March, 1906 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



65 



mother insect dies in late fall and leaves only 

 the eggs to pass the winter beneath the cover- 

 ing scale. Insect eggs are not easily killed 

 by most washes which will not injure a tree. 

 Hence we must wait until the young hatch 

 in May or June, the exact time depending 

 upon the latitude of the locality. Watch the 

 trees carefully, examining with a hand lens 

 if possible, and as soon as the small, mite- 

 like, yellowish young are found crawling 

 abundantly spray the trees thoroughly with 

 kerosene emulsion or whale-oil soap. These 

 applications will also be effective against any 

 plant lice or aphides, such as the bright- 

 green aphis which curls up the young foliage 

 of the apple or its blackish cousin which forms 

 a disgusting mass upon the young peach 

 shoots. Whale-oil soap may be used on 

 trees in foliage at rate of one pound in five 

 or six gallons of water. 



RECIPE FOR KEROSENE EMULSION 



Dissolve a half pound of hard soap in a 

 gallon of hot water and then, away from fire, 

 add two gallons of kerosene. Churn the 

 mixture briskly for five minutes or more until 

 the whole mass has a uniform creamy con- 

 sistency. This may be readily done with a 

 bucket pump by taking the nozzle from the 

 hose and pumping the stream back into the 

 mixture. Then dilute with fifteen to twenty 

 gallons of water. The cottony maple scale, 

 which often becomes a serious pest on city 

 shade trees, is protected by the cottony mass 

 from these sprays, but may be readily con- 

 trolled by a stiff stream of cold water from 

 a garden hose, which will wash it from the tree. 



ANYONE MAY SAVE HIS APPLES 



"We have an old Baldwin apple tree in 

 our yard," says a friend, "but the apples all 

 drop off and are full of worms, so that we get 

 but a few for pies and the chickens get the 

 rest." How common an experience. 



"And did you ever spray them?" I ask. 

 Of course he had not, but, as usual, I learn 

 that it wouldn't pay to bother spraying them. 

 As a matter of fact, that old tree might have 

 furnished a half dozen barrels of good apples, 

 sufficient for the winter in many families, 

 and saved buying at three dollars a barrel. 

 What would it cost ? Possibly twenty-five cents 

 each where but one or two trees are sprayed, 

 but where many are treated not over fifteen 

 cents for the three sprayings usually necessary. 



The first spraying should be made with 

 copper sulphate or bluestone solution, used 

 at the rate of one pound to twenty-five gallons 

 of water before the buds have begun to ex- 

 pand in early spring. This is wholly for 

 diseases such as rust, scab and rot, which 

 exist over winter as small dormant spores on 

 the tree and start to grow with the foliage if 

 not checked by the fatal copper compound. 

 Pure copper sulphate cannot be applied after 

 the leaves appear. 



The next spraying is usually made just as 

 the petals fall. This time use Bordeaux 

 mixture for the diseases and with it mix 

 arsenate of lead or Paris green for the insect 

 pests, particularly the codling moth or com- 

 mon apple worm. 



Similar application should be made a week 



Churning kerosene emulsion with a bucket pump 



or ten days later, before the blossom end cr 

 calyx of the young apple has completely 

 closed and the apple has begun to turn over. 

 It is of the utmost importance that the 

 spraying be done at exactly the right time, 



Bordeaux mixture. Pour the dilute lime and dilute 

 copper sulphate together into a third vessel 



and the reason for spraying at this exact sea- 

 son is interesting. Trie codling moth lays 

 her eggs on the apple and leaves some little 

 time after the blossoms drop. When the 

 young caterpillar hatches in June, it crawls 

 over the apple and enters at the most inviting 

 point, which is the calyx or blossom end. 

 The great majority enter there. In spraying 

 just after the blossoms drop and again before 

 the calyx is closed the calyx cavity is given 

 a good coating of poison, so that usually the 

 first meal of young codling moth is his last. 

 If spraying be delayed the calyx, closes, it is 

 impossible to spray inside it, and the poison 

 on the surface of the apple is not efficient. 



It is also essential that the spraying be done 

 from above the tree or so that the spray will 

 fall into the cavity. For small trees this can be 

 done by means of an extension rod of light 

 gas pipe threaded to fit the nozzle and hose, 

 or by tying a light hose to a long pole. With 

 a knapsack or compressed-air sprayer effec- 

 tive work may be done on a few small trees 

 with a step-ladder. Where a number of 

 large trees are to be sprayed a platform made 

 to set in an ordinary one-horse express wagon 

 will be found a time-saver, and with it a barrel 

 pump will be better, though a bucket pump 

 mounted on a half barrel may be used. Such 

 a platform can be made out of rough boards 

 and bolted on to the wagon in a few hours, 

 at slight cost, and is easily removed. A rig 

 like this is satisfactory for any orchard up to 

 several hundred trees. With it an "extension 

 rod," made of bamboo or gas pipe, as sold 

 by the spray pump dealers, should be 

 used. 



Where disease has been specially prevalent, 

 or where bud worms or other insects attack- 

 ing the buds and young fruit have been par- 

 ticularly troublesome, another spraying, simi- 

 lar to the second, applied just before the 

 blossoms open will be profitable. Never 

 spray a tree in blossom. It will kill your best 

 friends, the bees, without whose aid you need 

 not expect a good crop. 



RECLPE FOR BORDEAUX MIXTURE 



To make Bordeaux mixture for a few trees, 

 dissolve one pound of copper sulphate (blue- 

 stone or blue vitriol) in a gallon of hot water, 

 by hanging in a bag. In another gallon of 

 water slake one pound of fresh stone lime. 

 Now add three pints of the copper solution 

 to a bucket of water and four and a half pints 

 of the lime wash to another bucket of water. 

 Pour the buckets of dilute copper sulphate 

 and dilute lime together into a third vessel 

 — a large kettle, butter or lard tub will do — 

 stirring thoroughly, and add enough water, 

 if necessary, to make five gallons. The re- 

 mainder of the gallon of lime and bluestone 

 can be similarly diluted and mixed when 

 needed for later sprayings. 



For larger amounts proceed in the same 

 way, using four pounds or gallons of the cop- 

 per sulphate solution and six pounds or gal- 

 lons of the lime to a barrel of water, diluting 

 each first in a half barrel and then pouring 

 together. Bordeaux mixture may be bought 

 ready made. Some brands are good, many 

 are poor. Secure the advice of someone 

 familiar with them before buying. 



