138 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



June, 1912 



A Western Irrigated Orchard in Bloom 



injurious to foliage home-made arsenite 

 of soda, as an insecticide to add to the 

 fungus-destroying bordeaux. As this is 

 an article on summer spraying, it should 

 contain the information that summer 

 spray should contain: Commercial lime- 

 sulphur 32B, one to ten gallons of water; 

 arsenate of lead, three-quarters of a 

 pound to ten gallons of water. 



T.IE APPARATUS 



Use a pump of sufficient power to give 

 a fine spray from the nozzle. If a hand 

 pump is used, have the handle long, the 

 cylinder larg-, the strainer fine, the in- 

 take pipe of good size — any other pack- 

 ing except cotton wick — a large air 

 chamber, and a good strong half-inch 

 hose. A quarter-inch hose loses too 

 much power through friction. It would 

 be all right on a power pump. I have 

 used and seen used about fifteen different 

 makes of nozzles, and the best, in my 

 opinion, is the aluminium nozzle, sold by 

 the Niagara Spray Company. It is light, 

 effective, of great delivery, and with 

 sufficient power to make a fine spray. 



HOW TO APPLY 



Spray may be applied on any day, in 

 any kind of weather, and a given area 

 finished at once, and all this work may 

 be done from the platform of a wagon ; 

 but these conditions do not attend' thor- 

 ough spraying. I submit that a tree 

 cannot be thoroughly sprayed at one 

 time, with the wind in one direction, 

 though we often try to do so. .'Xn orchard 

 should be sprayed on one day with the 

 wind, and three-quarters of the tree 

 sprayed. It is not impossible to find in 

 any week the wind in such a direction 

 that the remainder of the trees can be 

 sprayed. The spray should go into the 

 tree from the ground as well as from a 

 wagon. A fine dry day, with a slight 

 wind, is the best for spraying. A bent 

 connection at the nozzle will allow the 

 spray to be easily directed by turning 

 the rod. 



In the application of lime-sulphur, 

 some advocate the use of coarse nozzles 



and an abundance of spray to wet the 

 whole tree and surrounding country. 



As this seems to be uselessly expensive 

 and not really as efficient as a fine mist, 

 I try to get the latter and give the foli- 

 age a gfx)d coat of spray that will stick 

 and dry. 



We generally give three applications 

 during the summer, besides the one in 

 early May. One is given just before the 

 blossoms open. This keeps in check the 

 hunch caterpillar, ranker worm, and 

 brown tail moth, if any winter pests have 

 escaped, as well as the black spot 

 fungus. 



One spray is given as the little apple 

 forms and while it is yet sticking its 

 calyx into the air for the codling moth and 

 black spot. The third is given about two 

 weeks later, if there is wet, muggy wea- 

 ther, for black spot. I am aware that 

 the foregoing is not all orthodox, but it 

 might excite criticism and thought, the 

 latter being the most important thing 

 on earth. 



What Cultivation Shall I Give My Orchard ? 



T, G. Bunting, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ont. 



(Continued from May issue) 



AN excess of water in the soil at any 

 time is never advantageous to trees, 

 but rather injurious, and should be 

 removed by drainage, as before stated, 

 and the sooner the water is removed in 

 the spring the better, for then cultivation 

 can begin, and after it begins it is de- 

 sirable not to have any great loss of 

 moisture other than that which is taken 

 in through the roots of the trees. Each 

 rain will destroy this soil mulch, so then 

 cultivation should be given as soon after 

 each rain as possible in order to restore 

 this mulch. 



During a dry period, or a prolonged 

 drought, the soil mulch will largely lose 

 its efficiency if not renewed at intervals 

 of from ten days to two weks. There- 

 fore, during the season of two or three 

 months, ranging from say the middle of 

 April to near the end of July, it will be 

 necessary to cultivate as soon after each 

 rain of consequence as possible; These 

 cultivations should be as frequent dur- 

 ing this season as every ten days or two 

 weeks whether there is rain or not. 



FREQUENT CULTIVATION 



This will mean that the orchard will 

 require to be cultivated from five to seven 

 times during this period. The first cul- 

 tivation will quite likely be by means of 

 the" plow, or if the land is in very good 

 condition the disc may be used to ad- 

 vantage. The depth of plowing will de- 

 pend on the accustomed depth of plow- 

 ing in the orchard, and it should never 

 be much deeper than four inches, and 

 preferably between three and four inches. 



Some, in using the disc, will cultivate 

 just as shallow as they possibly can. 

 The following cultivations may be by 

 means of the disc, acme harrow, or any 



of the spike or spring tooth harrows, but 

 it is a good plan to use the disc harrow 

 occasionally as this tends to loosen up 

 the soil more than the other harrows re- 

 ferred to. Some, I know, will think that 

 this is more cultivation than is necessary 

 in the orchard, but if they turn to the 

 methods followed by the best fruit grow- 

 ers they will see that this method is be- 

 ing followed because it pays. 



COVER CROPS 



The object of ceasing to cultivate the 

 orchard by the end of July, or at least 

 the first of August, is because the growth 

 of the tree has been completed by this 

 time and there should now be an ample 

 supply of plant food for the trees' re- 

 quirements during the balance of the 

 season. This also affords us an oppor- 

 tunity of sowing a crop to serve as a 

 covec in the orchard during the fall and 

 winter, and besides, the crop so sown 

 t.ikes up the available and surplus supply 

 of soluble plant food, and holds it until 

 the following spring, when the cover 

 crop may be turned under and on decay- 

 ing the plant food will again become 

 available to the trees. At the same time 

 we are increasing the supply of organic 

 material in the soil which plays a very 

 i.Tiportant part in the soil reactions, and 

 if legume crops are occasionally used we 

 can increase the supply of nitrogen, 

 which, is the most valuable and cosiiy 

 element that is required by the orchard. 



If we faithfully cultivate as we should 

 for the above two reasons, we will never 

 be troubled seriously with weeds in tlie 

 orchard. Fven should the orchard be 

 full of twitch or couch grass it can be 

 got rid of in a very few years by the 

 careful following up of this cultivation 



