630 NEW JERSEY STATE AGRICULTURAL 



mouth coiinties, examined orchards, and made personal appeals 

 to fruit growers tO' treat their trees. There was a very general 

 response to my efforts and on an area of several square miles 

 almost every infested tree was sprayed. Many of the growers 

 bought pumps and all necessary outfit; others put in or adapted 

 steam boilers; and yet others engaged one of several indi- 

 viduals that made a business of spraying for hire. One grower 

 of violets and carnations connected his boiling barrels with his 

 greenhouse heating outfit, and prepared material for himself and 

 his clients at least possible expense. The time was ripe for the 

 campaign and everything pointed to^ success. 



About the middle of July I sent Mr. Dickersoii to make the 

 round of sprayed orchards in Mercer coimty, and his report 

 was the worst confirmation of rumors that had begun to reach 

 me. Over so large a territory, on so many kinds of trees, with 

 so many men at work, with applications beginning in January 

 and ending only with the actual opening of leaf or blossom buds, 

 I was prepared for reports showing a great diversity of results, 

 and had arranged to secure details that might explain lack of 

 success; but the reports were all one way, and it seemed as if 

 neither time or the man at the nozzle, had much to do with it. 

 As a rule the material seemed to have been well prepared, and 

 that was made certain as to those spraying for hire, during the 

 winter. With few exceptions the applications were thorough, 

 and as to that it was possible to judg-e fairly, even sO' late as 

 July 15th. A badly infested plum orchard, fairly coated with 

 the scurf had been sprayed by one of those in the business, 

 and it was a complete piece of work ; not a larva recent set or 

 live scale to be found. But on the Keififer pears near by, sprayed 

 by the same man, same time, same material, prepared in the same 

 way, plenty of live scale. I verified tiiis a month or more later, 

 and found the difference striking. 



Without going into details, it may be said that rhe applica- 

 tions on peach and plum had been reasonably successful in 

 most cases ; the exceptions readily explainable by conditions. 

 On pear, and especially on Bartletts, failure had been almost 

 complete and on Keiffer there was only a little better result. 

 Peach and pear are very generally grown together in that 

 section of Mercer county, and the contrast in the action of the 

 material on the two' kinds o^f trees was thus sharply brought 

 out. Where trees alternate in a row, and the row is sprayed 

 by one man or one gang, in one tour, and from the one l^arrel 

 or tank, there can be no question oi a difference in conditions. 



