30 THE CONTROL OF APPLE BITTER-ROT. 
given in a letter from Mr. MacGregor, dated November 10, 1905, as 
follows: 
In reply to yours of October 31, I do not know the exact dates of spraying. In 
the part where the most spraying was done the first application was made about 
April 15, followed by others on May 7, June 1, and at intervals of from 13 to 17 days 
thereafter until September 1, making nine applications in all. Practically no rot 
appeared on this part. On trees not sprayed till June 1 the rot might be 3 per cent, 
but not more. On three trees not sprayed August 1, but which received all the 
other applications, no difference was noted. Applications must be thorough. Some 
of our trees had only a few apples, and to save time we tried to spray them only in 
July and August. Result, 25 per cent bitter-rot at least. 
The orchard of Messrs. J. W. Rodes and Sons is located in the Rock- 
fish Valley, about eighteen miles from Afton, Va. “Mr. Rodes corre- 
sponded with the Bureau of Plant Industry concerning the treatment 
of the bitter-rot disease, and on July 26 the writer visited the orchard. 
The appearance of the trees indicated that they had been thoroughly 
sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, and on that date Mr. Rodes was 
spraying the tops of his tallest trees with an extra long extension rod, 
made by joining two rods of his outfit into one. He realized the 
importance of reaching every fruit with the mixture. With the 
exception of an occasional diseased fruit the sprayed portion of the 
crop throughout the orchard was free from bitter-rot. However, on 
one side of the orchard a fence interfered with the spraying, and 
about one-third of the crop on each of several trees could not be easily 
reached. In every such case the unsprayed section of the tree showed 
a serious outbreak of bitter-rot. <A letter from Mr. S. T. Rodes, 
dated at Bryant, Va., November 3, 1905, and giving a statement of the 
treatment and the results obtained follows: 
Yours of October 31 to hand and contents noted. In reply will say we sprayed 
our orchard of 275 Albemarle Pippins six times for bitter-rot, starting on the dates 
given below and finishing as soon as possible. [Mr. Rodes then names the dates of 
commencing six successive sprayings, as follows: June 15, July 3, 15, and 31, August 
17 and 30. | 
Where we could get at the trees and made the six applications there was no bitter- 
rot worth mentioning—scarcely any at all. Some trees that we could not spray on 
both sides on account of the fence showed quite a difference, the side sprayed havy- 
ing nice, clean apples, clear from cloud and rot, the fruit on the other side, unsprayed, 
being clouded and nearly all infested with the bitter-rot. 
Two years ago I believe the trees bore as many apples as they did this year. We 
did not spray them, however, and gathered only 56 barrels. From the same trees 
this year, but well sprayed inside and out, we gathered 1,142 barrels of No. 1 
Pippins. 
In unsprayed.and poorly sprayed orchards in the Rockfish Valley 
bitter-rot was exceedingly bad, and there can be no doubt that the 
freedom from the disease in the sprayed orchards was due entirely to 
the treatment. 
