BETTER FRUIT 



Page 63 



place two or three weeks after the appli- 

 cation, and in our experience may amount 

 to 50 per cent of the crop. The smallest 

 and least promising apples are the ones 

 most subjected to shedding. This shed- 

 ding is due to the degeneration of the 

 fiber (vascular tissue) of the fruit stem 

 at the point of juncture with the stem, 

 and is analogous to the process, causing 

 the normal falling of leaves. We have 

 observed fruit shedding only with the 

 Newtown and Bellflower varieties of 

 apples, and it occurs at the time when 

 there is likely to be dropping from the 

 so-called natural causes. The Bellflower 



variety is frequently subject to a June 

 shed of fruit, but in the season of 1908 

 the check trees lost no fruit at this time. 

 The June applications which caused fall- 

 ing of fruit had little or no effect upon 

 the foliage. 



When sulphur is applied to apple trees 

 eleven weeks after blooming, or later, 

 shedding of fol'iage is very likely to be 

 induced. The foliage shedding is con- 

 fined to the more mature leaves, and 

 may be as great as 75 per cent even with 

 very light applications of sulphur. The 

 leaves fall in two or three weeks after 

 the application, and without losing their 



green color or turgidity. The falling is 

 apparently produced in the same manner 

 as the natural shedding in the fall of 

 the year. 



Injury to tender foliage and the skin 

 of the young fruit, such as the russeting 

 effect of bordeaux mixture, has not been 

 encountered with the insoluble sulphur 

 applications. 



The injurious effects above described 

 would be sufficient to discourage the use 

 of sulphur compounds were it not for 

 the fact that an immunity against these 

 effects can be developed in the tree. 

 If the sulphur spraying is begun early 

 in the season and continued without too 

 great intervals between the applications 

 the injurious effects do not develop, or 

 at least to only a very slight extent. The 

 spraying experiments of 1908 illustrated 

 the development of immunity to a very 

 marked degree. In the copper sulphide 

 plot (Newtowns) sixteen trees received 

 the first application, but only six of these 

 were sprayed the two following. The 

 fourth spraying was applied to all the 

 trees receiving the first application and 

 to a few that had not previously been 

 sprayed. As a result of the fourth appli- 

 cation those trees that had been sprayed 

 throughout the season lost no leaves, the 

 trees receiving the first spraying and not 

 the second and third lost from 5 to 10 

 per cent of the foliage, and those not 

 previously sprayed lost 50 to 75 per cent. 

 The same developed immunity applies to 

 the shedding of the fruit also, for some 

 small Newtown trees sprayed more fre- 

 quently than those in the large plots 

 lost no fruit. 



Sulphur injury was obtained with all 

 the compounds used, and so sulphur 

 immuity may be developed with any of 

 them, but with copper sulphide and the 

 soluble sulphides, such as lime-sulphur 

 solution, there are other injurious effects 

 than those produced by sulphur, and 

 which do not appear to develop immu- 

 nity in the plant. Lime-sulphur solution 

 kills young foliage (scorching) and does 

 injury to the older leaves to a corre- 

 sponding extent. These injured leaves 

 may ultimately yellow and fall, and the 

 effects cannot be distinguished from 

 those produced by a large number of 

 penetrating and poisonous substances. 

 Copper sulphide does not injure young 

 foliage, but the gradual change of the 

 sulphide over to sulphate injures the 

 foliage in time, and causes spot hole 

 injury, yellowing and falling. 



The physiological effects of sulphur 

 should not be always regarded as injuri- 

 ous or neutral. Stimulation may result, 

 and with iron sulphide this appears to 

 be quite frequent. Trees sprayed sys- 

 tematically with iron sulphide appear to 

 grow better than the removal of the mil- 

 dew could account for. 



The lime-sulphur solution is a noted 

 insecticide, and sulphur is used with suc- 

 cess against mites. It would not be sur- 

 prising, then, if the sulphur applications 

 used to control the mildew should also 

 have some effect upon insect life. We 

 have observed that wet applications of 

 finely divided sulphur (ground in sand) 

 destroyed colonies of green aphis (Aphis 

 pomi) and the woolly aphis, especially 



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