146 THE AMERICAN APPLE ORCHARD 



ing can be freely recommended ; but it is tbe firm con- 

 viction of the writer that land too rough to admit of 

 economical tillage and spraying should never be 

 planted to apple trees. Some men seem to have a 

 notion that land which is too rough and rocky for 

 pasturing goats can be used for growing apples. The 

 apples will grow well enough; but the growers v/ho 

 plant orchards on good land will soon teach these 

 rock-bottom orchardists a hard lesson. 



SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 



1. Spray thoroughly. Careless work in any line of 

 fruit growing does not pay, but nowhere else is thor- 

 oughness so absolutely essential as in spraying. Care- 

 less spraying may even injure the trees. 



2. Spray every year. That excellent gentleman 

 who "took a bath every Fourth of July whether he 

 needed it or not" is the model for the sprayman to fol- 

 low. There are seasons when fungi and insects seem 

 to be absent. The fruit grower is then strongly 

 tempted to save the expense of spraying, but it is a 

 great mistake to do so. The spraying done in a good 

 year counts in the bad years, for the effects of proper 

 spraying are not all seen the first year. 



3. Spray intelligently. Some men use paris green 

 to kill aphis or bordeaux mixture- on San Jose scale. 

 It is absolutely impossible for either solution to give 

 the slightest result in these cases. Spraying is a com- 

 plicated business and unless a man knows exactly 

 what he is trying to do, and why, he is apt to waste his 

 entire time and labor. 



4. Do not spray while trees are in bloom. It in- 

 jures the blossoms, and it also poisons the bees which 

 are necessary to fertilize the flowers. 



