WINTER MEETING. Ill 



and we have got to find out some way of getting rid of it. I have not 

 had enongh practical experience to say what would be best. I have 

 found that lime was most effective in getting rid of these and black 

 cucumber bugs. After putting it on they do not touch it. I believe 

 that the lime in the spray is going to have a far greater effect in keep- 

 ing away insects than any other ingredient. I think there is a little 

 too much blue stone used and not enough lime. I have a great deal 

 of faith in lime. The lime is a very good thing in your orchards any- 

 way if you do not get too much. 



Mr. Winn — I have corresponded with Mr. Howe. He wrote me 

 that he would quit the fruit business if it were not for the spray pump, 

 which he kept going for three months with good results. I have used 

 the Bordeaux mixture. I think we have got to get these insects out the 

 best way we can. I prefer cultivation without spraying. 



Mr. Young — I have been in the apple business for six or eight 

 years. The gentleman who has just left the floor says he prefers cul- 

 tivation to spraying. If I had my choice I would take spraying and 

 let cultivation go. I really think that spraying is as highly essential as 

 cultivation and pruning. With some, spraying has not given satisfac- 

 tory results. I attribute that a great deal to the time they spray, the 

 way they spray and what they spray with. I do not want you to under- 

 stand that I am an apple-grower at all, I am a dealer. I buy and sell. 



Mr. D , who has a farm at West Plains is a thorough apple and fruit 



man. He sprayed four times. He tells me that he sprayed first when 

 the tree was in bloom and then every two weeks after that until he had 

 sprayed four times. His neighbor, only a quarter away, sprayed three 

 times and the difference was just this : Mr. D's fruit was among the 

 finest I have seen in Howell county and the other man's fruit was on 

 the poor order. Probably he had a loss of one-fourth of his fruit and 

 Mr. D had a loss of about one-tenth of the picked fruit. 



I can go into the cellars of the Olden Fruit Company and find that 

 their fruit is clear of scab and smut. The fruit is also smooth in ap- 

 pearance and attractive looking. So I may say that spraying is just 

 as essential as cultivation or pruning. If a man comes to me and says 

 I have a lot of sprayed fruit to sell and his neighbor at the same time 

 offers me unsprayed fruit, I will buy the sprayed fruit even at an ad- 

 vanced price over the other party. A man came to me with a variety 

 of apples for sale. He said he had sprayed four times. At that time 

 I was paying $1.50 per barrel for apples. He said he had five or six 

 hundred barrels that had been sprayed. It was the finest fruit I ever 

 saw. The apples resembled wax, and had a fine polish. He said he 

 would take $2.50 per barrel for them, and so I bought them at that 



