114 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



On the domcstica plums two or three apphcations of weak 

 Bordeaux mixture (4-4-45 formula) should be made while the 

 trees are in foliage, but before the fruit commences to color. 

 After the fruit begins to color substitute ammoniacal copper car- 

 bonate solution for the Bordeaux. This will serve the double 

 purpose of controlling the leaf spot and checking the rot. 



But with the other stone fruits I am loth to make any recom- 

 mendations for spraying while the trees are in foliage. On this 

 matter there is much difference of opinion, and experiments in 

 dift'erent parts of the country have given contradictory results. 

 Briefly stated, the situation is this : While the spraying of the 

 foliage of peaches, apricots and Japan plums with fungicides 

 containing copper has been successfully practiced by various 

 parts of the United States and by some recommended for the 

 prevention of fruit rot and other diseases, it has, in other cases, 

 often resulted in serious damage and is not to be recommended 

 in Connecticut (according to the investigations of Sturgis)* 

 and only in a very limited way in New York. It is a worthy 

 subject of investigation. 



Of the fungicides which do not contain copper, potassium 

 sulphide solution is especially promising. In the experiments 

 made by Dr. Sturgisf potassium sulphide, at the rate of one 

 pound to fifty gallons of water, caused no injury to peach foliage 

 and decreased the amount of rot by nearly 20 per cent. The 

 chief difficulty is the frequency with wdiich it must be applied. 



Thinning the fruit, also, will undoubtedly assist somewhat in 

 controlling fruit rot. One of the most successful peach growers 

 in Western New York, who has very little trouble from rot, 

 attributes his success to regular and severe thinning and his 

 practice of never allowing a single mummy fruit to remain over 

 winter on the trees. 



At the recent meeting of the Western New York Horticultural 

 Society in Rochester, Mr. George T. Powell stated that during 

 the past season he has used plain copper sulphate solution (three 

 ounces to fifty gallons) for spraying sweet cherries in the Hud- 

 son River Valley. While the fruit was ripening the trees were 

 sprayed every day for about ten days. There was no injury to 

 the foliage, no serious spotting of the fruit and about one-half 



*Sturgis, W. C. Conn. Agr. Exp. Sta. Rep. (1900), 219-254. 

 tLoc. cit., p. 253. 



