20 B.C. ENTOMOLOGICiL SOCIETY. 



(4.) The high cost is partly due to sprays applied as preventives against 

 dangers, minor or fancied, and to the general use of lime-sulphur as a tonic and 

 aphiscide. 



(5.) Costs will be most easily reduced by more intelligent study of pest-control. 

 leading to greater efficiency of sprays applied, and to omission of control measures 

 not justified by the net results. 



(a.) There may be a saving, under favourable circumstances, by mailing concen- 

 trated lime-sulphur at home, and possibly a nicotine spray could be made to 

 advantage from tobacco-waste in the Kelowua district. 



Mr. Cunningham : Would you start economy with spraying? 



Mr. Winslow : I can't talk economy in packing and the other branches of fruit- 

 production to the Entomologicijl Society. 



Mr. Cunningham: Why not? The growers are falling down on spraying. Did 

 not the low prices that prevailed last year raise the percentage of the cost of 

 spraying? When I was in Wenatchee the one point that impressed me the most was 

 the fact that every grower who had six acres of orchard owned a sprayer. 



Professor Wilson : Some of our growers in Oregon are spraying too little, some 

 just right, and some are ruining themselves with spraying. 



Mr. Cunningham : I do not know one man in this Province who is using too 

 much spray. I recollect an instance where a man lost his entire crop of Mcintosh 

 Reds while the majority of the fruit could have been saved by the use of a spray. 

 What was the 2,"j or 50 cent cost of spraying in comparison to the value of the 

 apples? 



Professor Wilson : Let it be understood clearly that 1 am not arguing against 

 spraying — much the reverse. I can instance a case of one grower who sprayed four 

 times for apple-scab and you never saw a worse proposition after it all. He did not 

 get the spray on at the right time; he was too late with each application. The 

 amount of spray used has no bearing on the results ; it must be put on right. 



Mr. Taylor (Kelowna) : In my opinion, the use of home-boiled mixtures for 

 scab are superior to the commercial brands. It cost us about 10^/2 cents to spray a 

 tree yielding $6 worth of fruit. I believe the average grower overestimates the cost 

 of production. 



A member: Do not these home-boiled mixtures crystallize before use? 



Mr. Taylor : They had better be put on fresh and warm. 



Professor Wilson: In regard to crystallization of home-made products, we find 

 that this does not affect the spray in any way. The crystals can be dissolved out 

 in cold water and then used. 



Mr. Winslow : If we can control our pests for half the money, will not the other 

 half be saved? 



Mr. Cunningham : I do not think the possibility has been shown. 

 Mr. Treherne : I usually prefer to figure out in a general way the average cost 

 of jiroduction of an infected crop and the average yield of that crop to the ordinary 

 grower, and then after allowing a fair interest as returns, about S per cent., the 

 difference gives me an approximate idea as to how much may be spent to apply a 

 remedy. This method is not safe, however, if there is danger of losing the tree on 

 which the croiD is being grown, and this brings up the question of tree, bush, or 

 annual crops. The personal equation is another important point, for we find a groat 

 variation in the business abilities of individuals, and each one can only apply that 

 amount of remedy suited to his pocket, to obtain the best results, economically and 

 practically. I would suggest, however, that the discussion be confined to the iJoint 

 where we can advise the grower what sprays to use on his crops one year with 

 another, or, in other words, what annual sprays are necessary. 



Mr. Brittain : There are difficulties in the way of doing this, as conditions 

 change so materially from year to year with different localities. A Vernon grower 

 could not be expected to spray for a pest in Pentictou. It is a local problem. Last 



