14 SPRAYING THE APPLE ORCHARD. 



coming from New England except iNIaine, have averaged 50 

 to 75 cents a barrel less on the Liverpool market than the 

 same varieties from Maine, New York and Canada, this 

 being attributed to the better quality, freedom from insects 

 and diseases, and better packing of the fruit from the latter 

 states. There is always a good market for the best; the 

 market for the ordinary fruit is always precarious. 



While apple growing in New Hampshire has evidently 

 been standing still or declining, large regions in the East 

 and West have planted millions of trees, whose crops are 

 being shipped to eastern and foreign markets at a profit. 

 New England land is cheaper, the markets are at its door, 

 and no portion of the United States is better naturally 

 adapted to apple culture. Indeed the most prominent and 

 extensive fruit growers are now planting largely in 

 New England and are outspoken in their praise of south- 

 em New Hampshire as an apple section not to be excelled, 

 being, as J. H. Hale puts it, "the natural home of the good 

 —not the 'big'— red apple." How, then, shall these nat- 

 ural resources of the Granite State for apple growing be de- 

 veloped ? 



WHY SPRAY? 



In our attempt to produce a larger and better apple crop, 

 two methods are available. We may use more fertilizer or 

 manure, cultivate more frequently, and prune more intelli- 

 gently, and thus grow more fruit and of better quality ; or, 

 second, we may prevent the destruction by insects and 

 diseases of the fruit grown. A very appreciable benefit will 

 be derived from either of these methods used alone, but only 

 by employing both of them will complete success be achieved. 

 Far more fertilizing, more culture, and more pruning arc 

 needed in New Hampshire orchards, and without them the 

 sprayed apple will be too small and the total crop will be 

 too meager to be most profitable, even though sprayed and 

 free from insects and diseases. But whereas most growers 

 are familiar with the methods which should be employed to 



