1140 



THE FRUIT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK STATE 



however, it should be applied as the fruit is commencing to color. 

 I shall hereafter give the two sprayings. The past season, 1915, 

 showed to a marked degree at Geneva, the necessity of the prac- 

 tice, for every uiisprayed orchard rotted badly. One unsprayed 

 orchard that was visited employed nearly as many sorters as 

 pickers, while in well-sprayed orchards the labor of sorting was 

 almost nominal. Sweet varieties are much more liable to rot, 

 and I advise three sprayings, the first to be applied as soon as 

 the calices have dropped. The best spraying can be given in a 

 high wind, when the spray will sift through the trees. If there is 

 no wind, the foliage of the sweet varieties protects the fruit from 

 the spray much more than does that of sour varieties. The sweet 

 varieties also require the dormant spray for scale, which the sours 

 do not. In spraying both kinds for rot I have always preferred 

 the bordeaux to any other spray. 



FIG. 366. THREE-YEAR MONTMORENCY ORCHARD ON FARM OF 

 W. L. MCKAY, GENEVA, N. Y. 



Cover Crops 



As soon as the crop is harvested, it should be seeded to a 

 cover crop. The one I have used most has been winter vetch, 15 

 to 20 pounds ; cowhorn turnip, one pound ; and buckwheat, aboul 

 one and one-half bushels an acre. This, of course, is the mx 

 desirable, but if the land becomes heavy and hard to work, a 

 buckwheat cover crop will soon improve the physical conditioi 



