THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



297 



AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS 



and 

 WHAT THEY DO. 



Few people have any conception of the vast amount of 

 care and untiring perseverance that is exercised by the scien- 

 tific investigators of our various Agricultural Experiment 

 Stations. Years are expended by the professors and their 

 assistants in the solving of baffling problems of an agricul- 

 tural and horticultural nature. Millions of dollars in fruit 

 values have been saved to the owners of farms and orchards 

 by discoveries relating to the control of plant diseases. To 

 an outsider the results obtained appear truly wonderful, yet 

 they are gained by the possession of the same requisites that 

 any success requires, viz., perseverance, care and initiative. 



Fourteen years ago, when the Ohio Experiment Station 

 first moved to Wooster, they intentionally selected land of 

 little nutritive value, lacking nearly all the requisites most 

 conducive to plant growth, and practically the worst ground 

 in that part of Ohio. Today, after ceaseless experiments, 

 with the action of fertilizers in various rotations 

 and combinations, and by the application of past 

 discoveries, their 400 acre farm contains the best 

 ground under cultivation in Ohio, and it is get- 

 ting better every year. 



The bulletins issued by these varions Stations 

 are valuable to any one engaged in farming, fruit- 

 growing, dairying, etc., because they are backed 

 by facts the result of exhaustive experiments 

 and conclusive tests. 



Our farmers and fruit growers do not fully 

 appreciate what the Government is doing for 

 [hem in the maintenance of Experiment Stations. 

 tt seems to be difficult for them to fully accept 

 the idea that these bulletins contain real and valu- 

 able information that they themselves would be 

 unable to obtain, no matter how long they kept 

 at it because they would not understand how 

 to go about it 



In order to better carry out his experiments 

 in orchard spraying, the entomologist of a station 

 will '-ometimes take entire charge of orchards in 

 various parts of the state, owned by private indi- 

 viduals, and will make various careful experi- 

 ment?, using, of course, as a basis, the hard facts 

 previous experience has given him. The owner, of course, 

 gets the benefits of the fruit grown in the course of the ex- 

 periments, which sometimes cover a space of three and four 

 year?. 



For instance: A small apple orchard of 12 acres, owned 

 by John A. Stokes, Sandusky County, Ohio, which consisted 

 of four acres of trees 24 years old, 4 acres 20 years old and 

 4 acres 12 years old, containing 534 trees in all, and there 

 had been very little care given to these trees until last year, 

 when the Entomologist of the Ohio Experiment Station 

 took charge of them. The trees were large size in the main, 

 the varieties consisting principally of Baldwin and Ben Davis, 

 although Stark, Winesap, Grimes Golden, King, Pippins and 

 Fameuse were also grown. 



Before the orchards were in bloom the majority of the 

 older trees were banded. That is, a band of sticky material 

 was placed around the trunks a few feet from the ground, 

 so that when the female Canker Worm attempted to climb 

 the tree and deposit her eggs in the bark, the band would 



obstruct her and hold her until she could be removed from 

 the tree. Then other bands would be placed higher up the 

 trunk, so that it was impossible for the insect to pass them 

 all. In this manner it was estimated that fully 20,000 female 

 canker worms were taken from one tree at the beginning of 

 the season. Then, as soon as the blossoms had fallen, the 

 entire orchard was given a heavy spraying with arsenate of 

 lead, combined with Bordeaux mixture. 



The spraying outfit consisted of a \ l /2 H. P. water cooled 

 gasoline engine power outfit. The youngest orchard was 

 sprayed first, the oldest next and the orchard 20 years old 

 was left until the last. A pressure of 100 to 125 pounds was 

 maintained by the sprayer. Where arsenate of lead was 

 used alone for the first spraying, a second spraying with 

 Bordeaux or lime-sulphur, or with Bordeaux and arsenate of 

 lead combined, was given as soon as possible after the first 

 application. In the first spraying about 20 gallons of spray 

 mixture were used per tree for the largest trees and ten to 

 fifteen gallons for the smallest, or 12-year-old trees. Some 

 trees received a third spraying with arsenate of lead alone 

 about the 20th of July. 



At harvest time an unsprayed plot yielded 42.5 per cent 

 wormy apples, while the sprayed trees yielded about three 

 or four per cent wormy apples. From this orchard there 

 were gathered 1,650 barrels of fruit, which sold at prices 

 ranging from $3.00 to $5.00 per barrel. A carload of drops, 

 weighing 21,600 pounds, was sold in bulk at 65 cents per 100 



Administration Building, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 Wooster, Ohio. 



pounds. From 200 to 300 bushels were sold locally as sum- 

 mer apples at nearby towns and to neighbors. The total in- 

 come from the orchard was approximately $7,400.00. It is 

 safe to say that from $5,500 to $6,000 of this was net profit, 

 and that the average net return per acre was between $400 

 and $500. Think of it $500 per acre for growing apples ! 



From the above we can draw several conclusions ; viz., 

 that a power sprayer is necessary to thoroughly drench all 

 portions of the tree and to drive the spray down into the 

 buds and embryo apples, because of the uniform higher pres- 

 sure than a hand sprayer ; secondly, that a knowledge of ex- 

 actly when to apply the mixture is most essential, and thirdly, 

 a knowledge of what proportions of the poison to use is nec- 

 essary. From these conclusions we can draw another that 

 experiment stations have practically solved the problem of 

 successful spraying and fruit growing, and that a careful co- 

 operation with them will insure every fruit grower who is 

 willing to take the trouble a profit on fruit and other crops 

 that is far beyond his most sanguine expectations. 



Due credit must be given the Ohio Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station Entomological Department (Prof. H. A. Gos- 

 sard in charge), to whom the writer is indebted for data and 

 special information regarding the spraying of the orchard in 

 Sandusky County. 



