Miscellaneous. 16l 



My deductions from the year's spraying experience is to spray 

 before the bloom, immediately after the bloom, and at least twice 

 more the latter part of June and the first half of July. Use at 

 least one-half more of Paris green and one-fourth less copper sul- 

 phate. Use at least six pounds of well slaked lime to fifty gallons 

 of water. Do the work more thoroughly than ever before, and you 

 may expect results that will be gratifying. 



CULTIVATION. 



Cultivate before the first spraying with the disc harrow, if 

 the land is in condition to do so, and also while the trees are out 

 in bloom and you cannot spray. Then, when the second spray is 

 on, go at the cultivation again, and, if necessary, postpone the 

 third spraying until you get the land in good condition with the 

 disc. Continue cultivation up to the first of July, and, if land is 

 not in suitable condition, continue till July 15, but during July do 

 not run the harrow deeper than three inches. I have noted three 

 instances, when cultivation was continued into the last of July or 

 the first part of August and the disc running four to six inches 

 deep, that the fruit on the orchards so treated matured early and 

 dropped from the trees badly. Besides, the fruit lacked quality in 

 color and otherwise. 



HARVESTING THE CROP. 



Now here is where nearly all of us fell down this season: 

 There were reports of a large crop of apples everywhere in the 

 early part of the season, and the fruit grower lent his voice to the 

 glad acclaim. The frosts of the 9th of May came along and the 

 fruit grower lost his voice and the echos of the glad refrain were 

 taken up by the buyer, and the chorus was so strong that even 

 some of the growers were again converted to believe that there 

 was a bumper fruit crop. It is all right to express your feelings 

 when you feel good, but would it not be as well to heed Davy 

 Crockett's advice to be sure you're right, then go ahead. Did we 

 not overdo this matter of a bumper crop to our own disadvantage 

 and contrary to the real facts? If we could have found our voice 

 when the frost levied its toll on the crop in the early spring time, 

 but we swallowed the lump in our throat and said never a word. 

 We failed to correct a wrong impression until it was too late. The 

 fruit grower hates to admit that his crop is not as large as he 

 had given out, so the opportunity was lost. If the crop is in- 



H— 11 



