25 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



SPRAYING OF CROPS FOR PROFIT. 



By Prof. S. T. Maynard, Pomologist to the Board. 



The longer any crop is grown in any one locality or the greater extent 

 to which it is grown, the more will it be subject to injury by insect and 

 fungous pests. It is often remarked that the number of insects and 

 fungous pests is rapidly increasing, and this is too often true ; so rapidly 

 do they sometimes increase that our crops would be total failures did 

 we not promptly apply remedial or preventative measures. 



One season, under conditions favorable to their increase, insects and 

 fungi are abundant, doing serious harm, while in another season the 

 conditions are such that these pests are destroyed by cold, by too much 

 moisture, by scant food supply, by jDarasites or other enemies, and little 

 or no damage is done. 



We sometimes have a series of years when insect and fungous pests 

 are abundant and also those when no injury is done. In the first case 

 we are liable to become discouraged, while in the second we are led to 

 think that it is all a matter of chance and not worth while to make an 

 attempt to protect our crops. 



This is, however, an unthrifty method of doing business. Our crops 

 may escape injury this season and possibly for one or two years longer, 

 but there is scarcely a crop we grow that is not at one time or another 

 injured by one or both of the above-named pests, and there are few, if 

 any, crops that we grow upon which there is so much profit in growing 

 that we can afford to lose even one crop. There is but one safe business 

 principle for the farmer, fruit-grower or gardener to follow, and that is 

 to be prejiared with and apply preventative measures whenever the con- 

 ditions are favorable for the development of insects and fungous pests. 



Most Farm and Garden Crops can be saved by Spraying. 



There is hardly a farm or garden crop that cannot be saved from seri- 

 ous injury from insects or fungi, and that at a cost which will leave more 

 margin for profit one year with another than if no spi'aying is done. 

 The work of spraying will, of course, add something to the cost of any 

 crop, but when one's crop is injured the same crop of other growers is in 

 danger, and the majority of growers not being active and prompt in the 

 work of prevention, the total crop of a section is likely to be small, 

 which will ensure higher prices for those who do produce a perfect 

 crop. 



The Apple. 



The apple crop can be saved from injury by the canker worm, a pest 

 too well known too need description, the codling moth, the insect that 

 causes the wormy apples, the tent caterpillar, the bud moth and many 

 other insect pests, by spraying with Paris green, while the apple scab, a 

 fungous growth that causes the olive-colored spots on the fruit and 

 often causes the leaves to turn yellow and fall off, the cedar-apple fun- 

 gus and other fungous pests may be destroyed by the use of the Bordeaux 

 mixture, the two substances being combined and used at one application.* 



* In Bulletin No. 60 of the Hatch Experiment Station, Amherst, Mass., may be 

 found a full explanation of the different insecticides and fungicides, together with the 

 routine for spraying all fruits, farm and garden crops. These bulletins are sent 

 free to any one living in the State who requests them. This number should be pre- 

 served for future reference if it has already been received. 



