three years 

 as to the soundness of the advice that apple trees must not be 

 sprayed when in bloom. It has been said by the experimenters 

 that spraying trees when in bloom gives no additional protec- 

 tion over spraying just before or just after they bloom, that it 

 may interfere with the setting of the fruit, and that it may kill 

 the bees which are considered to be indispensable agents in the 



