FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 93 



THE VALUE OF SPRAYING IN HORTICULTURAL ECONOMY. 



PROF. L. R. TAFT, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Before we enter upon the topic itself, I want to be sure that you under- 

 stand- the real nature of the topic — what spraying really is. It is, as 

 you know, not a very old proceeding; it is only, perhaps, fifteen years 

 since the real spraying of trees commenced, and as we understand the 

 word, it means the application of material to our plants to prevent the 

 attack of, or lessen the injury from, insects and diseases. When we 

 spray, we apply in a liquid form the materials designated as insecticides 

 and fungicides. The insecticides are designed to destroy or drive away 

 insects, and the fungicides are materials adapted to the destruction and 

 prevention of plant diseases. Nearly all plant diseases are of a fungous 

 nature, and hence the word fungicide naturally comes in here. 



The use of these materials enables us to grow better crops. As you 

 are aware, the insects that attack our plants may eat and destroy the 

 foliage, or they may suck the juices and thus rob the plants of their nutri- 

 ment. At other times we find the insects in the trunk of the tree, and 

 these practically girdle them, as a disease would. 



It may be that they will feed upon the leaves and destroy them, or so 

 injure them that they cannot perform their functions. The leaves of a 

 plant are its lungs, and perhaps its stomach, and plants can no more live 

 without lungs and stomach than can an animal. If in any way these 

 leaves are injured, to that extent will the growth of the plant be 

 affected. / 



In other ways, too, these diseases injure our plants; they feed on the 

 plant, however, just the same as the insect sucking out the juices. In 

 some cases, if they are on the stem of a plant, they will girdle it and we 

 also find them upon the fruits; and, as you are all aware, a fruit covered 

 with scab is unsightly and often unsalable. The appearance is greatly 

 injured, and frequently the fruit is destroyed. We have all seen exam- 

 ples in the case of the grape rot, where every cluster in the vineyard 

 would be destroyed by this terrible disease. Against all these, we have 

 remedies in the insecticides and fungicides. The only question is, 

 whether we can make it pay to apply them, for the purpose of destroy- 

 ing the insects and diseases. I am sure, if you would go over the State 

 and talk with the people who have for years been using these materials, 

 you would have the answer all one way. It is of value. 



THREE PRECAUTIONS. 



But before any one begins spraying, there are three things he must do. 

 In the first place, he should inform himself as to the nature of these 

 insects and diseases. The different insects vary in the way they obtain 

 their food, and we must adjust our remedies with that in mind. When 

 insects are found eating the leaves of plants, or in any way cutting their 

 food and chewing it, we can destroy them by the use of poisons. We can 

 em.ploy Paris green and London purple. 



