SPRAYING DEMONSTRATIONS. 287 



from .6 cent to .8 cent per gallon where power sprayers were used, and 

 about one and a half cents per gallon where hand pumps were used, aver- 

 aging a trifle over a cent a gallon. The total cost of both material 

 and labor for spraying 2,175 trees five times was only a little over 21 

 cents per tree, the trees averaging about eighteen years old. The cost 

 varied from 12 cents to 33 cents per tree, depending upon the age of the 

 trees, the conveniences for mixing materials, the kinds of pumps used, 

 and the like. The average cost was a little over four cents per tree 

 for each spraying. (Pages 265-271.) 



Records made at the end of the season from the entire crops of 37 

 sprayed trees and 39 unsprayed ones in the different orchards, including 

 observations on over 110,000 fruits showed 22 per cent of wormy apples 

 on sprayed trees and 46 per cent on unsprayed ones. Of the sprayed 

 fruits 6 per cent and of the unsprayed fruits 38 per cent were scabby. 

 (Pages 271-273.) 



During the fall the foliage of the sprayed trees was much healthier 

 than that of the unsprayed ones. In many cases, from 50 per cent to 

 75 per cent of the foliage of the unsprayed trees was on the ground 

 early in October and in some instances the trees were almost completely 

 defoliated at that time. Moreover, the leaves that remained on the 

 unsprayed trees were entirely killed by the frosts of early October. At 

 the same time the leaves of the sprayed trees were bright green, com- 

 paratively fi'ee from fungus diseases, and almost perfectly free from 

 frost injury, and very few had fallen to the ground. (Pages 273, 274.) 



The entire crop of fruit from 205 sprayed trees and 71 unsprayed 

 ones in the different orchards was gathered and classified into "mer- 

 chantable fruit," "culls," and "windfalls." The merchantable fruit was 

 such as the owners were able to market in the ordinary ways, and 

 the culls and windfalls were such as were fit only for vinegar factories 

 and the like. The average yield of the sprayed trees was 8.4 bushels 

 per tree, and of the unsprayed trees 6.6 bushels per tree. The smaller 

 yield of the unsprayed trees was due in part to the smaller size of the 

 individual fruits and in part probably to the dropping of many fruits 

 early in the season. The culls amounted to 8 per cent of the total 

 crop of sprayed fruit and to 23 per cent in case of the unsprayed fruit. 

 The windfalls, likewise, were 17 per cent and 34 per cent for sprayed 

 and unsprayed fruit respectively. The total value of the unsprayed 

 fruit averaged 80 cents per tree, while for the sprayed trees the average 

 value was $1.87. Subtracting from the latter the average cost of spray- 

 ing, 21 cents per tree, there remains a net value of $1.66 per tree for 

 the sprayed fruit against 80 cents per tree for the unsprayed fruit, or a 

 direct gain from spraying of 86 cents per tree. On land worth $100 per 

 acre, the unsprayed fruit produced an average return of about $40 per 

 acre above the cost of harvesting, and the sprayed fruit on the same 

 land gave an average return of over $80 per acre above the cost of 

 harvesting and of spraying. If it pays to grow apples at all. it pays to 

 spray them! (Pages 274-286.) 



