"^'5 



BETTER FRUIT 



Pa"e 1 1 



Proper and Thorough Spraying Immeasurably Beneficial 



THE devout preacher says, "Let us 

 pray." The successl'ul orcharilisi 

 says, "Let us spray." We need 

 alway.s to pray, but proper and tlior- 

 nugh spiaying will liel)) the pia\ers 

 iinmeasuiably in the production of lirst- 

 class fruit. The exi)ense and troubk' of 

 spraying is not great if gone at at the 

 right time and in the right way, and 

 proper spraying is one of the great 

 tilings whicli mark the diflferenee be- 

 Iween success and failure in the apple 

 business. The fellow who does not 

 "spray," "prune" and "thin" is the fel- 

 low who rai-ses cull apples. "In times 

 of peace prepare for war." Order your 

 spray materials in January or February 

 and get it on hand, then when the time 

 comes to use it you will not have delay. 

 .Also see to it that the spray outfit is in 

 good order long before you expect to 

 use it, then you will not have to wait 

 and fuss and fuddle and swear at the 

 other fellow when the right time comes 

 lo use it. There is a right time, and if 

 you spray then you will get the best 

 lesults, if \ ou do your work thoroughly, 

 and if you do not spray then you will 

 not get the best results. Mail a postal 

 card to the agi-icultural college of your 

 state and ask them for the "spray cal- 

 endar" for the current year. It will 

 give you some good information. 



There are four standard spray mate- 

 rials of proved value and they are all 

 \ ou need. Stay by them. Let the other 

 fellow do the experimenting. It is 

 expensive and uncertain. The four to 

 which I refei- are lime-sulphur, arse- 

 nate of lead, bordeaux mixture and 

 black-leaf "40." If these spray materials 

 :ire applied thoioughly and at the right 

 lime, there will be little or no need of 

 any others. L:der herein I will call 

 your attention to "the right time," but 

 first let us enumerate the principal pests 

 we have to look out for, and which 

 deposit their eggs upon some part of 

 I lie tree. The woolly aphis, which do 

 most of their damage upon the roots of 

 the trees, the green aphis and the black 

 aphis. The black aphis, however, is 

 said to be nothing more than the green 

 aphis a little later in the season, when 

 a certain snnd has formed upon the 

 honey-dew excretion of the aphis, 

 which makes the insect as well as the 

 foliage more or less dark colored. It 

 makes no difference whether they are 

 the same or not, the treatment would 

 lie the same. Then, in some localities, 

 there is what is called the purple aphis, 

 which appears early in the spring on 

 Ihe succulent leaves or fruit sprus and 

 the tips of tender shoots. These will 

 be ob.served, generally, on the under- 

 side of the leaves which are cuided up. 

 They are sometimes called the leaf- 

 curling aphis, but that name could as 

 well be ai)plied to the green aphis, so 

 it means nothing, (leneralh speaking, 

 the purple aphis will not be found in 

 the orchard after about the first of 

 .hme. These constitute the aphid or 

 tree lou.se familv, so far as the orchard- 



.l;i\ 1.. lU'jnnkls. Hoitk'liltiirist, Spokam-. Wnsliiii;; 



ist is conceincd, and all of them deposit 

 theii' eggs upon the tree in the fall of 

 the year, generalh' out on the ternunal 

 limbs. 



The bud moth is a ver\ small insect, 

 but a bad one economicall.N . It deposits 

 its eggs under the rough bark in the 

 crotches of the trees, and its eggs are 

 so minute and so nearlv the color of 

 the bark that they cannot be seen with 

 the naked eye, indeed it is almost 

 impossible to discover them with a 

 powerful magnifying glass. So you 

 may have them on your trees and not 

 know it. The larvue or worms eat into 

 the buds and destroy them. The result 

 is, no foliage or fruit where they have 

 done their work. 



The red spider is another minute 

 insect which feeds upon the buds and 

 leaves of the trees, and so devastating is 

 their work that economically it stands 

 the orchardist well in hand to be on the 

 lookout for them. They also deposit 

 their eggs upon the trees in the fall. 

 Then there is the tent caterpillar and 

 many other caterpillars and worms, the 

 eggs of all of which are deposited in 

 the fall. 



If you discovei' ai)his, bud moth or 

 red spider on your trees after the 

 foliage is out, spray with black-leaf 

 "40" according to the directions given 

 on the can. 



The San .lose scale, the oyster shell 

 bark louse and many othei" scales are 

 liable to appear, if they are not already 

 present, but remember that all of these 

 difl'erent insect pests and scales can be 

 more successfully combatted with lime- 

 sulphur solution if applied at the right 

 time in the spring. 



Lime-sulphur kills by contact and in- 

 stantl>-, very quickly losing its strength 

 in the open air, and the right time to 

 use it is when the buds begin to swell 

 in the sjjring so that the green shows a 

 little. The reason why this is the best 

 time and why we get the best results 

 from the use of lime-sulphur in com- 

 bating these insects at this time is be- 

 cause, when the weathei' is warm 

 enough to start the buds to growing 

 (swelling), it is also warm enough to 

 begin to hatch all these different 

 species of eggs and to loosen up these 

 scales. Then they are the most vulner- 

 able (tender) and are easily killed by 

 the application of the lime-sulphur 

 solution. But remember this: You 

 must get the lime-sulphur solution upon 

 these eggs and scales if you want to kill 

 them, so let me impress upon you the 

 necessity of thoroughness. Fungous 

 diseases, such as apple and pear scab, 

 haldwin spot or fruit spot, moss and 

 lichen, or any other spore-forming 

 fungi, can be successfully cond)ateil 

 with this material applied at this time. 

 The one spraying accomiilislies it all if 

 done with thoroughness and force, 

 except that with apple and pear scab 

 and haldwin spot, another spraying 

 .should be given with sunnner-strength 

 bordeaux when the apjiles are about 



the size of small marbles. It will be 

 better also to spra\ in autumn, jusi 

 after the leaves fall, with lime-sulphur 

 1 to 14 if scab and haldwin spot is 

 affecting your fruit. 



Spraying done in winter will do little 

 or no good. In fact it is a waste of 

 time and material, because these dis- 

 eases and scales and eggs of insects are 

 of just as much importance in the great 

 infinite cause of things as that of the 

 fruitgrower, and \()U will find them 

 wonderfull.\ and perfectly protected 

 by nature from devastation, so thai 

 \()ur destroying solution cannot touch 

 them vitally. Hut if you wait until 

 mother natuie begins to cuddle these 

 little fellows in her great lap of spring, 

 touching them with gentle zephyrs and 

 awakening them with warm kisses of 

 sunlight and they are bestirring them- 

 selves, throwing ofl' this winter pro- 

 tection, then you will find them vulner- 

 able — easily destrov ed. If \(iu spray at 

 this time, doing the work as it should 

 be done, thoroughly and with force 

 enough to drive the solution into crev- 

 ices and under the bark scales, you 

 will destroy practically all the eggs 

 and little insects which already ma\ 

 have been hatched out, as well as the 

 spores of all the fungi mentioned and 

 others as well. 



In my exi)erience and observation, 1 

 find that the prepared conunercial lime- 

 sulphur concentrate is cheaper than 

 the solution prepared on the farm, 

 when you take the time, cost of mate- 

 rial, fuel and cost of apparatus into 

 consideration. .Again, it is practically 

 im]jossible to make two batches of this 

 solution alike with an inferior appa- 

 ratus, and for this reason you will be 

 liable to have it too weak or too strong, 

 with anything but dependable results. 

 Still further, there is always lots to do 

 on the farm at the time of making, for 

 the home-made solution nnist be used 

 as soon as made, or practically so. The 

 work of making the pieparation, to- 

 gether with spraying and all other 

 work pressing at this time, makes 

 home-made lime-sulphur solution a dis- 

 couiaging proixisition to say the least. 

 If the coniMKicial lime-sulphur con- 

 centrate tests ?>?> to 34 Baume as it 

 should, I find that one of concentrate 

 to fourteen of water will .give as good 

 lesults as a stronger dilution. 



.Arsenate of lead is used as an in- 

 secticide for the poisoning of all man- 

 dibulate or biting insects that feed 

 upon plant tissue and can be apjilicd 

 at any lime without injury lo the 

 foliage. Hesulls can very ciuickly be 

 seen when a tree affected with cherry 

 slugs is sprayed with arsenate of lead. 

 Ml". .Slug cpiits business immediatch. 

 This insect appears usually about the 

 time the cherries are beginning to gel 

 ripe, and unless checked max continue 

 until the\ defoliate Ihe fri'e. It is a 

 black slug about three-eighths to one- 

 half iiuh in length, api)eariiig upon 



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