226 The Commercial Apple Industry 



Boil strychnine, sugar and water together for ten or 

 fifteen minutes, then add the wheat and boil a few minutes 

 longer. Remove the mixture from the fire and stir vigor- 

 ously until the wheat has become thoroughly coated. If, 

 on cooling, the mixture does not sugar, it may be necessary 

 to boil a few minutes longer. It is highly important that 

 the mixture be stirred vigorously in order that the poison 

 may be distributed and the grains of wheat properly 

 coated. The wheat will not ferment and may be kept 

 indefinitely. It is claimed that. chickens are not affected. 



SPEATIITG 



Spraying as known to-day has come into general prac- 

 tice only within the last fifteen or twenty years. ' The 

 development of the power sprayer has made practicable 

 the spraying of large commercial tracts and at the present 

 time no other single operation defines so clearly the dis- 

 tinction between commercial and non-commercial fruit- 

 growing. It is now generally accepted that spraying is 

 necessary to the production of strictly commercial apples. 



It. is unquestionably true that insect pests and diseases 

 are becoming more numerous and -growers in new regions 

 may not reasonably expect their orchards to be immune 

 from the attacks of insects and diseases which thrive else- 

 where under similar conditions. With the present means 

 of communication and with increased number of host 

 plants, isolation becomes less, and less a factor. Fortun- 

 ately, the increased energy of these attacks on apple trees 

 has been accompanied almost simultaneously with the 

 development of more effective spray control methods. No 

 other orchard operation in the growing of commercial 

 apples requires such thorough study as does spraying, and 



