30 THE CONTROL OF APPLE BlTTER-ROT. 



given in a letter from Mr. MacGregor, dated November !(», 1905, as 

 follows: 



In reply to yours of October 31, I do not know the exact dates of spraying. In 

 the part where the most spraying was done the first ai>plicati<jn was made about 

 April 15, followed by others on May 7, June 1, and at .intervals of from 13 to 17 days 

 thereafter until September 1, making nine applications in all. Practically no rot 

 appeared on this part. On trees not sprayed till June 1 the rot might be 3 per cent, 

 but not more. On -three trees not sprayed August 1, but which received all the 

 other applications, no difference was noted. Applications must l^e thorough. Some 

 of our trees had only a few apples, and to save time we tried to spray them only in 

 July and August. Result, 2.5 per cent bitter-rot at least. 



The orchard of Messrs. J. W. Kodes and Sons is located in the Rock- 

 tish Valley, about eighteen miles from Afton, Va. Mr. Rodes corre- 

 sponded with the Bureau of Plant Industry concerning the treatment 

 of the bitter-rot disease, and on July ^^ the writer visited the orchard. 

 The appearance of the trees indicated that they had been thoroughly 

 sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, and on that date Mr. Rodes was 

 spraying the tops of his tallest trees with an extra long extension rod, 

 made by joining two rods of his outfit into one. He realized the 

 importance of reaching every fruit with the mixture. With the 

 exception of an occasional diseased fruit the sprayed portion of the 

 crop throughout the orchard was free from bitter-rot. However, on 

 one side of the orchard a fence interfered with the spraying, and 

 about one-third of the crop on each of several trees could not be easily 

 reached. In every such case the unsprayed section of the tree showed 

 a senous outbreak of bitter-rot. A letter from Mr. S. T. Rodes, 

 dated at Bryant, Va., November 3, 1905, and giving a statement of the 

 treatment and the results obtained follows: 



Yours of October 31 to hand and contents noted. In reply will say we sprayed 

 our orchard of 27-5 Albemarle Pippins six times for bitter-rot, starting on the dates 

 given below and finishing as soon as possible. [Mr. Rodes then names the dates of 

 commencing six successive sprayings, as follows: June 15, July 3, 15, and 31, August 

 17 and 30.] 



Where we could get at the trees and made the six applications there was no bitter- 

 rot worth mentioning — scarcely any at all. Some trees that we could not spray on 

 both sides on account of the fence showed quite a difference, the side sprayed hav- 

 ing nice, clean apples, clear from cloud and rot, the fruit on the other side, unsprayed, 

 being clouded and nearly all infested with the bitter-rot. 



Two years ago I believe the trees bore as many apples as they did this year. We 

 did not spray them, however, and gathered only 56 barrels. From the same trees 

 this year, but well sprayed inside and out, we gathered 1,142 barrels of No. 1 

 Pippins. 



In unsprayed and poorly sprayed orchards in the Rockfish Valley 

 bitter-rot was exceedingly bad, and there can be no doubt that the 

 freedom from the disease in the sprayed orchards was due entirely to 

 the treatment. 



