526 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



bulletins but bas sent demonstrators all over tbe St .te to show 

 the people how to do the work. Whoever loses trees or has poor 

 fruit for want of combatting orchard pests at this late day deserves 

 CO better. 



While we have not wholly passed the experimental stage of spray- 

 ing, enough is known, and at the command of every one, to enable 

 the wide-awake to save his trees and to have good fruit. 



Spraying has resolved itself into a business proposition. Does it 

 pay? 



Spraying is the price we must pay for fruit. Can you buy cheaper 

 than raise it? That depends upon the man with the nozzle. Like 

 in other activities some succeed and' others fail. 



I sometimes think the scale insects have come to us like a blessing 

 in disguise. It has put lazy men and trees producing worthless 

 fruit out of business, clearing the way for the intelligent and thrifty. 

 It is the old story if the survival of the fittest. 



There are those who wait for parasites to clean out the scale. To 

 my mind unless the spraying is set in motion, the scale will do the 

 clearing long before the parasites are due. The parasites will come, 

 but the wise man will not sit down and whine, but he ^dll hustle 

 and fight and hold the field until the parasite reserves arrive. 



What did we do with the potato beetle, we fought and fought for 

 years, we raised potatoes, finer and better year after year, our war- 

 fare on the bettle was a success, and what do we behold, the para- 

 site has come to relieve the spraj^er. 



But the sprayer is needed in the potato field as much as ever to 

 combat the blights. So in the horticultural field, if the scale should 

 disappear in a year the sprayer would continue to be a necessary ad- 

 junct. 



Coming to the thinning of fruit there are several things and 

 conditions precedent. On tall trees the work can not be done ex- 

 peditiously or profitably. Trees should be trained to form low 

 heads. Open, low headed and wide spreading trees are the only 

 kind the progressive fruit grower can have. In planting keep this 

 in vicAV from the start, and if you have skyscrapers reduce the 

 height to within a reasonable reach. By so doing one will be in a 

 better condition to spray thoroughly, to thin the fruit and to gather 

 it. 



Some varieties seem to be persistent biennial bearers. This is 

 largely due to overbearing in the fruit year. All the vitality of the 

 tree is required to carry out the fruit and the trees fail to make 

 buds for the succeeding year. Hence the so-called "off year." It 

 seems that this condition can be changed by restricting the tree to 

 moderate fruiting. I know this is a mooted proposition, but unless 

 we have positive proof the contrary it seems worthy of trial. I 

 also knov.' that other conditions such as feeding and tillage will 

 enter into this question. As in the matter spraying so in the matter 

 of thinning fruit, it resolves itself into a business proposition. Will 

 it pay? This depends on different things, but the principal one de- 

 pends on the owner of the trees. 



Choice fruit costs a good deal to produce, and for this, one must 

 have a market calling for something extra, or the grower will be a 

 loser. Choice fruit, if placed in attractive packages is always in 



