FRUIT AND ORNAMENTAL NURSERY STOCK 



13 

 -4. 



How ^Ve Prevented Having to Say Goodby to a 

 1913 Crop of Peackes Wortk $35,000.00 



Ten thousand of our 

 peach trees were attacked 

 in the spring of 1913 by 

 brown rot to the extent 

 that the entire crop of 

 fruit was on the brink of 

 total destruction. We 

 saved this crop, and sold 

 it for more than $35,000. 

 The story of the battle 

 we had to put up, and the 

 details of spraying, should 

 be extremely interesting 

 and highly instructive to 

 any peach-grower. 



During the growing sea- 

 son of 1912 we were lulled 

 by an apparent security 

 from enemies to relax our 

 spraying schedule. Be- 

 fore we knew it, brown 

 rot had developed so 



rapidly that all the fruit was destroyed and much 

 wood killed and infected. The rot even produced 

 cankers on the twigs and limbs, and the outlook for 

 the crop of 1913 was very blue. 



This extraordinary infection proved its virulence 

 early in the spring of 1913. As soon as the buds 

 began to swell they showed the presence of fungus, 

 and we realized that prompt, thorough and properly 

 directed work alone would save the crop. Accord- 

 ingly, we called on the Maryland Agricultural Col- 

 lege for help, and they sent a man who took entire 

 charge of the spraying campaign. 



The Young Tree — The Responsibility 



The Mature Fruit — The Reward 



Previous to this man's coming, early in March, we 

 sprayed all the trees with standard lime-sulphur 

 solution (1 to 9) for San Jose scale. This spray is a 

 fungicide as well as a contact insecticide, but it did 

 not stop the development of brown rot. On April 

 7, under direction of the expert, we began to spray 

 with a fungicide and poison combined. The fungus 

 was very active then. Curculio also was present. 

 We used two pounds of lime and two pounds of 

 arsenate of lead instead of the regular diluted or 

 self-boiled lime-sulphur, because this spray was 

 cheaper, and it was judged that under the circum- 

 stances its fungicidal power would be ample to check 

 the brown rot. Within three days it could be seen 

 that the fungus was controlled. 



About the end of April, when the blossom shucks 

 were beginning to drop, twigs and buds began to 

 die again, and a most thorough and complete spray- 

 ing was given with regular self-boiled lime-sulphur 

 and arsemate of lead (8-8-50, plus 2 pounds of 

 lead). In five days the fungus activity was checked 

 almost completely. A fourth spraying with the same 

 material as was used for the third was begun on the 

 23d of May, and at this time there was not much 

 indication of the presence of brown rot. About the 

 same time the twigs that had been killed earlier in 

 the season were cut out and burned. A fifth spray- 

 ing was begun on the 20th of June, with self-boiled, 

 lime-sulphur (no arsenate of lead used because there- 

 was no longer any danger from curculio). There 

 was little or no indication of rot present at this date, 

 but we did not intend to be caught napping again. 



It should be remembered that the dates given are 

 for the beginnings of the several sprayings. Ten 

 thousand trees make a large orchard, and as a matter 

 of fact we no sooner had gone over the orchard with 

 one spraying than it was time to begin the next. 

 We had spraying machines in the orchard every day 

 from early April until picking season. It would have 

 been better in this case to have started the first 

 spraying five days sooner than we did. The plain 

 Iime-and-Iead spray used ifirst, in April, was cheaper 

 than lime-sulphur and lead, and was successful in 

 this case. The last spraying, in June and early 



OUR TREE-ROOTS ARE JUST THE KIND TO NOURISH BIG TRUNKS 



