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ment for such orchards as we are considering. Certainly it 

 will add materially to the effectiveness of any washes which 

 may be applied to the trunks of the trees. 



For summer spraying, we usually use some form of lime 

 and sulfur (either commercial or self-boiled) and arsenate 

 of lead. We make one application just after the blossoms 

 fall and another three or four weeks later. Spray so as to 

 wet the trees thoroughly, with as little drip as possible. 



Of course, one may be confronted by special problems, like 

 an acute attack of canker worms or a scourge of apple aphis, 

 in which case a specialist should be consulted. But for all 

 ordinary cases the foregoing programme ought to be entirely 

 adequate, and it would certainly surprise most old orchards 

 to receive half of this attention. 



The fourth factor in our operations is the fertilizer ques- 

 tion, which is naturally very closely related to our cultivation 

 problems and sometimes has to be varied to suit the cultural 

 methods adopted. At the beginning I do not believe it is 

 desirable to apply any nitrogenous fertilizers, or if they are 

 applied it should be in very limited quantities, and early in 

 the season. A moment's reflection will show the philosophy 

 of this. Trees which have been allowed to grow in sod, as 

 the old orchards which we are considering will undoubtedly 

 have been, and in soil which has been impoverished by con- 

 stant removal of the grass as hay, and of the fruit, without 

 any return of fertilizer, will have long, straggling roots sent 

 out to forage at a distance for all the plant food possible. 

 And these long roots will have comparatively few branches 

 or small feeding roots, as it is a well-known fact that roots 

 branch freely in a fertile soil and sparsely in a poor soil. 

 Kow when the land in the orchard is plowed and cultivated, 

 and fertilizers are applied, the conditions become very much 

 more favorable in the soil, and the roots begin to branch 

 freely in response to these improved conditions. If the fer- 

 tilizer has been applied in the form of barn manure, as is 

 often the case, this requires some time to decay and get into 

 soluble condition so that the roots can take it up, but when 

 this has taken place it furnishes a large amount of highly 



