EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 279 



PRUNING. 



Tn case an orchard has become infested with scale, it will greatly sim- 

 plify the work of spraying if the trees are first thoroughly pruned. All 

 surplus branches should be removed and the ends of the leading shoots 

 should be cut back. In case the trees are badly infested so that serious 

 injury has been done to the branches, it will be well to cut them back to 

 where the wood is reasonably sound. In the case of peach trees, it will 

 always be well to head back rather more than with other trees and thus 

 not only form a new head but to keep it nearer the ground so as to 

 facilitate spraying, thinning and gathering the fruit. By pruning the 

 trees in this way, it will not only make it possible to lessen the cost of 

 labor and material for spraying but it will greatly assist in securing 

 thorough and effectual work. 



SPRAYING FOR THE SCALE. 



When an orchard has become infested, the only way of controlling the 

 ravages of the scale is to spray the trees with some substance that will 

 destroy it. The question is often asked as to whether it will pay to spray 

 all of the trees in an orchard in case it is known that the scale has been 

 found upon only a few of them. The treatment would vary to some ex- 

 tent with the kind of tree, as certain varieties are more injured than 

 others. In the case of peach trees which are quickly injured and upon 

 which the scale spreads very rapidly, it will always be well to spray 

 the trees in an orchard that are in the vicinity of those known to be 

 infested. The same rule will hold true with most varieties of plums and 

 pears and in young apple orchards containing Baldwin and Duchess and 

 other varieties that are especially subject to attack. The idea of this 

 treatment is to prevent the injury to the trees that often occurs if the 

 scale is allowed, for a single season, to develop upon the trees. In con- 

 sidering the benefit of the spraying, one should take into account the 

 value of the treatment in controlling fungous diseases. If sulphur 

 and lime is used, and this at the present time seems to be the only 

 remedy that is in any way effectual, the value of the application as a 

 fungicide will be worth all that it costs. This is one of the best remedies 

 known for the control of the leaf-curl of the peach as well as for the 

 destruction of the spores of apple-scab, brown-rot, leaf-blight and other 

 fungous diseases. It has been known for several years that it is well 

 worth while to spray fruit trees, of all kinds, with Bordeaux mixture 

 before growth starts in the spring. An application of sulphur and 

 lime will not only serve for the destruction of the San Jose scale, but it 

 will render it unnecessary to spray with Bordeaux mixture before the 

 buds open. 



When sulphur and lime has been used upon fruit trees, it tends to 

 remove the rough bark, moss and lichens, and the bark takes on a fresh, 

 healthy appearance. In fact, trees that have been for a single season 

 infested with scale, and then sprayed with sulphur and lime, present 

 a much healthier appearance than other trees of the same varieties and 

 growing under similar conditions that have neither been infested nor 

 sprayed. 



