764 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



Comparison with Previous Years- 

 There is a want of coutinuity in tlie experiments carried out 

 owing to tlie fact that there is no experimental orchard available, 

 where tests could be planned extending over a series of years, but I 

 am indebted to the courtesy of various orchardists who take sufficient 

 interest in the work to allow me a few trees for the purpose. 

 Nevertheless I am able to give a few comparative figures for the 

 past three seasons- relating to Bordeaux mixture, and the addition of 

 various ingredients which will show how far they have been successful 

 during that period. It must be borne in mind, however, that, 

 situated as we are, it is not usually possible to choose the best time 

 for spraying, because we have firstly to study the convenience of 

 the orchardist who gratuitously offers his services, and secondly we 

 are not able to have the trees under constant observation prior to 

 spraying. This being the case any intelligent orchardist should be 

 able to secure better returns from the sprays we use than were 

 obtained in these experiments. 



Table II. — Comparative Eesults of Spraying. 



DONCASTER. PaKENHAM. 



Treatment. 1903-04. 1902-03. 1901-02. 1901-02. 



-o , ,' A rcn j Absolutely clean 16 % 90 4% 33 % 57% 



±5oraeaux b 4 au | Marketable . . 85 % 100 % 98^ % 100 % 



Bordeaux 6-4o0 + (Absolutely clean 29% I .„, 90-6 %i,,, — *^7 % I „,, 



salt (1,2 and 3 lbs.) t Marketable ..91% I '100 %[ — 100%}*^^°^- 



Bordeaux 6-4-50 -I- J Absolutely clean 48 % 89 % — — 



lib. sal ammoniac I Marketable 100% 100 % 



T-, J r. A Ar. (Absolutely clean 42% — — — 



Bordeaux 6-4.40 j Marketable 100 % 



CoDDer-soda6-9-50 l^^^°'^^^'y''^®^° ^^"Z'- ^'^% ~ ~ 



Uopper soaa b J bi) | Marketable 100 % 100 % 



„ J i> a -A I Absolutely clean 51 % — — — 



Copper-soda 6 7o0 ^ Marketable 100 % 



/- J c f rn (Absolutely clean — — — 48% 



Copper-soda 6 -b-SO {Marketable .. - - - 100% 



y. , (Absolutely clean 6% 10% 



unsprayea ••• {Marketable ..32% 100% 55 % 50% 



As far as conclusions can be drawn from these figui'es the addition|of 

 salt seems to increase the effectiveness of the Bordeaux, at least^in 

 giving a greater proportion of absolutely clean fruit, and the same may 

 be said of the addition of sal ammoniac. The returns from 1 lb, sal 

 ammoniac added to the 6 ■4*50 Bordeaux are so much better than the 

 6*4'50 alone, that the effect of 1 lb. sal ammoniac added to 6"4"40 

 Bordeaux will be tried in the coming season.* 



Copper-soda has turned out well, even with the excessive rainfall. 

 It will be observed that there is a considerable amount of variability 

 in the percentage of absolutely clean fruit in the different seasons 

 even with the same spraying mixture, ranging from 16 to 90 per cent. 

 This largely depends on the nature of the season, and the time at 



*The 64'50 American formula is practically the same as our 6 "4 '40, the American 

 gallon being smaller than the British, 



