THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



229 



walking team is not likely to apply a suffi- 

 cient amount of spray to do effective work. 

 With this fact in view we drive twine 

 around each row of trees, spraying twice 

 from each side. We have found it neces- 

 sary in former years to spray the trees 

 at three and sometimes four differ- 

 ent times during the season. The first 

 time commencing four to six days after the 

 blossoms had fallen and the young apples 

 were noticeably formed. During the early 

 years of our work we used London Purple 

 because it seemed to be more readily kept 

 in suspension in the water than Paris 

 Green. Not always being careful to ue 

 enough lime to neutralize the arsenious 

 acid we sometimes burned the foliage of 

 our trees. For three seasons we have been 

 using green arsenoid, costing 15 cents per 

 pound, manufactured by the Adner Color 

 and Chemical Works of New York city. 



To spray the tree while it is in bloom or 

 before it was completely out of bloom 

 would be likely to destroy the blossom and 

 prevent pollination. Work cannot be com- 

 menced until the petals have fallen, until 

 pollination has taken place and the apples 

 are beginning to swell and form. 



It is advantageous that the orchard 

 could be planted in rows with varieties 

 blooming at like periods; that is, it would 

 be unfortunate to fill out a- Ben Davis row 

 with Rawles Jenet since the Rawles Jenet 

 would be just in bloom when the Ben Davis 

 would be ready to spray. In windy 

 weather the work of spraying is very dis- 

 disagreeable, and care should be taken to 

 absorb as little of the poison as possible. 

 A long-continued season of spraying al- 

 most always effects the health of the work- 

 man. The hand pump can be used with 

 greater safety and less exposure to the 

 poison than in the use of power pump, our 

 high winds blow the spray over workmen, 

 horses and harness. Rubber coats are hot 

 and clumsy. The workmen ambitious to 

 crowd work along are usually wet most of 

 the day. 



The use of a considerable amount of 

 lime causes the solution to itick to the 

 foliage better, and neutralizes the arseni- 

 ous acid and renders it less liable to burn 

 the foliage. We see no objection to using 

 as much lime in the composition as can be 

 freely passed through the nozzle. 



Since the first year of spraying we have 

 not been troubled with the tent caterpillar. 

 It is not possible for them to exist in an 

 orchard that is sprayed, and spraying also 

 holds in check the canker worm. While 

 the canker worm is not as destructive in 

 Nebraska as in Missouri there are yet 

 enough of them in and about the older 

 orchards of the state to require watchful 

 care. They breed and feed on the honey 

 locust, and wherever honey locust timber 

 or honey locust hedges are adjacent to the 

 orchard it will be will be well to watch 

 closely from the first to the 15th of May 

 for the canker worm. Among the natural 

 remedies the birds are placed first. 

 Since the canker worms pass the major 

 portion of the year in the ground a per- 

 fect system of cultivation has its value. 

 We have also kept them completely in 

 check by our system of spraying. It is 

 not possible for a canker worm to live on 

 the foliage of a tree that has been carefully 

 sprayed with the formula in use for the 

 codling moth. 



Spraying also holds in check the leaf 

 rolling caterpillars, the crumpler, and the 

 leaf-feeding caterpillar. The spraying 

 which is done in May and June should be 

 followed ten to fifteen days later by an- 

 other spraying of the same character. 

 About the 10th of June is the time to 

 commence applying bands of paper or bur- 

 lap to the trunks of the trees to intercept 

 the larvae seeking places to pupate. On 

 the value of spraying with arsenical poi- 

 sons in July and August, to destroy the 

 second and third broods, orefcardists are 

 not fully agreed. Apparently it is well to 

 be very thorough in that portion of the 

 summer spraying which is done ia %| 



