EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 109 



ORCHARD SPRAYING. 



The growers of first class fruits are of the opinion that to secure the 

 best results it is necessary to thoroughly spray the trees with a fungi- 

 cide. For this purpose Bordeaux mixture is generally used. Some 

 varieties require more attention than others, but one or two applica- 

 tions can always be made to advantage, and in the case of certain va- 

 rieties from five to seven treatments will be found very profitable in 

 seasons favorable to the development of fungi. 



The benefit is not alone in the improvement in the appearance of the 

 fruit, owing to its freedom from blemishes due to work of insects and 

 diseases, but one or two applications early in the season will often result 

 in preventing the loss of the crop. If the weather is cold and wet at 

 the time the trees blossom, fungi not infrequently attack and destroy 

 the blossoms or young fruits. INIany cases are known where large crops 

 have been secured from orchards that have always been unfruitful, and 

 the fruit has sold at from two to three dollars per barrel, while that 

 from the average unsprayed orchard has not been worth gathering. 



Much injury has been done in recent years to the apple crop by the 

 coddling motli, even when the trees have been sprayed, but the failures 

 have been due to a lack of thoroughness or to limiting the spraying to a 

 single application just after the blossoms have fallen. The greatest in- 

 jury has been done by the second brood, which appears about the middle 

 of August, and which will not be affected by a spraying given in June. 

 While one application about the first of August might answer, the best 

 results have been secured by spraying during the last week in July and 

 again two weeks later. 



For many years we have advised spraying apple, and, in fact, all 

 fruit trees as soon as the fruit has set, and repeating the application 

 upon everything except the peach, in twelve to fifteen days. Although 

 this advise was based upon actual experience, many have contended that 

 there was no benefit from spraying apple trees for the codling moth 

 after the calvx lobes had closed and the fruits turned down. During 

 the last year or two experiments in several states have demonstrated 

 the wisdom of the advice we have repeatedly given, so far as the codling 

 moth is concerned, and especially when fungi are troublesome, the use 

 of Bordeaux mixture is so desirable for their control that spraying with 

 a combined fungicide and insecticide at intervals during the season, from 

 the middle of May to the middle of August, cannot be too strongly rec- 

 ommended. 



ARSENITES AND THEIR USE. 



Paris green has been most generally used for the destruction of leaf- 

 eating insects, but it is difficult to keep in suspension, and it does not 

 adhere well and besides it is not only likely to injure the foliage, but 

 the price has nearly trebled in the last ten years. For twelve years we 

 have been making use of white arsenic as a substitute. This costs but 

 one-fourth as much per pound, while it contains double the amount of 

 arsenious oxide. Arsenic is slightly soluble in water and will burn the 

 foliage unless united with some base with w'hich it will form a stable 

 compound. The cheapest is quick-lime, and one merely needs to boil 



