206 THE SPRAYING CAMPAIGN 



ing in 1914. This is a comforting thought and ought to stimulate 

 the owner to keep up the practice regularly. It is still more 

 likely to be true if a whole neighborhood or section takes up 

 the practice. A few poor, shiftless non-sprayers in a section 

 can do a lot of damage to the whole region by keeping up the 

 supply of insects and fungous spores. 



Spraying is Insurance. — In this connection the fruit grower 

 ought to keep in mind a fact, which is often urged but frequently 

 forgotten, that spraying is really an insurance. He can not 

 always tell beforehand exactly what pests he will have, but he 

 knows somewhat definitely. He must, therefore, map out his 

 program and spray accordingly, knowing that one year with 

 another such a program is going to pay. And in particular 

 he must not become discouraged and give up spraying because 

 in some season Jones, who didn't spraj^, gets just as good 

 results. A man does not become disheartened and condemn fire 

 insurance because his house does not burn down and give him the 

 benefit of the insurance. And he ought to regard spraying in 

 the same light. 



The Question of Danger to Animals. — Another point which 

 is often asked about is the question of the danger to animals 

 which eat grass that grows under sprayed trees. And less fre- 

 quently there is some concern as to the danger of the sprayed 

 fruit as human food. On the first point, danger to stock, the 

 situation may be thus stated: With any ordinary fruit tree 

 sprayed in any ordinary way with poison there is no danger 

 whatever to animals which eat the grass growing under the 

 tree, either in a fresh state or as hay. The Michigan Experiment 

 Station investigated this matter very thoroughly a number of 

 years ago, pasturing sheep under trees which had been heavily 

 sprayed and in other cases cutting the grass and feeding it to 

 horses, and no injury resulted in either case. On the other hand, 

 there have been cases where animals have fed on grass growing 

 beneath street trees that had been sprayed, and such animals 

 have been either killed outright or made seriously sick. But 

 the case here is very different from any ordinary fruit tree. 

 With these street trees the operator stays in the tree for a long 



