RECENT ADVANCEMENT IN HORTICULTURE. 139 



from tlie road to have about as good a crop of apples as the 

 adjacent orchard. Closer examination, however, showed that 

 from the road the frnit showed up better than it actually 

 was in the unsprayed orchard. Most of the leaves had dropepd 

 from the trees and those that remained were dying and wilt- 

 ing, and this gave opportunity for what fruit there was to 

 shine out more vividly than did the apples on the rich green, 

 foliage trees of the sprayed orchard. A search for show fruit, 

 however, showed that on the trees in the sprayed orchard 

 splendid show specimens could be secured. Search for show 

 specimens in the unsprayed orchard revealed the fact that 

 upon close examination almost every apple was more or less 

 affected with "scab" or "curculio" or by "codling moth" or 

 other insects and diseases. Hardly a show specimen could be 

 found in an orchard, that from the road looked to be carrying 

 a good crop of fruit. The gentleman who owned the sprayed 

 orchard took the first prize in his own state for the best York 

 Imperial and Gano apples. His neighbor who did not spray 

 did not take a single premium of any kind for a single variety. 

 The fruit was judged side by side by men who knew nothing 

 of the orchards and nothing of the care that was given the 

 orchards, or Avhy the fruit in one case was superior to the 

 other. 



When' buyers examined the fruit of these two orchards, the 

 orchardist who sprayed had fruit which nearly all went into 

 barrels, and a very small per cent of culls left. The orchardist 

 who did not spray found one-half of his fruit sorted out as 

 culls, and the other half could not compare in quality to the 

 crop of his neighbor who sprayed. 



It is impossible, then, by casual observation from a distance 

 to pass by an orchard and form a correct opinion as to whether 

 the fruit in it has profited by spraying or whether it has not. 



It was not my purpose to go into the details of when and 

 how to spray apples. Your own state experiment station has 

 sent out excellent bulletins giving instructions along this 

 line. The Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, 

 has been equally active in sending out similar publications. 



