172 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



August, 1908 



Prepared Spraying Materials 



The Maine Agricultural Exjjeriment Sta- 

 tion is now mailing Bulletin 154 which con- 

 tains analysis of Paris greens and prepar- 

 ed Bordeaux mixtures as sold in Maine in 

 1907. The following extracts and conclus- 

 ions of interest to Canadians as well as 

 Maine growers, are taken from the bul- 

 letin : — 



"The ideal Paris green would carry a 

 maximum amount of arsenious oxide in 

 combination with copper; it would have 

 as little as possible of free arsenious acid, 

 so as not to burn the foliage ; and it would 

 be in the finest possible powder in order 

 that it may readily remain in suspension 

 when mixed in water and that it ,may be 

 more thoroughly distributed." 



All of the Paris greens sold in Maine 

 were found to carry sufficient arsenic. One 

 largely used brand was found to be poorly 

 made as shown by the coarse particles and 

 an excessive amount of soluble arsenic. 

 "The reported cases of burning of foliage 

 and failure to kill the potato bugs reported 

 from some users of this green may per- 

 haps be explained by these analyses." 



The commercial Bordeaux mixtures are 

 discussed from the standpoint of their 

 chemical compositions, their effectiveness 

 and economy. "The large grower rarely, 

 if ever, can aflFord to purchase prepared 

 Bordeaux mixture at any price at which 

 they have been or can be offered. To say 

 the least, freshly prepared Bordeaux mix- 

 ture is in as fully as good form to serve as 

 a fungicide as old mixture. It apparently 

 adheres to foliage better than old. There 

 seems, therefore, to be little or no reason 

 for the large grower to use ready made wet 

 Bordeaux mixture. The experiments con- 

 ducted at the station clearly indicate the 

 unwisdom of dust spraying for potatoes. 

 Until some marked advance shall have been 

 made in the preparation of commercial 

 Bordeaux mixtures, wet or dry, they do not 

 seem to fit in to the economical and eflec- 

 tive combatting of the fun"-ous diseases 

 of the potatoes." 



Remedies for Cutworms 



Last year, much alarm was created by 

 outbreaks of the variegated cutworm in 

 various parts of Ontario. A serious out- 

 break of this pest occurred in British Col- 

 umbia in 1900. The caterpillars attack 

 clover crops, tobacco, corn, tomatoes and 

 other vegetables, and they climb fruit trees 

 and destroy both leaves and fruit. The 

 following remedies are suggested by Dr. 

 Chas. J. S. Bethune, O.A.C., Guelph: 



"The most effective remedy for these noc- 

 turnal marauders is the poisoned bran 

 mash, which is made by mixing half a 

 pound of Paris green in 50 pounds of bran 

 (the proportion for larger or smaller quan- 

 tities is 1 to 100); the poison should be 

 added to the dry bran little by little and 

 stirred all the time till the whole is tinged 

 with the green color, then add water sweet- 

 ened with sugar or molasses till the mix- 

 ture is sufficiently moistened to crumble 

 nicely through the fingers. If bran can- 

 not be procured, shorts or flour may be 

 used and for field work may be distributed 

 dry by means of a seed drill. The mash 

 is sprinkled about the plants at sun-down 

 and after dark the worms come out and 

 eat it in preference to the vegetation and 

 then go off and hide, usually in their plac- 

 es of concealment. Paris green, half a 

 pound to 40 gallons of water may be used 

 on many plants with much advantage. 



"When the worms are very numerous 



and are moving on from one field to an- 

 other, their progress may be cheeked by 

 ])loughing a deep furrow ahead of them — 

 two about four feet apart would be better — 

 in these, post holes arc bored or dug from 

 12 to 16 feet apart. The furrow.s should bo 

 made in the morning so that the sides may 

 be dry and reliable by night fall. The 

 worms fall into them as they march and 

 being unable to climb up the loose sides 

 they travel along the furrow and fall into 

 the post holes; there they will bo found in 

 dozens or hundreds in the morning and can 

 •easily be killed. Whore the soil is stiff 

 clay, this plan will probably not be so 

 effective, as the worm.s may be able to climb 

 up the sides and go on their way; reliance 

 will then have to be placed in the poisoned 

 bait. Where very numerous a heavy roller 

 may be employed with advantage, if the 

 soil, or crop will permit of its use. It must 

 be remembered that live stock or poultry 

 must not be allowed in any place where the 

 poison is scattered." 



Winter Killed Peach Buds 



In bulletin No. 74, entitled "Winter Killing of 

 Peach Buds as Influenced by Previous Treat- 

 ment," and issued by the agricultural experi- 

 ment station at Columbia, Mo., there is much 

 valuable information for peach growers in 

 Ontario. The results of experiments and con- 

 clusions drawn are summarized as follows: 



"It is well known that the vigor of growth of 

 a peach tree can be increased by heading hack, 

 by cutting off a considerable portion of the ends 

 of the branches in late winter or early spring, 

 when the fruit buds have all been killed. 



"This is an excellent treatment to enable 

 trees to recover from injury to the wood by 

 severe winters. 



"The fruit buds formed on this vigorous 

 growth of new wood in sections north of Missouri 

 are more liable to injury from the cold of the 

 following winter. 



"The buds on this vigorous new wood, how- 

 ever, finish their resting period later and are 

 therefore not so readily started into growth by 

 warm periods in winter to be killed by cold 

 periods following. 



"In Missouri, especially the southern half, 

 there is in nearly every winter warm weather to 

 start the buds into growth to a small or large 

 extent. 



"In most of Missouri then, fruit buds on trees 

 that have made rather a vigorous growth, caused 

 by reasonably severe heading back or by cultiva- 

 tion, are the less liable to winter injury. This 

 has been true in the experiment station orchard 

 and in others during each of the last two years. 



"Heading back may be too severe, however, 

 since in any year the fruit buds most likely to 

 come through the winter safely are those at the 

 base of the whips of new wood, and if the head- 

 ing back has been too severe the growth will be 

 so dense that no fruit buds will be formed at the 

 base of those whips. 



"In the experiment station orchard the trees 

 having the smallest percentage of buds killed 

 were those trained to a spreading, open head, 

 and forced by pruning and cultivation to make 

 a vigorous growth. ^ 



"The fruit on trees with spreading heads does 

 not rot so badly as that on trees with dense 

 heads. 



"The fruit on trees making rather a vigorous 

 growth, unless the growth is too vigorous, is 

 larger than that on trees making smaller growth. 

 This is true except with early varieties, where a 

 tree making a rather small wood growth bears 

 the better fruit. 



"In the station orchard where only one .side 

 of a tree was thinned, the side not thinned had 

 from five per cent, to 40 per cent, more of its 

 fruit buds killed by a temperature of six degrees 

 F. below zero on Feb. 5, 1907. 



"Many varieties, like the Elberta, Crawford, 



Oldmixon, and others, the fruit buds of wliich 

 are known to kill badly, do so because they 

 finish their resting periods early and are, there- 

 fore, easily pushed into slight growth on warm 

 days in winter. 



"Varieties of Chinese Cling and green-twigged 

 types (excepting the Klherta, which has more the 

 character of the Persian race) are generally late 

 in finishing their resting periods and arc there- 

 fore better adapted to climates like that of 

 Missouri." 



Coopers' Fluids 



Many expressions of satisfaction with 

 the new spray fluids, Vi and V2, are be 

 ing received by Messrs. Wm. Cooper and 

 Nephews, 506 and 507 Manning Chambers, 

 Toronto. Amonij the letters received re- 

 cently are the following: 



H. A. Farrow, Bowmanville Ont. : "Upon 

 examination 1 find that my trees sprayed 

 with your Vi iirescnt a much cleaner and 

 better appearance than those unsprayed." 



Robert CoUacott, Bowmanville, Ont. : "I 

 have examined my trees after spraying 

 with your Vi Fluid, and find them very 

 clean and healthy. The bark louse has, 

 without doubt, been successfully treated." 

 J. K. Allen, Newcastle. Ont.': "I have 

 used five gallons of your Vi and V2 Fluids 

 on my orchard of 450 apple trees. The or- 

 chard now looks very healthy and clean, 

 the foliage particularly being full and 

 healthy, and there are very few, if any, 

 live bark-lice on the trees now." 



F. F. Barker, Burlington, Ont. : "I used 

 the gallon you sent me on young trees, 

 currant bushes, tomato plants, and found 

 it .effective, especially with the potato bug, 

 which completely collapsed, and were quite 

 dead within five minutes from sprinkling, 

 and this was from actual test. I, there- 

 fore, presume that the effect on smaller 

 insects would be greater still." 



White and Grace, Port Dalhousie, Ont. : 

 "We applied the Vi Fluid during the first 

 week of April, to pear, apple, plum and 

 peach trees to see what effect it would have 

 on the San Jose scale, with which all the 

 trees sprayed were more or less affected. 

 The bulk of our trees were sprayed the last 

 two years and this year with the lime- 

 sulphur wash. So far as we can judge at 

 present, the trees sprayed with your Vi 

 Fluid are absolutely free from scale, and 

 present a singularly healthy appearance, 

 while for ease in handling and great 

 covering capacity, your fluid is far prefer- 

 able to the lime-sulphur wash. We expect 

 to make a test of your V2 Fluid this sea- 

 son and will report the result." 



Canning Small Fruits 



Make a syrup for each quart of blackber- 

 ries, of one cup of sugar and one cup of 

 water, skim it and let boil 10 minutes, then 

 put in the fruit and allow it to boil eight 

 minutes. 



Red raspberries may be put up in the 

 same way, or if you wish to spend a little 

 more time and have the fruit as perfect 

 and fragrant as when fresh picked, put it 

 in jars, cover and set into boiling water, 

 leaving it there about 10 minutes. If the 

 berries settle, put in more. Then l^ur in 

 boiling syrup till the jar is filled to over 

 flowin,g. 



Before considering the purchasing of nur- 

 sery stock elsewhere, the fruit growers of 

 British Columbia will do well to pet the 

 catalogue of Mr. M. J. Henry, Vancouver, 

 B.C. Mr. Henry prows a large assortment 

 of fruit and ornamental trees and plants. 



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