Bordeaux and Vermorel nozzles, the ones recom- 

 mended by Professor Sanderson for home use 



**P^OUR years ago when we bought this 

 -T place we set out several fruit trees, 

 which have been well cared for and have 

 made a good growth, having some fruit this 

 year, but late in the summer they showed 

 signs of disease. We are unable to deter- 

 mine the trouble. Will you not come and 

 examine them, or send a man to do so, when 

 in this section?" 



This is the message an experiment station 

 often receives from amateurs who have a 

 few trees. We examine the trees and find 

 them covered with the San Jose scale — the 

 most dreaded of orchard pests. "What can 

 we do for it ? " is not easy of answer, for the 

 home gardener with a few trees can ill afford 

 the expensive apparatus used by the commer- 

 cial orchardist. 



Well protected, the San Jose scale insect 

 safely passes the winter under its scale-like 

 armor. To slay it we must apply a sub- 

 stance that will eat through the scale and 



Spraying the Home Garden— By e. Dwight Sanderson H »™ hitc 



PRACTICAL WAYS OF SAVING THE HOME FRUITS FROM INSECTS AND DISEASES 

 —THE RECIPES, METHODS AND APPLIANCES THAT ARE ADAPTED SOLELY FOR THE 

 AMATEUR, NOT THE COSTLY METHODS USED BY PROFESSIONALS ON A LARGE SCALE 



[Editorial Note. — The great trouble with the mass of bulletins and articles on spraving is that they are of no use to the amateur who has half a dozen trees and a vegetable 

 garden. They are written for the professional fruit grower, who uses apparatus that costs too much for the home garden. Moreover the recipes for use on a large scaie are quite 

 different from the ones that should be used at home. In this article Professor Sanderson, who is the entomologist at the New Hampshire experiment station, and has had a 

 wide experience in various parts of the country, has boldly turned his back upon the commercial methods which only serve to confuse and discourage the amateur, and tells 

 just what kind of tools to get, the best recipes, the main enemies to look for, and how to sprav, powder or otherwise destroy them.] 



destroy the insect beneath. The insecticide 

 must be applied so thoroughly that every par- 

 ticle of the tree is covered, else the few scales 

 missed may by the next August be the great- 

 great-grandmothers of thousands of lusty 

 progeny which will require further treatment. 

 The first thing to do is to cut back the tips 

 of the limbs or "head in" rather severely, 

 for many of the scales are just under the 

 leaf buds where it is hard to reach them. 

 We have seen peach trees excessively scaly 

 cut back to mere stumps, from which grew 

 out healthy trees in a few seasons. 



REMEDIES FOR THE SCALE 



If you have but two or three trees, prob- 

 ably whale-oil or fish-oil soap can be most 

 easily secured and applied. Dissolve two 

 pounds in a gallon of hot water and apply 

 hot. 



Kerosene and crude petroleum have been 

 extensively used, both in emulsions with soap 

 and in mechanical mixtures with water, 

 with varying success, but altogether they can 

 hardly be indorsed for general use. Recently 

 preparations of crude oil which have been 

 treated chemically so that they mix with 

 water without emulsifying have been placed 

 on the market. They promise to be among 

 the best of remedies for the scale and are 

 much the easiest to prepare, but they have 

 hardly been tested sufficiently to be recom- 

 mended unreservedly. 



Most popular and generally efficient of all 

 the winter washes now used in the East is 

 the lime-sulphur mixture. This wash is 

 deservedly popular, for not only does it kill 

 the scale but it has great value in destroying 

 many of the fungous diseases of fruit trees, 

 as well as several other insect pests which 

 pass the winter upon them. Thus it has 

 proved an efficient remedy for the pear blister 

 mite which makes the black spots on pear 

 leaves, making them drop prematurely and 

 thus stunting the growth of the tree. Also 

 it checks the ravages of the precocious bud 

 worm and case-bearers upon the buds and 

 opening foliage of the apple. As a fungicide 

 it will control the peach leaf curl, so that for 

 scale on peach trees it is preferred over all 

 other washes. Upon the apple lime-sulphur 

 has been shown to equal the first application 

 of Bordeaux mixture, or copper sulphate 

 applied before the foliage opens for the scab 

 and some other diseases. 



Spraying against the scale seems to be 

 more effective when done in late fall, or early 

 spring just as life is starting in the tree, 

 rather than in dead of winter when the insects 

 seem to be more resistant. It is best to spray 

 on a still day, but if wind is unavoidable 

 64 



Atomizer and hand-bellows, Ihe cheapest appliance 

 for dusting bushes. No good for trees 



spray with the wind and on a later day, when 

 it has changed, from the opposite direction. 

 A tree should be sprayed from four sides, for 

 every bit of bark must be covered, and spray- 

 ing from two or sometimes even three sides 

 will leave places untouched. The same 

 treatment will apply to currants and other 

 bush fruits or shrubs affected with the San 

 Jose scale. 



OTHER SCALE INSECTS 



But there are other scales that affect the 

 apple and pear, such as the oyster-shell scale 

 and the scurfy scale, and on raspberry canes 

 frequently the rose scale, which cannot be 

 successfully combated in winter. For they 

 differ from the San Jose scale in that the 



A handy spraying rig for the home garden. An 

 outfit liKe this will last for many years and guarantee 

 good fruits and vegetables 



The compressed-air sprayer designed for the 

 amateur who doesn't liKe hard work. It saves a lot 

 of pumping. Trees of this size can be sprayed by 

 using an extension rod 



