The Canadian Horticulturist. 47 



MY EXPERIENCE IN 1893 IN SPRAYING, ETC. 



HE past summer was one of the worst I can remember for all kinds 

 of insect pests, including moth, curculio, green aphis, potato bugs, 

 currant and cabbage worms, and as I had reason to believe that a 

 great many were spraying the past season, I was waiting and watch- 

 ing for their experience ; but to keep " mum " appears to have been 

 the order of the day all along the line. Even at the Peterboro' 

 meeting there appears to have been little said about spraying, and those who 

 did give their experience did not agree as to its benefits. Mr. Geo. Cline has 

 found spraying a benefit in growing plums. Maxwell Bros., of Geneva, N. Y., 

 who have 80 acres of plum orchard do not spray for curculio. We have also 

 the statement of Mr. Barry at last winter's meeting of the N. Y. Horticultural 

 Society, that one of the benefits of the society was that they had proved that 

 spraying was of no use for curculio. My own opinion is that there is yet a great 

 deal of experimental work to be done which should be done at our experimental 

 farms, where they have the time to give the work the proper attention. 



My own experience the past season has not been very satisfactory. The 

 sprayer I used was a Garfield Knapsack, costing about $15, with \'ermorel 

 nozzle, which does its work nicely. Any one growing half an acre of potatoes, 

 and having 100 currant or gooseberry bushes should have one. A pail of liquid 

 will go twice the distance, do the work twice as well and in half the time used in 

 the old way with whisk, broom or watering can. 



Well, I used dilute Bordeaux mixture, and sprayed pears and grape vines 

 before leaves opened. After the blossoms fell I again sprayed with the same 

 mixture, with two oz. of Paris green to twenty-five gals, of water added. I 

 sprayed four pear trees, two cherry trees, ten plums, one apricot, one Prunus Simon i, 

 and twenty grape vines. After plums were about the size of cherries or a little 

 .arger, I again sprayed thoroughly, trying to cover all the fruit. Now, I expected 

 to see those trees grow and have luxuriant dark green foliage. Instead they 

 appeared to stop growing, the leaves and fruit being a dirty white from the lime 

 used. Then the plums were badly attacked with the green aphis, and I sprayed 

 them with kerosene emulsion. 



Results. — I had three pecks of plums where I should have had six or eight 

 bushels, half of what I had were badly stung with curculio. The best plums 

 were high up where I could scarcely reach them with the spray. The leaves 

 withered and fell off my Abundance plum ; it leaved out again a month later, 

 but made no growth. My Prunus Simoni got sick, then very sick, and then 

 died. My apricot, i J^ inches through, lingered a week longer, and decided to 

 follow the Prunus Simoni. My Weaver plum, two inches in diameter, that had 

 given such promise of a good crop, appeared to loose heart after the apricot was 



