58 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I907. 



the rye was used as a cover crop, showed no tendency to form 

 gullies, and the land was left in good condition. The line 

 between the two plats was sharply drawn by the protecting 

 action of the rye. Below, on the check plat, the washing com- 

 menced again, and the soil was left as in the first plat. In 

 some cases a regular network of roots was exposed to sun and 

 drying winds. On May 15 the whole orchard was plowed, and 

 no ill effects consequent upon growing a spring crop upon the 

 dry hillside followed. 



While not of scientific importance, this demonstration of a 

 principle which has so frequently been urged by the Experiment 

 Station has done more than mere words and reports can ever 

 do to induce practical farmers to follow the method suggested, 

 and thus prevent alike the washing of cultivated hillsides in 

 winter, and the drying out of the land by leaving the cover crop 

 too late in the spring. 



SPRAYING NOTES. 



Owing to the unusually favorable conditions during the past 

 few seasons, the practice of spraying orchards for insect and 

 fungous pests has been somewhat neglected. Apple scab, 

 formerly so destructive, has given very little trouble, and Maine 

 has not to contend with the dreaded bitter rot of the South and 

 West. At no time for the past 10 years, however, has the 

 codling moth been so abundant as in 1906, and it is reasonable 

 to expect even greater trouble next season; while a warm, 

 moist spring is almost certain to develop a serious outbreak of 

 apple scab. 



As repeatedly shown by the publications of this Station, both 

 the scab and the insect pests — codling moth, canker worm, bud 

 moth, and tent caterpillars — may readily be held in check by a 

 timely and thorough spraying with Bordeaux mixture and 

 Paris green, or Bordeaux mixture and arsenate of lead. As a 

 matter of insurance, therefore, wherever it is possible, every 

 orchard should be sprayed in April, before the buds open, again 

 just before the blossoms open, and at least once after the fruit 

 sets. If any application is to be omitted let it not be the first 

 one, as experience has shown that this application is specially 

 valuable in checking apple scab, while this is also the time — 

 and the only possible time — to fight the bud moth. 



