EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 463 



SPRAYING CALENDAR FOR 1898. 



BY L. R. TAFT. 



Bulletin 155. — Horticultural Department. 



There seems to be each year an increase in the number of insects and 

 diseases by which fruit and other plants are affected, and it is fortunate 

 that for most of them we have at hand remedies that are effective and 

 that can be cheaply applied. While in some cases and in certain »ea 

 sons spraying is not actually a necessity, it will seldom be found that 

 spraying to some extent cannot be done with profit. In many cases it 

 happens that one preparation will be effectual against a number of in- 

 sects or diseases, and we are often able to combine and apply at one time 

 remedies against both insects and diseases. This greatly lessens the 

 expense of spraying. 



In order to be most effectual, the remedies against insects should be 

 applied when they first appear, as if allowed to make their full growth 

 they are much more difficult to kill, and in the meantime may do much 

 harm. This is of even greater importance with fungous diseases, as they 

 work for the most part within the soft portions of the plants, and the 

 remedies must be used as preventives if at all. Thoroughness must 

 also be insisted upon, as, if any portions of the plants are not properly 

 sprayed, the insects? that feed there will not be destroyed, and the spores 

 of the various fungi will readily gain entrance. 



Particularly in spraying large trees large and powerful pumps should be 

 used. They will make it possible to reach all parts of the trees. The 

 Vermorel, Bordeaux, McGowan and other nozzles form a fine, mist-like 

 spray, and not only aid in the distribution of the spraying material, but 

 do so in an economical manner. 



SPRAYING CALENDAR. 



For all fruits subject to the attack of fungous diseases, the application 

 of a spray of strong copper sulphate solution (one pound in from fifteen 

 to twenty-five gallons of water) early in the spring before the buds open, 

 is desirable, as it will destroy the spores that have passed the winter 

 upon the trees. This application is sometimes omitted and the first 

 spraying is with Bordeaux mixture, after the growth has started, but 

 before the flower buds have opened. One of the above can generally be 

 used with profit, and both will repay the expense if fungous diseases 

 have been troublesome the previous year. As soon as the petals have 



