91 



A>'ith the commercial powdered .sulphur preparations con- 

 taining sulphides of such bases as sodium or potassium. 

 Also soap or oil emulsions combined with soda or potash 

 feitlpliides have caused serious injuries to fruit trees. 



THE COST OF SPRAYING IX THE UPKEEP OF AX 

 APPLE ORCHARD 



From the staiul})oiut of the permanent prosperity, ex- 

 tension and normal development of fruit-growing in X^ew 

 York, one can hardly fail to be impressed with two facts : 

 tl) the increased planting of apples trees, and (2), the 

 growijng necessity of more frequent and thorough applica- 

 tions of spraying mixtures. The past decade has witnessed 

 the setting out of new orchards at an nnparalleled rate; 

 Tind in spite of threatening setbacks, considered temporary 

 in their nature, the end of such activity is not yet in sight. 



"With the average farm, the former standard of approxi- 

 mateh^ ten acres of apple orchard to ninety acres grown to 

 oiher crops has been largely abandoned and more land 

 }.roportionately is being devoted to the growing of fruit. 

 Nowadays a twenty-acre orchard is a common adjunct to 

 j^iany a farm, and plantings of fifty to three hundred acres 

 are numerous and have ceased to elicit a great amount of 

 surprise or much comment. 



One effect of this increased acreage of fruit trees is that 

 the care of orchards frequently overshadows all other farm 

 operations, resulting in many instances in an unbalanced 

 state of farming which some men find difficult to correct. 

 Then again, the extensive and intensive culture of the apple 

 has apparently produced conditions that are proving very 

 congenial to insects, certain of Avhich during the past de- 

 cennium have acquired great vigor and assumed a very 

 dangerous character. Formerly efforts were largely con- 

 cerned with scab, scale and codling moth. In addition to 

 these, it is now the lot of many orchardists to have to 

 r-ontend against fruit-puncturing capsids and leaf and fruit- 

 infesting aphides; and spraying for these has necome .t 



