82 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I916. 



feet in height and the trunks were about 7 inches in diameter. 

 In the past it had evidently received more attention in the line 

 of plowing and manuring than the others, and at one time had 

 been used as a sheep pasture. Like all the other orchards on the 

 farm the trees were a tangled mat of branches from lack of 

 pruning. Beginning with 1910 this orchard, in common with all 

 others on the farm, has been given good care in the line uf 

 pruning, fertilization, and cultivation and nothing but apples 

 and an annual cover crop to be plowed under in early spring has 

 been grown therein. In the fall of 191 5 the trunks of the ex- 

 perimental trees had an average diameter of 9 inches, about 24 

 inches from the ground. 



Nature and Extent of Experimental Work. Methods 



Used. 



About the time the farm was purchased the value of lime ana 

 sulphur washes as fungicidal sprays for fruit trees was begin- 

 ning to be recognized. On account of the very favorable results 

 secured by Scott* with self-boiled lime-sulphur for brown rot. 

 scab, and other peach diseases as well as for leaf-spot and 

 bitter rot of the apple, the writer had already started a series 

 of experiments in an orchard at Orono to test the value of this 

 material for controlling apple scab under Maine conditions. 

 The results for 1908 were given in Bulletin 164 of this Statior, 

 while those for 1909 were never published on account of their 

 being rendered valueless through circumstances over which the 

 writer had no control. 



A more elaborate series of experiments were planned for the 

 following year at Highmoor Farm, using a much larger num- 

 ber of trees, and a number of different kinds of sprays including 

 cooked lime and sulphur or what is now commonly used and 

 known as lime-sulphur. The appointment of Mr. W. W. Bonus 

 as Station horticulturist, stationed at the farm during the sum- 

 mer months, led to his taking over these experiments which 

 remained under his charge for two seasons. Since 1912 they 



*Scott, W. M. A promising treatment for brown rot and other peach 

 diseases. An address before the American Pomological Society, Sept. 

 1907. Self-boiled lime-sulphur mixture as a promising fungicide. Cir- 

 cular No. 1, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. D. A. April, 1908. 



