352 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



SPRAYING EXPERIMENTS. 



^j-^;. R- JOHN CRAIG, Horticulturist, Central Experimental 

 Farm, Ottawa, called at this office on the 3rd of Sep- 

 tember. The object of his visit to this locality was 

 to study the progress of the careful experiments being 

 carried on under his direction by the fruit growers of 

 this district for the destruction of fungous diseases of 

 the apple, pear, plum and cherry. These experiments, 

 it will be remembered, were authorized by the Minister 

 of Agriculture for the Dominion, in response to a request made by the Fruit 

 Growers' Association of Ontario. 



He reported to us some interesting particulars concerning the work, as 

 follows : — 



"At St. Catharines, he said, the experiments mainly comprised the treat- 

 ment of fungous diseases affecting peaches, cherries and plums. In regard to 

 peaches the rot, which was the disease the treatment was designed to prevent, 

 was not present this year to any appreciable extent, and so the results of the 

 experiments were not striking. On Early Rivers, the committee in charge of 

 the work reported a gain of two to three per cent, in favor of the sprayed trees. 

 Mr, Broderick also noticed the fact, that the fruit of the treated trees was more 

 highly colored than that of the untreated trees. Mountain Rose and Crawford 

 are now being picked and the results will be carefully noted. 



In regard to cherries, some very striking results were obtained in the treat- 

 ment of the rot on the Black Tartarian. Roughly speaking, the sprayed trees 

 gave three times as much sound fruit as the unsprayed trees. Mr. M. Burrill 

 also reports good results in preventing the rot and curculio on Morello cherries, 

 including Montmorency and Early Richmond. 



In the matter of plums, the difference between the treated and untreated 

 trees was most strikingly demonstrated in the much healthier foliage of those 

 which had been sprayed. In the orchard of Mr. Broderick, where the shot- 

 hole fungus has been quite abundant, the treated trees showed a marked 

 improvement both in foliage and character of fruit. The question of improve- 

 ment in quality of fruit was demonstrated by selecting one hundred average 

 plums of the sprayed and unsprayed trees and weighing each separately. 

 Those from the sprayed trees weighed 3 lbs. 9 oz , while the same number 

 from the trees which had not been treated weighed 2 lbs i oz. The color 

 and general appearance of the sprayed fruit was very much better than that 

 which had not been treated. 



With regard to the experiments conducted by A. H. Pettit and E. J. 

 Woolverton, at Grimsby, touching the prevention of the apple scab, the 

 results here are most striking, and it will well repay any grower who can 



