116 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE VARIOUS PHASES OF SPRAYING. 

 BY MR. WM. A. SMITH OF BENTON HARBOR. 



As horticultural productions increase, the enemies that feed and breed 

 upon them increase in like proportion. As the land becomes denuded of 

 forest timber, many of these insects seek and find shelter and breeding 

 places in our orchards and berry patches. These are mainly divided into 

 two classes, those that take their food and nourishment by eating the 

 foliage and fruits, and those that live by sucking the juices of the fruit 

 and plant. Of the formtsr class, the potato bug and slug, the tent cater- 

 pillar, canker worm, and currant worm, are familiar examjjles; while the 

 San Jose scale, plant lice, squash bugs, etc., are peculiar to those of the 

 second class. While the eating insects can be in a measure controlled 

 and destroyed by a judicious system of spraying, the other class must be 

 treated in some other way. The system of spraying has now become so 

 general, I might almost say universal, there is no longer any secret in its 

 application nor doubt of its good results if properly and judiciously 

 applied. 



The first spraying practiced in this locality was done some nine or ten 

 years ago. The pump used was a rotary one, procured from a saloon 

 where it had done service pumping beer. Whether it had become demor- 

 alized in this service I can't say, but it failed to give satisfaction in field 

 work; yet in both cases it doubtless destroyed animal and insect life. 

 The next pump introduced here was the Lockport force-pump, some speci- 

 mens of which are still in use. Since then many different forms and 

 many improvements have been introduced, so that now the machinery is 

 well nigh complete. There is now no longer any excuse for fruitgrow- 

 ers, in this locality at least, being without this adjunct of their business, 

 as pumps can be procured, and these of the best style and action, in this 

 immediate vicinity. In the case of caterpillars and cankerworms, spray- 

 ing is doubtless the most economical and sure remedy. Certain parts 

 of this county have been infested for years with the destroying canker- 

 worm. Not long ago I visited an apple orchard of some 200 old, large 

 trees. These trees looked as though a fire had swept over every branch. 

 Another orchard in the immediate vicinity had been sprayed three times, 

 and that remained healthy, though some trees near the line were affected 

 somewhat. In this case the crop of fruit for this year is utterly 

 destroyed, and the pros})ects for a fruit crop next year is not much bet- 

 ter; because the foliage must be renewed before the necessary prepara- 

 tion can be made for the next crop of fruit. 



The cankerworm does its work upon the foliage of the tree, the codlin 

 moth upon the fruit. ^Vhile the former does its work mainly in the 

 spring, when the foliage is young aud tender, the latter continues its 

 work during the whole summer; and how to save the crop from this per- 

 sistent enemy has baffled some of our best fruitgrowers. Years ago we 

 were taught that there was but one brood of these insects, and that the 



