ORCHARD NOTES. 143 



SPRAYING EXPERIMENTS. . 



The fact of the financial gain to be derived from rational 

 spraying of orchards, is no longer in doubt. As a matter of 

 insurance, therefore, 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, as this application is specially 

 valuable in checking fungous diseases whose spores have lived 

 over winter. It is also the only possible time to fight the bud 

 moth, which has become a serious menace to many orchards of 

 the State. 



The first application should consist of the standard Bordeaux 

 mixture (5 — 5 — 50 formula) and arsenate of lead.* Should 

 San Jose scale be suspected, the lime and sulphur mixture may 

 be substituted for the first Bordeaux treatment. For later 

 applications, weaker Bordeaux (3 — 5 — 50, or even 2—4 — 50) 

 is safer, and apparently as effective. 



For the purpose of investigating the question of "spray 

 injuries," and certain points in field practice, a series of experi- 

 ments, to extend over a period of 5 years, was inaugurated in 

 the spring of 1907, in the orchard of Phineas Whittier, at Farm- 

 ington Falls. A power sprayer of the best type was purchased, 

 and practical orchard spraying, on a somewhat extensive scale, 

 was carried on during the season. 



From a practical point of view, this work was successful, and 

 served its purpose of demonstrating to the orchardists in the 

 vicinity the value of the work. Mcintosh apples which, for 

 several years, had been absolutely worthless because of scab, 

 were this year clean and in good market condition; while on 

 unsprayed trees near at hand, the fruit was worthless. Bald- 

 wins, likewise, showed unmistakable advantage from the spray- 

 ing. More technical studies were prevented by the writer's 

 absence from the State. 



* "How to Fight Apple Enemies," containing formulas for various 

 spraying mixtures, will be sent to any address in the State upon appli- 

 cation to the Experiment Station. 



