ORCHARD CULTIVATION. 



BY W. H. COARD, L. L. D., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA. 



It has been only within the last ten 

 years or so that spraying has been re- 

 garded as an important part of successful 

 fruit culture. Recognizing the value of 

 anything that would prevent injury to 

 trees and fruit, spraying has received con- 

 siderable attention at the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm, and many fungicides and 

 insecticides have been tested to prove their 

 relative merits. While experimenting 

 with a lime mixture sprayed on fruit trees 

 to prevent the swelling of the buds in 

 early spring, Mr. W. T. Macoun discov- 

 ered that the trees thus treated were prac- 

 tically rid of the oyster shell bark louse, 

 an insect which does a great deal of in- 

 jury to apple trees in the colder parts of 

 Ontario and the Province of Quebec. 

 The lime destroys the gelatinous matter 

 which binds the scales to the tree, and the 

 scales are then removed by the action of 

 rain, frost, or wind, 



III order to be most effective the spray- 

 ing should be done in the autumn, and 

 there should be two applications so that 

 all the scales may be covered. Lime used 

 in the proportion of two pounds to one 

 gallon of water has been found to be the 

 best formula so far, but it is possible that 

 one pound of lime to a gallon will be 

 sufficient if the lime be good. This new 

 remedy for the oyster shell bark louse is 

 simple, cheap, and very effective, and 

 should prove a popular one. There is, 

 in fact, no remedy so good, economical, 

 and unfaiHng as this for the oyster shell 

 bark louse. 



Kerosene emulsion has been usually 

 used for this purpose, and with good suc- 

 cess when the insects are running, but as 



they only run four or five days in the first 

 week in June it is difficult to kill them all 

 off in this way. By covering the trees 

 with lime you are able to get at the scale, 

 and the lime makes the trees white, so 

 that you can see whether all the scales 

 have been covered or not. 



The advantage of clover growing in an 

 orchard in the fall is that much of the 

 plant food in the soil, which has been 

 liberated and made more easily available 

 by the constant cultivation during the 

 early psrt of the summer, is prevented 

 from leaching by being used by the grow- 

 ing plants, the clover thus becoming a 

 " catch crop " as well as a cover crop. 

 Where soils suffer from lack of moisture 

 in a dry time, the clover should be plow- 

 ed under as early in the spring as the land 

 can be worked, and cultivation should be 

 begun at once. This will conserve much 

 of the moisture which would otherwise be 

 transpired through the leaves of the grow- 

 ing plants until they are plowed under to- 

 wards the end of May, which is the usual 

 time. If the soil, however, always con- 

 tains plenty of moisture, it would be bet- 

 ter to let the clover grow until about the 

 third week of May, as there would be ad- 

 ditional humus and nitrogen obtained by 

 this method. 



Many orchards have been neglected so 

 long and have reached such an age that 

 it would not be profitable to attempt to 

 renovate them. The best plan in such 

 cases is to plant young trees. On the 

 other hand, there are many orchards 

 where the trees, if cared for, would be in 

 the prime of life, and neglect is the only 

 cause which prevents profitable crops 



