February, 1914 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



27 



Success in Spraying Depends on Spraying all Parts of the Tree Thoroughly 



A power sprayer at work in the orchard ot W. H. Heard, St. Thomas. Ont. 



in America are the most susceptible, and 

 it sometimes causes injury to the young 

 growth on currant bushes. 



It attacks the leaves and stems of the 

 gooseberry, but causes the most serious 

 damage on the fruit, producing a white 

 furry growth and making the fruit un- 

 marketable. 



It can be controlled by the lime-sul- 



phur spray. Spray the bushes when 

 they are dormant, with lime-sulphur at 

 winter" strength. Then just before the 

 blossoms appear spray again with a 

 weaker .solution sp. gr. 1.005. To make 

 a complete job the bushes should be 

 sprayed when the fruit is about half 

 grown with the summer strength of 

 lime-sulphur, sp. gr. 1.009. 



Spraying Results in 



R. S. Duncan, B.S.A., Port Hope, Ont 



IN view of the fact that so many of the 

 old orchards in the province of On- 

 tario were being seriously neglected, 

 a campaign for better orchard manage- 

 ment was commenced in the spring of 

 191 1 in the counties of Northumberland 

 and Durham. Four demonstration or- 

 chards, one each at Colborne, Cobourg, 

 Port Hop)e, and Newcastle, which had 

 been very badly neglected, were taken in 

 hand for a period of three years to be 

 treated according to the best orchard 

 practices. The orchards were situated 

 near the main road where they could be 

 under observation by passers-by through- 

 out the season so that the results of the 

 demonstrations could be noted. 



CONDITION OF ORCHARDS IN 1911 



These orchards had been planted some 

 thirty or forty years, but had been almost 

 ■ totally neglected as to pruning, cultiva- 

 tion, fertilization, and spraying. They 

 had never been sprayed, and hence the 

 quality of the fruit was of a very low 

 grade — the percentage of No. I's vary- 

 ing from thirty to sixty per cent. They 

 were full of bark lice and blister mite, 

 and had suffered severely from canker 

 and sunscald, but it was hoped that with 

 careful management, liberal feeding, and 

 thorough pruning and spraying that they 

 would respond and give satisfactory re- 

 .sults. Two of the orchards were in sod 

 and had not been ploughed for years. 



Neglected Orchards 



,, District Representative for Durham 



The soil in the Colborne orchard is a 

 light sandy loam and in the others a 

 clay loam. 



TREATMENT 



The orchards were all pruned in 191 1, 

 not very severely, but more of a cutting 

 out of the dead wood and a thinning out 

 of the top. In 1912 the greater num- 

 ber of the high trees were "dehorned," 

 as much as twelve feet being taken off. 

 Our object in doing this was to make 

 a more spreading tree, have the fruit 

 borne on the lower branches and thus 

 economize in picking. In 1913 a lot of 

 small twigs and branches were cut out to 

 open up the trees thus giving the fruit 

 a better chance to color. 



All cuts of one and one-half inches 

 in diameter and over were given a coat 

 of white lead and oil. The rough, loose, 

 shelly bark was scraped off the trees to 

 facilitate spraying operations. The or- 

 chards were all manured each year at 

 the rate of ten to twelve tons of farm- 

 yard manure per acre. In two orchards 

 the manure was supplemented by an ap- 

 plication of two hundred pounds of 

 muriate of potash and four hundred 

 pounds of acid phosphate per acre. 



The orchards were ploughed in each 

 year as early in the spring as it was 

 possible to get on the land, and then 

 they received thorough cultivation up lo 

 the middle of June, when a cover crop of 



red clover, buckwheat, or hairy vetch 

 was sown. 



The orchards were sprayed very thor- 

 oughly three times each year as follow: 



First, before or as the leaf bud bursts 

 with commercial Jime-sulpbur, one to 

 ten to control oyster shell bark louse and 

 leaf blister mite. 



Second, just before the blossoms open- 

 ed with commercial lime-sulphur, one to 

 thirty-five with two pounds of arsenate 

 of lead added per forty gallons of mix- 

 ture to control apple scab, caterpillars, 

 case breakers, canker worms, bud moths, 

 etc. 



Third, immediately after the blossoms 

 fell with commercial lime-sulphur, one to 

 forty with two pounds arsenate of lead 

 added per forty gallons mixture to con- 

 trol codling moth and apple scab. 



In spraying we used a double acting 

 hand pump and a tank, a home-made 

 affair, holding two hundred gallons, with 

 a tower attachment for reaching tall 

 trees. We used two lines of hose and 

 two angle nozzles of the "Friend" type 

 on each line of hose. One man was on 

 the tower equipped with fifteen feet of 

 hose and a rod eight feet long ; the other 

 man being on the ground with thirty 

 feet of hose and a ten-foot bamboo rod. 

 Two men acted as power on the pump, 

 giving a pressure of from one hundred 

 to one hundred and fifty pounds. All 

 solutions were strained into the tank. 

 The arsenate of lead was first brought 

 into suspension before being strained 

 into the spray tank. We always endea- 

 vored to spray with the wind and do as 

 much of the trees as possible. 



One side of the tree was sprayed as it 

 was approached; we then drove directly 

 opposite and sprayed the central parts 

 thoroughly ; then we completed the other 

 side at the third stop. We aimed to 

 cover every portion of the tree though 

 not wasting any material. For the spray 

 after the blossoms fell we tried to do 

 most thorough work — our object was to 

 fill every calyx cup. Ninety per cent, of 

 the codling worms enter the apple in the 

 calyx end, hence it is important to have 

 the poison placed where it will do the 

 most effective work. We used from five 

 to eight gallons of mixture on each tree 

 for each spraying. 



THE EESTTLT8 



Accurate account has been kept of all 

 expenses pertaining to each orchard in 

 each of the three years. All labor with 

 the exception of pruning, which is valu- 

 ed at two dollars a day, was calculated 

 on the basis of one dollar fifty cents a 

 day per man, and a man and a team at 

 three dollars a day. Farmyard manure 

 was valued at one dollar a ton. These 

 figures, it will be agreed, were quite 

 reasonable. 



In figuring out the results, no allow- 

 ance was made for rental of land, as it 



