SPRAYING 151 



Mr. Cooper: I would like to say this, that the size of the apple does 

 not necessarily mean whether or not it is first or second class apple. We 

 have of lots of apples that are not two and three inches, and if they are 

 packed in these special packages make a very attractive grade, and they 

 will command as large a price in the markets as any other pack. One kind 

 of pack is bringing higher prices than others and they will bring larger 

 prices than any other pack, no matter what size it is. So I think we had 

 better confine ourselves to quality rather than to the size of the apple. 



The Chairman: We passed one subject yesterday without a discus- 

 sion, and that is a discussion on spraying, which is a matter we are per- 

 haps more deeply interested in even than the package, and we will call 

 this matter up and ask A. C. Marshall, if he is present, to lead the dis- 

 cussion on spraying. Mr. Marshall not seeming to be here, I will call on 

 Mr. Duncan for some remarks on this subject. 



SPRAYING DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Duncan: We have been spraying now in a commercial way only 

 the last three years, and we have been using arsenate of lead, and lime 

 sulphur in our spraying. I think we started with lime sulphui:, were the 

 first ones in our town, and we used the first year, if I remember right, a 

 preparation of 1 to 37i/^, but we found in our succeeding seasons that the 

 weaker solution is better. We sprayed three or four times in the course 

 of a year, and we found that the last three years there has not been any 

 apple scabs to amount to anything. Of course in a dry year we have not 

 had to spray for anything except the worms. We have about 135 acres 

 under our control now, and we have some orchards that are pretty badly 

 infected with codling moth. The first year, of course, it was an uphill 

 job to control the codling moth, but this last season we sprayed three times 

 only and we had so much other work we could not get our spraying done 

 the first time over. We sprayed the calyx spray, that is just when the 

 petals are falling. Ten or fifteen days later we gave it a combined spray. 

 Now most of the people have advocated a combined spray at the time that 

 the petals are falling. Well we find that a combined spray throughout the 

 season has not injured our fruit in any way, and the trees seem to have 

 a more vigorous and healthy foliage, and the foliage stays on the trees 

 better. A big apple buyer was in our orchard last fall and after he came 

 back from Kansas and Missouri, he said that the foliage in our orchard 

 was the best and cleanest of any orchard he had been in. Now as to 

 giving you the cost of spraying, and the percentages and such as that, 

 I could not give you that, because I haven't the figures with me of any 

 one of our orchards. We have six buyers from different sections, Chi- 

 cago, and Minneapolis and different cities, and they said that was the 

 cleanest bunch of apples they saw this fall, and when it came to culling 

 for worms, I do not think we had to cull for any worms hardly at all. 

 That seems to have been one of the greatest things, it has been with us 

 any way in the last year. 



