The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXIV 



FEBRUARY, 1911 



No. 



Large Profits from Spraying Old Orchards 



DURING the past season some of the 

 finest apples ever produced in On- 

 tario, were grown in the district 

 about Burlington. An editor of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist who visited this 

 section recently, found that the growers 

 have awakened to the fact that it pays 

 to take care of their apple orchards. A 

 great interest has 

 been taken in spray- 

 ing. The growers 

 have learned how and 

 when to spray, and 

 the proper materials 

 to use. The results 

 these growers have 

 obtained have been a 

 great incentive to oth- 

 ers, and each year 

 many new growers 

 are following their ex- 

 ample. 



Messrs. Porter Bros, 

 of Appleby, decided 

 last spring to take 

 care of their orchard 

 in an approved man- 

 ner They had been 

 spraying for some 

 years with Bordeaux, 

 but in an indifferent 

 way and their results were anything but 

 satisfactory. Their crop of apples for 

 several years had been very poor, and it 

 was with difficulty that they could find a 

 purchaser at any price. Last spring they 

 Started at their or- 

 chard early. They 

 pruned and scraped 

 their trees. They 

 plowed early, and ap- 

 plied about hall 

 of a ton per acre 

 of commercial fertiliz- 

 er. They discarded 

 their old hand pump 

 and purchased a gaso- 

 line power sprayer. 

 They used commercial 

 Lime-Sulphur, diluted 

 at one to eleven for 

 the dormant spray, 

 and commercial Lime- 

 Sulphur, diluted ;ii 

 one to thirty-five, 

 with Arsenate of Lead 

 added, for their sum- 

 mer sprays. Messrs. 



power outfit, and they concluded that if 

 the job was worth doing at all it was 

 worth doing right. They applied their 

 spray at the proper time, and never stint- 

 ed the quantity. The results were very 

 gratifying to them. They produced the 

 largest and best crop they had ever 

 grown. Their varieties consisted of Spys, 



Northern Spy Apples taken from lower limbs in Ray Clark's orchard, Woodville, N. S., having been 

 carefully sprayed with Niagara Lime-Snlphur 



Greenings, Baldwins, Seeks, Russetts, 

 Snows and Ribston Pippins, principally. 

 Apple .Scab was entirely controlled, and 

 Codling Moth to over eighty per cent. 

 Their Snow apples had never been fit to 



Apples taken from the tops of the same trees, being too high t > reach with the spray 



trees. They were besieged with apple 

 buyers and succeeded in disposing of 

 their crop at a price double the best they 

 had ever received before. Messrs. Porter 

 claim that as an in\estment, this spray- 

 ing proved the best they ever made. 



In the orchard of Long Bros, situated 

 one mile east of Burlington on the bank 

 of Lake Ontario, pro- 

 bably even better 

 results were obtain- 

 ed. This orchard had 

 never been sprayed. 

 It had the reputa- 

 tion of growing the 

 worst spotted apples 

 of any orchard in the 

 district. When other 

 orchards near it 

 would grow reas- 

 onably fair fruit, the 

 apples in this orchard 

 were always spotted. 

 This was accounted 

 for by some because 

 of its close proximitv 

 to the lake. Last year 

 Long Bros, decided to 

 spray. As they had 

 had no experience 

 themselves, nor any 

 equipment to do the work, they engaged 

 a man with a power outfit, who had been 

 successful himself. This orchard was 

 sprayed very thoroughly, twice with 

 Lime-.Sulphur and Arsenate of Lead. 

 Probably no orchard 

 ever received in two 

 applications a greater 

 drenching. It had 

 nearly all the diseases 

 that apple orchards 

 were affected with, 

 namely, San Jose 

 Scale, Oyster Shell 

 Bark Louse, Bud 

 Moth, Codling Moth 

 .-ind Apple Scab, so 

 great care was .taken 

 in the spraying. It 

 was the intention to 

 make an object lesson 

 of this orchard, as 

 some growers in that 

 district thought it im- 

 possible to make good 

 fruit grow there. 



Porter sprayed pick before, and this year they were really The total cost to Messrs. Long Bros, 



very thoroughly. They had gone to con- a sight to behold. Not one spotted or for Lime-Sulphur, Arsenate of Lead and 

 siderable expense purchasing fertilizer and blemished apple could be found on the labor, was $95.88. The results obtained 



