SPRAYING THIO APPLE ORCHARD. 169 



Some of you have perhaps heard of the acre of vegetables near Kan- 

 sas City that produfetl nearly $1,400 worth of produce two years ago. 

 Give all our acres the same care and it would take less than 160 to feed 

 and keep a small local town. 



SPRAYING THE APPLE ORCHARD. 

 C. G. Marshall. 



There are many different insects and fungous diseases that do injury 

 to apple trees and their fruit in Nebraska. The two most troublesome 

 are the apple scab and codling moth worm, one a disease and the other an 

 insect. In controlling these two most troublesome pests the many others 

 are caught incidentally, so that these two are all that it is necessary to 

 keep in mind when spraying. 



It is not necessary to go into details as to the life histories of these 

 pests, or to take up and discuss at length the advantage of fighting them. 

 The fact that our orchards are infested with these pests confronts *us, 

 and the question is how to successfully combat them with the least 

 trouble and expense. We are not so much concerned about how they 

 come into the country and how they are perpetuated as we are about 

 how and when they work and the sprays to use in fighting them success- 

 fully. 



The necessity of making this phase of the orchard work a part of the 

 plan in carrying out the details connected with growing of good fruit has 

 been emphasized by the many experiment station publications, and by the 

 agricultural press in general. It is recognized by the up-to-date fruit 

 grower and farmer as a feature of the work connected with successful 

 fruit culture that is just as important as cultivation and pruning. In fact, 

 the commercial apple grower in many sections would rather dispense with, 

 for a single season, either cultivation or pruning, or both, than with 

 spraying. 



Apple scab is a disease that develops on the leaves, flowers, and fruit 

 when the wetther conditions are favorable. It starts to grow in the 

 flowers as soon as they are open if damp, cool weather prevails, making 

 them weak and easily killed by spring frosts, and it also weakens the 

 stems, causing the fruit to drop off badly after it has set. In addition to 

 this injury the fruit may be affected and marred badly by the time it 

 reaches maturity. On account of dry weather scab has been unusually 

 scarce in Nebraska the past two seasons. Almost every season of ordi- 

 nary rainfall it is very troublesome and should be guarded against every 

 season. 



Two materials may be used to control the scab. Bordeaux mixture 

 and lime-sulphur. Lime-sulphur is less apt to burn or russet the fruit 

 and leaves, and is now usually preferred. A common test for the com- 

 mercial product is 32 degrees Baume. This should be diluted about 35 

 times with water. Bordeaux mixture is made by slaking 4 pounds of 

 quick lime in a little water and diluting to 25 gallons, then combining 



