582 ANNUAL. TlEPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



The purpose of these demonstrations is to make clear that prun- 

 ing is a necessary part of getting rid of the San Jos^ Scale when the 

 spraying iipplieation of the insecticide is made, and that the exact 

 composition of the material (lime-sulphur wash) is not so essential. 

 You may put on boiled lime and sulphur in any way, and you will 

 have satisfactory results, but the best and most economical methods 

 will not come into general use until there are a few demonstrations 

 with the spray pump. For example, there is the one-eighth turn to 

 the nozzle, making it possible to spray three sides of the tree from 

 one position; and one man, who has thousands of trees to spray, has 

 told me that just to learn about this eighth-turn has repaid him for 

 all the time and expense of attending the demonstrations. 



Then there are several other topics, such as demonstrations in 

 pruning; it may seem foreign to the subject of scale, but when the 

 matter is thoroughly investigated, you will find that only by prun- 

 ing properly can the scale be controlled and trees invigorated even 

 by perfect spraying. The scale spreads its injury by injecting its 

 poisonous sap into the growing part of the tree. The results are not 

 so conspicuous at once, but the poison may still have entered the 

 tree to such an extent that nothing but "dehorning" will save it. 

 Pruning will also make it possible to get the nozzle into the tree 

 top in such a manner as to thoroughly spray it. If you will examine 

 Downing or any other authority on pruning, j^ou will find that he 

 says that "pruning is manuring." A man here this morning said he 

 had helped his cabbage plants by the use of nitrate of soda. The 

 same thing applies to trees. The tree plant must be invigorated all 

 that is possible. Now, pruning is not only to remove the dead and 

 superfluous branches, but also to remove the serious and harmful 

 effects of the insect that has attacked it and invigorate the tree. 

 After pruning means should be taken to give that tree a good form 

 of growth, such as fertilization and cultivation. Besides spraying, 

 the four essentials to successful fruit-growing are jjruning, thinning, 

 cultivation and fertilization, and they are all necessary to a suc- 

 cessful control of the scale. 



Cultivate that tree from the standpoint of scale control. To show 

 people how to do this it becomes practically necessary for us to go 

 into the orcharding business. This was not our original intention, 

 but I have seen trees so badly infested with the scale that they were 

 practically dead, yet saved by proper methods. I can show you 

 good trees that would have died if left alone, and yet saved by 

 proper treatment. We found when we took up the subject of prun- 

 ing that we were engaging in a practical work to which little expert 

 attention had been given in this State. We can't expect a tree to 

 produce good fruit which is in such bad shape that its branches die 

 or leaves become diseased. We obtain the best results from trees 

 that are pruned. Mr. Hale spoke of thinning fruit by means of 

 pruning. We find that necessary. In spraying for the scale, most 

 men have overlooked the necessity of pruning, or have not under- 

 stood that the one accompanies the other to get good results. If 

 the tree be infested, destroy the scale, and then keep the tree in- 

 vigorated until it recovers from the effects. 



We must keep the leaves healthy, and to do this, we must spray 

 with Bordeaux mixture. Consequently in our method of demon- 



