Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



April 



sulphur, can be used without danger of 

 serious spray injury or sulphur burn- 

 ing on the fruit. After this time, how- 

 ever, tiiere is considerable risk in 

 applying sulphur in any form. In cool 

 seasons injury may be escaped, but cool 

 seasons can seldom be expected in re- 

 gions such as the Wenatchee, Yakima 

 and Walla Walla districts. If subse- 

 quent spraying is necessary, and if 

 growers are most anxious to check the 

 disease and at the same time are willing 

 to stand some loss of fruit on the south 

 side of the trees, continued spraying 

 with lime-sulphur diluted 1 to 50 %vill 

 bring best results. But if fruit burning 

 is to be avoided the gro^ver must use 

 other than sulphur sprays, even though 

 they are less efficient, and take a chance 

 on the mildew control he may establish. 

 The spray found best suited to this 

 purpose in the Wenatchee experiments 

 is ammoniacal copper carbonate, which 

 may be prepared by dissolving five 

 ounces of commercial copper carbonate 

 in three pints of 25-per-cent ammonia 

 (previously diluted in several times as 

 much water) and finally adding to fifty 

 gallons of water. Neutral Bordeaux 

 mixture doubtless would prove as 

 effective as the ammoniacal copper car- 

 bonate, and under some conditions 

 might be cheaper. This material may 

 be prepared by dissolving four pounds 

 copper sulphate, or bluestone, in water 

 for each fifty gallons of spray to be 

 used. The bluestone is brought into 

 solution most easily by suspending the 

 required amount in a clean gunny-sack 

 just beneath the surface of a measured 

 quantity of water in a barrel and allow- 

 ing it to stand for twenty-four hours. 



Fkii'RE 6 — Piyor Red npple, showing sulphur 

 injury, the type of injury which may be 

 expected to follow applications of sulphur 

 sprays after the advent of hot weather in the 

 arid valleys of the Pacific Northwest. 



A quantity of stone lime should be 

 slaked in another vessel and water 

 added to make a thin paste. When 

 ready to spray the required amount of 

 the bluestone solution may be added to 

 the tank and diluted with a quantity of 

 water. Lime water, from the stock 

 solution above described, should then 

 be added, the mixture being well stirred 

 or agitated meanwhile, until the copper 

 sulphate or bluestone solution is just 

 neutralized. This is determined by 

 means of a test solution prepared by 

 dissolving a few cents' worth of potas- 

 sium ferrocyanide (which may be se- 

 cured at a drug store) in a bottle of 



water. A drop of this test solution 

 added to the bluestone solution before 

 the latter is neutralized produces a dark 

 reddish-brown color. When the re- 

 quired amount of lime has been added 

 no change of color occurs upon the 

 addition of the test solution. Water 

 should then be added to bring the spray 

 material to the desired strength — ordi- 

 narily four pounds of copper sulphate 

 being used for each fifty gallons of 

 spray. Neutral Bordeaux thus prepared 

 is similar in fungicidal properties to 

 ordinary Bordeaux mixture (though not 

 generally efficient over as extended a 

 period), but without the staining effect 

 of the latter. 



It should be emphasized that no real 

 substitute for the sulphur sprays for 

 mildew control have been devised and 

 that the copper sprays are merely a 

 more costly and makeshift supplement 

 to be used during the period of hot, 

 burning sunlight, when sulphur sprays 

 are unsafe to apply. The importance 

 of early and thorough spraying with 

 lime-sulphur during the spring, when 

 best progress can be made, should 

 therefore be apparent. 



In spraying it is iinportant to cover 

 every part of the leaves and twigs, and 

 special attention should be given to the 

 terminals. A pressure of 200 to 250 

 pounds should be maintained, or suffi- 

 cient to drive the spray in a fine mist 

 through the tops of the trees. High 

 pressure is especially important if spray 

 materials are used which have poor 

 spreading qualities, or a tendency to 

 gather in drops and run off. Eddy- 

 chamber or "whirlpool" nozzles of the 

 "driving-mist" type should be used. 



Early Prospects for Northwest Fruit Are Promising 



BELIEVING that readers of Better 

 Fruit will be interested in know- 

 ing what the early prospects for 

 fruit in the Northwest are we are pub- 

 lishing a summary in this issue secured 

 from those who are in direct touch with 

 conditions as they exist in the various 

 districts. The reports received indicate 

 that the situation is very promising, 

 although the more conservative issue a 

 warning note that the season is early 

 and that care and thought must be exer- 

 cised to secure the maximum result. 

 The reports are as follows: 



Yakima Situation Good 



Yakima, March 30. 

 Better Fruit : 



The prospects were never brighter 

 for a bumper fruit crop in the Y^akima 

 valley than at present. To begin with, 

 there has been an abundance of moist- 

 ure throughout the winter, and officials 

 of the U. S. Reclamation Service assert 

 that there is ample storage water in the 

 reservoirs and on the snow-capped 

 slopes of the Cascades for liberal use 

 throughout the spring and summer 

 months. It is further stated that even 

 should there be an unusually dry sum- 

 mer, storage water will be sufficient to 

 supply the needs of orchardists and 

 farmers throughout this section. 



Last year there was produced in this 



valley approximately 7,000 carloads of 

 apples, 140 cars of prunes, 2,000 cars of 

 pears, 700 cars of peaches, 100 cars of 

 cherries, CO cars of strawberries, and 

 200 cars of mixed fruits. These, to- 

 gether with 325 cars of watermelons 

 and cantaloupes, 40 cars of grapes and 

 5 cars of apricots, had a total valuation 

 of slightly more than .?12,000,000. Con- 

 servative estimates place the fruit crop 

 of the Yakima valley for 1919 at 50 to 

 GO per cent in excess of these figures. 

 As a matter of fact, indications now 

 point to the largest fruit crop in the 

 history of this valley. Some of the 

 oldest fruit gi'owers predict that there 

 will be from 11,000 to 12,000 carloads 

 of apples alone, in the proportion of 

 about 60 per cent Winesaps, 25 per 

 cent Jonathans and 15 per cent mixed 

 varieties. 



Spraying operations are just now 

 being conducted on a large scale, and 

 there is a tendency on the part of all 

 growers to improve their orchards so 

 as to produce only the very highest 

 quality of fruit. As 1918 was an off 

 year, in which the crop was only about 

 65 per cent normal, it is held by those 

 best familiar with climatic and crop 

 conditions that nothing short of dam- 

 aging frosts can prevent the valley from 

 reaching the maximum production this 

 year. 



A recent survey of orchard acreage 

 in the Yakima valley, comprising the 

 lands adjacent to the Yakima and 

 Naches Rivers and those under the 

 Tieton, Wapato, Sunnyside and Grand- 

 view irrigation projects, show that 

 there will be a total acreage of apples 

 in full bearing amounting to 60,000, 

 with 2,500 acres of peaches and pears, 

 and nearly 2,000 acres of prunes. It is 

 estimated that there is yet to come into 

 bearing approximately 2,500 acres of 

 young apple orchards. 



Great preparations are being made in 

 Yakima and the nearby shipping points 

 to provide adequate warehouse facili- 

 ties to care for the coming crop. Im- 



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