354 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



more than it does upon the accident of immunity 

 from insects and fungi. There are four fundamental 

 operations upon which all permanent success in most 

 kinds of orchard culture depend, and their importance 

 lies in something: like the following order; tillage, 

 fertilizing, pruning, spraying. Spraying is the last to 

 be understood, but this fact should not obscure the 

 importance of the other three. 



2. Spraying is an insurance. There are always 

 elements of risk in the growing of fruit. The chief 

 of these is frost, a difficulty which can never be 

 completely under our control. The second great ele- 

 ment of risk is the injury wrought by insects and 

 fungi, and the greater part of this injury can be 

 averted by the sprays. Now, it is impossible to 

 foretell by any considerable length of time, if any or 

 all of the difficulties which are liable to harass the 

 fruit -raiser will actually appear. One does not know 

 if his buildings will burn, yet he insures them. We 

 know that in four years out of five, some serious 

 injury of insects or fungi may be confidently ex- 

 pected, and it is the part of wisdom to insure against 

 it. The year 1894 was a season of remarkable in- 

 vasion of apple- scab fungus in New York, and those 

 persons who sprayed their orchards thoroughly had 

 phenomenal results. These experiences, aided by 

 many publications upon the subject, so advertised 

 the value of the sprays that much more spraying 

 was done in the state the next year than ever before. 

 But it so happened, probably because of the dry 

 spring, that comparatively, few invasions of enemies 



