42 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



PROFITS OF SPRAYING APPLE ORCHARDS. 



R. E. S. LODEMAN, of Cornell University, has issued 

 a bulletin on " The Profits of Spraying Apple Orchards," 

 in which he shows the results of actual experiments in 

 spraying. Some of his points are most evident, e. ^., 

 that in wet seasons spraying needs to be repeated more 

 frequently than in dry seasons, and that some varieties, 

 notably the Fall Pippin, which is badly subject to the 

 scab, may be sprayed with profit more frequently than 

 varieties like Duchess and Baldwin, which are usually clean. These latter varieties 

 he found it profitable to give only one application, while the former kind received 

 from four to six. Evidently common sense is as useful in spraying as in other 

 things. 



Of the fungicides used, the Bordeaux mixture proved the very best ; indeed, 

 so evident was this, that the superiority of fruits sprayed with it could be detected 

 at sight by their very appearance. The action on the leaves was plainly discern- 

 ible, for the Bordeaux mixture protected the foliage so perfectly that scarcely a 

 diseased leaf could be found. In the case of the Fall Pippin, the foliage of 

 which is particularly subject to fusicladium, the difference in the foliage on the 

 trees sprayed and unsprayed was very easily discernible. 





Apples Sprayed and Unsprayed. 



In some cases the size of the apples was perceptibly increased, and, in his 

 opinion, the color was also heightened. As an example of the experiments from 

 which the conclusions were drawn, we mention the following one : A tree of 

 Maiden Blush was selected and one half was sprayed and the other half left 

 untreated. When harvested one hundred apples unsprayed weighed 24^4 lbs., 

 while an equal number similarly chosen from the other half of the tree weighed 

 37^ lbs., a gain of over 54 per cent. This difference was forcibly shown in 

 another way ; in fact, so plainly and conclusively did it show the value of spray- 

 ing apples susceptible to the attack of the scab, that it alone would convince 



