The Canadian Horticulturist 



'Vol. XXIX 



MARCH 1, 1906 



No. 3 



Development of Spraying Operations 



IN no department of orchard opera- 

 tions has the advancement of re- 

 cent years been so noticeable as in 

 spraying. Constant progress from the 

 small knapsack to the crude barrel pump 

 worked by hand, and from the hand 

 pump attached to the barrel to the 

 various power devices of present-day 

 use has been evident in all fruit sec- 

 tions. Although ridiculed by many 

 when first taken up, spraying has be- 

 come recognized by the more progres- 

 sive growers as one of the elements 

 which enter into successful orcharding. 

 Its advantages have become so clear to 

 the fruit men that now it holds a place 

 along with cultivation, fertilizing, prun- 

 ing and other cardinal operations on 

 the up-to-date fruit farm. 



Those who ridicule the practice of 

 spraying are becoming fewer year by 

 year. Now and then an unprogressive 

 grower chances to have a good crop of 

 fruit, although he never sprayed. This 

 is held up by himself and a few neigh- 

 bors who do nothing until forced, as 

 a straight proof that spraying is not 

 required. Or, perhaps, a thrifty fruit 

 grower decides that he will spray his 

 trees. Careful and thorough spraying 

 at frequent intervals during the sum- 

 mer season is done, but when the crop 

 is harvested he has no greater yield 

 than a neighbor who went to no bother 

 and no expense in carrying on spray- 

 ing operations. Again the unprogres- 

 sive fellow has a chance and spraying 

 is pronounced "no good." 



To the orchardist who reads and 

 studies, however, such isolated cases 

 are not taken into serious consideration. 

 Because the grower's dwelling and fruit 

 sheds are not burned each year, is that 

 any reason why he should not insure 

 his buildings? The same argument 

 holds good in regard to spraying. Im- 

 portations of nursery stock and fruits 

 have resulted in the introduction into 

 Canadian fruit sections of so many in- 

 jurious insect and fungous pests, that 

 it has come to be realized that scien- 

 tific and thorough spraving each year 

 is essential to success. It may be that 

 weather conditions are unfavorable to 

 the development of these enemies to 

 fruit production for a season, and the 

 man who sprays none may reap as 

 great a harvest as the one who attends 



to his trees regularly; but for certain 

 returns year after year the man who 

 sprays is the man who wins. Did any 

 of those cranks who maintain that 

 spraying is a useless innovation in fruit 

 culture, ever consider that the man in 

 his section who sprays most scientific- 

 ally and most persistently, provided 

 other essential orchard operations are 

 given due attention, is in the front rank 

 of the growers? He is making money, 

 and increasing his fruit plantations 

 almost every year. Competition on 

 the various fruit markets is becoming 

 so keen that it does not pay to ship in- 

 ferior fruit. Experience has shown that 

 number one fruit cannot be guaranteed 

 if the trees are not sprayed. Some may 

 say spraying is no guarantee. How- 

 ever, the experiences of leading grow- 

 ers has proved that if it is done intel- 

 ligently, the one who practises it never 

 regrets the time and labor given to 

 the work. 



To answer the question, Does spray- 

 ing pay? the experiences of some lead- 

 ing fruit growers may be cited. Mr. 

 D. Johnson, president of the Forest 

 Fruit Growers' Association, in a letter 

 to The Canadian Horticulturist, 

 said: "After almost 12 years' experi- 

 ence, I have great confidence in spray- 

 ing. Previously my apple orchard was 

 producing only 300 to 400 barrels a 

 year. Although the orchard was cul- 

 tivated and fertilized just as well then 

 as it is now, the fruit would not set 

 properly, and that which did set and 

 come to maturity was often so defec- 

 tive with scab and worm as to be of 

 little value. I determined to try spray- 

 ing with Bordeaux mixture and Paris 

 green and to give it a thorough test. 

 So successful was the test, the orchard 

 in a few years was producing 1,500 to 

 1,800 barrels a year, the greater part of 

 which were XXX in quality. Some va- 

 rieties, such as Spitzenburg and Snows, 

 that at one time seemed beyond re- 

 demption, are producing excellent fruit 

 perfectly free from scab or worm. 



"My experience in spraying plums, 

 pears, peaches and grapes has been 

 equally successful, and has produced 

 most astonishing results. Some years 

 ago I lost the entire plum crop, with 

 the exception of about 35 bushels, from 

 the Black Rot. The next season I 



sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, and 

 although the Black Rot was as preva- 

 lent, I harvested over 1,000 bushels. 

 The Black Rot fungus is always with 

 us, but I have little difficulty in keep- 

 ing it in check with the Bordeaux mix- 

 ture. I use the strongest barrel pump 

 I can get, with an elevated platform for 

 the spray operator to stand on. I 

 usually spend 12 to 14 weeks each sea- 

 son spraying." 



Another illustration of the value of 

 power spraying was evidenced during 

 the past season in the orchard of Mr. 

 A. C. Cummins, of Burlington. Re- 

 garding this orchard, Mr. A. B. Cutting, 

 travelling representative of The Hor- 

 ticulturist, writes: "Perhaps the fin- 

 est lot of Spy apples grown in this local- 

 ity during the ■ past season came from 

 Mr. Cummins' orchard. Of the total 

 crop the buyers say that 75 to 80 per 

 cent, were XXX stock, and less than 

 five per cent, culls. This is an excep- 

 tionally good record, and is due, as Mr. 

 Cummins says, to persistent and thor- 

 ough spraying. Three years ago in 

 this orchard, when spraying was not 

 practised, only 10 barrels of XXX 

 apples were found in a total crop of 

 1,500 barrels. 



"A very marked comparison of the 

 merits of spraying vs. non-spraying 

 was seen in this same orchard last sea- 

 son in the case of a single Spy tree 

 standing in a raspberry patch where it 

 could not be reached with the sprayer. 

 Surrounding the raspberry patch are 

 the trees that gave the good results 

 mentioned. The lone, untreated speci- 

 men in the patch produced an excel- 

 lent crop of Codling Moths and scabs, 

 with little or nothing else. The single 

 unsprayed tree was diseased and at- 

 tacked by insects; the sprayed orchard, 

 only 50 feet away, was clean." 



The excellent results obtained by 

 growers in various states of the Union 

 were referred to by Mr. A. N. Brown, 

 of Wyoming, Delaware, in an address 

 at the annual convention of the Ontario 

 Fruit Growers' Association held in 

 Toronto last November. Mr. Brown 

 pointed out the absolute necessity of 

 having a first-class power outfit and 

 only the best nozzles, so that a perfect 

 mist would be given. He said that ex- 

 perience had shown the growers that 



