THE STRAWBERRY MARCH 1907 



insect attacks the plant. These are con- 

 tingencies that must be icept in mind as 

 possibilities, and the strawberry grower 

 should be prepared to meet them when 

 they arise. It is the man who always is 

 ready to do the right thing at the right 

 time that makes a success of his business 

 year in and year out. 



<^ ^ 

 How to Keep Fungi in Check 



By M. N. Edgerton 



A STRAWBERRY leaf aflFected 

 with disease can not perform its 

 entire functional work. The 

 working power of each leaf is reduced in 

 proportion to the amount of its surface 

 covered by the fungus. 



Strong, healthy plants are much less 

 subject to the attacks of disease than are 

 those which are 



bed will lessen the amount required in 

 the fruiting bed. 



Petoskey, Mich. 



New Yorkers Discuss Spraying 



N' 



EW YORK fruit-growers held a 

 meeting at Penn Van in January 

 that is said to have been one of the 

 most valuable and interesting in the his- 

 tory of the association. It is remarkable 

 how the subject of spraying and its im- 

 portance to horticulture dominated the 

 meeting, cropping out in the midst of the 

 discussion of other themes all through the 

 sessions. 



State Entomologist Prof. E. P. Felt, re- 

 ported that although the San Jose scale 

 had appeared in several new places, the 

 total injury from insects during 1906 had 

 not been so great as in previous years. 



small and weak. 



Cultural meth- 

 ods that promote 

 strength and vigor in 

 individual plants aid 

 in keeping the fo- 

 liage healthy. The 

 method of culture 

 followed by us, the 

 double-hedge row, 

 is conducive to 

 strong, healthy fo- 

 liage because indi- 

 vidual plants have 

 an abundance of 

 room in which to 

 spread their foliage 

 so that every part 

 of every leaf is 

 bathed in sunlight. 



The character of 

 the season also has 

 an influence upon 

 the prevalence of 

 fun|go|us diseases. 

 Wet, cloudy weath- 

 er is favorable to the 

 growth of fungus. 



Sunshine discourages its growth. The 

 season of 1906 was remarkable for the 

 lightness of its rainfall and the large num- 

 ber of bright sunshiny days. 



Of the dozen varieties in our new 

 fruiting bed only one, the Nick Ohmer, 

 showed the presence of a fungus. One 

 spraying in mid-summer checked the 

 spread of the disease. 



Spraying is unquestionably one of the 

 factors in the combination that will give 

 highest results in strawberry culture, and 

 it is our purpose to make this one of the 

 basic principles in our cultural methods 

 in the future. 



As is the case in dealing with the ene- 

 mies of tree and bush fruits prevention is 

 much better than cure. 



The enemy should be kept routed by 

 timely, regular, efficient spraying. Thor- 

 ough work of this kind in the propagating 



RELATIVE RESULTS OF SPRAYING APPLES AT THE ILLINOIS EXPERIMENT STATION 



Graded Apples from Three Trees not Sprayed 

 RESULTS OF SPRAYING IRISH POTArOES AT THE VERMONT EXPERIMENT STATION 



the fact that they are small and so more 

 readily accessible to the spraying machine, 

 gives to them their chief interest and value. 

 With San Jose scale spreading so rapidly 

 over the state the growers recognize the 

 importance of this feature to the future of 

 tree fruits. 



"Fighting the Scale" was the suggestive 

 title of a paper by L. L. Morrell of Kin- 

 derhook. He spoke out of personal ex- 

 perience with the scale. In his experience 

 the scale traveled the first year of his ac- 

 quaintance a distance of two and a 

 half miles, and nothing but Kie(?er pear 

 and sour cherry trees were immune from 

 its fatal visitation. The speaker related 

 some experiences and made some sugges- 

 tions that are of high value. He declared 

 that he had killed more trees by spraying 

 them with crude oil than he had lost from 

 the scale. He now uses lime-sulphur 

 mixture, made by using fifteen pounds of 

 sulphur and twenty 

 pounds of stone 

 lime to fifty gallons 

 of water, preparing 

 the mixture as fol- 

 lows: 



Put sixteen gallons 

 of warm water in a 

 barrel and add the 

 lime; this will boil 

 nearly to the top of the 

 barrel; when it reaches 

 this condition add the 

 sulphur, and boil with 

 steam until the mix- 

 ture takes on a dark 

 amber tinge. 



(■>-v> 





Total yield of sprayed potatoes per acre, 291 bushels; total yield of unsprayed potatoes per acre, 99^ bushels. 

 Profit of Spraying, 191}^ bushels per acre. 



However, the codling moth had done 

 great damage in some orchards. 



Another word of cheer came from Prof. 

 U. P. Hedrick who, reporting for the com- 

 mittee on plant diseases, said that with 

 the exception of a small area in which 

 pear blight had been very prevalent, the 

 state had been exceptionally free from 

 fungous diseases. Apples were almost free 

 from fungi even in unsprayed orchards. 

 He warned growers not to neglect spray- 

 ing on this account, however, but urged 

 them to continue spraying for fungous dis- 

 eases, for apple-scab is an ever-present 

 enemy of the apple-growers and preventive 

 measures should not be abandoned. 



The report on experimental orchards 

 submitted by F. E. Dawley, was of 

 especial interest from the spraying side of 

 the question. The experimental orchards 

 referred to were of dwarf apple trees, and 



Page 58 



Mr. Morrell urged 

 the importance of 

 following this meth- 

 od, saying that the 

 ingredients remain 

 in more complete 

 solution when it is 

 boiled so thorough- 

 ly than when it is 

 used at the stage 

 where it becomes 

 green. He also 

 urged the importance of thoroughness 

 in the work. Take plenty of time, he 

 said, and use sufficient mixture to cover 

 every square inch of surface of the tree. 

 He believes that the lower part of trees 

 are most likely to be neglected. No one 

 ever should try the impossible task of spray- 

 ing against the wind. He had come to 

 the conclusion that the lime-sulphur mix- 

 ture is a (good fungicide, and ihad never 

 had any evil consequences upon the men 

 who apply it. Other growers, however, 

 claimed the mixture was injurious to the 

 skin, cracking the hands and burning the 

 face. 



Dr. F. P. Krauty, of Berkeley, W. Va., 

 favored the use of oil, and read a paper 

 on "Controlling the Scale With Soluble 

 Oils," in which he said that oil was more 

 easily applied, more easily prepared, cov- 

 ered a larger surface than did the lime- 



