No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 187 



misty spray, that it will be thoroughly distributed through every 

 part of tree, bust or vine, leaving no part uncovered or uprooted 

 from the ravages of insects or infection by fungi. 



When shall we spray? Fruit, for scale, fungi, leaf curl, etc., 

 while the tree is dormant, anytime after the leaves drop in the fall 

 of the year until the buds expand in the spring. At this season the 

 tree, having no foliage to destract, every limb and twig can be 

 reached by the spray, thus destroying all insects and fungi much 

 better than in summer. 



For masticating insects, the best time is just after the bloom 

 drops. It might be done while in bloom, but it does in some in- 

 stances interfere with proper polinization, and destroys one of the 

 best insect friends the fruit raiser has, the honey bee. Wait until 

 the petals fall then spray at once, as the time is short between the 

 dropping of the petals and the closing of the calyx, and a few days 

 delay would be fatal to success. That this second spraying should 

 be done at just the right time is very important, as far as the codling 

 moth is concerned, and should be done inside of ten days, as 

 after the calyx closes it prevents the lodgement of poison, which to 

 be effectual, a small portion must be inside the cavity. The codling 

 moth passes the winter in the pupa state. At the proper time in 

 the spring it is transformed into the moth miller which lays its 

 eggs on the small fruit or nearby leaf. As soon as the warm sun 

 hatches the young insect, it seeks shelter by crawling into the closed 

 calyx and there takes its first meal. If any poison is there its career- 

 is soon ended, but if not, then the young worm feeds a few days in 

 the cavity before tunneling into the core of the fruit, which soon 

 loses vitality, becomes yellow and falls to the ground. The larvae 

 then eats its way out, seeks some secluded place, spins itself into 

 its cocoon, passes the pupa stage, and again emerges and produces 

 the second crop of codling moths, showing the importance of doing 

 effectual work in the spring. 



There is more failure through lack of thoroughness than almost 

 any other cause. You need not spray until it drips from the foliage 

 and runs down the limbs and trunk, but every part must be thor- 

 oughly moistened. Many orchardists do not know what thorough- 

 ness means. A short time back I read an article in a horticultural 

 paper by a fruit grower in the West, stating that an orchard of 20 

 acres can be best treated by a hand pump, but for larger orchards 

 by using a sprocket gearing attached to the wheel, a pressure of from 

 80 to 120 pounds could be maintained, and with such a machine with 

 two lines of hose, 4 nozzles, two men and one boy, from GO to 100 

 acres could be sprayed in one day. This is very nice in theory, but 

 when you endeavor to put it into practice you see the fallacy. For 

 instance, one acre planted 35 by 35 gives 35 trees per acre; 100 acres 



