
LIME-SULPHUR PREPARATIONS FOR APPLE DISEASES. 5 
Experiments conducted by the Bureau of Plant Industry during 
1909 give further evidence of the value of the lime-sulphur sprays as 
fungicides for summer use. These experiments cover a wide range 
of conditions, having been conducted in Virginia, Michigan, and 
Arkansas. Eleven varieties were treated. Four different brands 
of the commercial lime-sulphur-solution and a similar home-prepared 
solution were tested at various strengths. The commercial brands 
registered from 31 to 33 degrees on the hydrometer scale. They 
were used alone and in combination with arsenical poisons. This 
paper contains a brief discussion of these experiments, with sugges- 
tions as to the substitution of lime-sulphur preparations for Bordeaux 
mixture in the treatment of apple diseases. 
THE IMPORTANCE OF CAREFUL SPRAYING. 
The acreage in apple orchards in this country is rapidly increasing, 
and in the future the production of apples will undoubtedly be much 
greater than at present. The writer is of the opinion, however, that 
there will be no serious overproduction and that there will always be 
a good demand for good apples, while the poor stuff so common on 
our markets to-day will not pay the expenses of handling. It should 
be the aim of every orchardist to produce and market nothing but 
first-class fruit, and if he does this he may reasonably expect always 
to obtain good returns from his investment. 
Spraying is the one operation above every other orchard practice 
which determines the market value of the fruit produced and yet in 
many instances it receives the least attention of all the orchard work: 
The successful orchardist of the future will be the man who, among 
other things, studies the conditions existing on his own farm and 
sprays his trees according to the needs of each variety for the control 
of the particular troubles which occur in his locality. The course of 
treatment best suited for the orchards of the Shenandoah Valley of 
Virginia may not necessarily give the best results in orchards situ- 
ated east of the Blue Ridge in that State, and again the treatment 
for certain varieties of apples may be different from that required 
for certain other varieties growing in the same locality. The course 
of treatment should be planned not only with reference to the dis- 
eases to be controlled, but also with reference to the probable effect 
_of the fungicide upon the fruit and foliage of the variety to be treated. 
The Ben Davis, for example, is so seriously russeted by applica- 
tions of Bordeaux mixture that often most of the fruit sprayed with 
this fungicide is rendered second class. In Virginia this variety 
does not suffer materially from the attacks of scab, bitter-rot, or 
other serious fruit diseases, the leaf-spot which is easily controlled 
being its chief fungous enemy. The Ben Davis in Virginia and in 
[Cir. 54] 
