1905.] 



Spraying Fruit Trees and Bushes. 



645 



to think that he would have no time for any other work than 

 spraying if he followed the advice given to him. Now, spraying 

 is a very troublesome and unpleasant operation, and not by any 

 means an inexpensive one. Therefore too many growers of fruit 

 aghast at the multitude of operations apparently recommended 

 neglect to spray at all. A careful study of the preventives and 

 cures recommended, however, will show that a great many pests 

 may be combated in the same operation. 



It is suggested that four sprayings in the season would 

 suffice as a rule to prevent or check all the ordinary insect 

 and fungoid attacks upon fruit trees and bushes. The first is 

 the application of caustic soda and potash wash in February ; 

 the second is a spraying with Bordeaux mixture and Paris 

 green just before the buds open ; the third is the use of the 

 same mixture just after the petals of the blossoms have fallen ; 

 and the fourth is the same treatment when the foliage is fully 

 mature and the fruit is partly grown. 



The first is of great importance, as it clears the trees and 

 bushes of moss and lichen, is very effective against American 

 blight, may even check canker to some extent, and is destructive 

 to scale and hibernating insects, and, in some degree, to their eggs, 

 while it probably destroys the spores of some kinds of fungi. It 

 may be applied to all kinds of fruit trees and bushes when the 

 leaf and fruit buds are dormant ; only where gooseberry bushes 

 have been treated with the lime, sulphur, and soft soap wash, or 

 any substitute that may prove equally effective against the 

 depredations of birds, it is probably not necessary. Its appli- 

 cation is usually recommended at about the middle of February, 

 as that period is believed to be the one in which it will prove 

 most destructive to insects. In some seasons, however, this 

 might be somewhat late for black currants, as the buds would be 

 getting too forward. 



The ingredients are 1 lb. of caustic soda and 1 lb. of crude 

 potash to 10 gallons cf water.* It has been used in much 

 greater strength where buds were dormant without the slightest 

 apparent injury. Caustic soda in lumps, 70 per cent, actual 



* In the Board's leaflet on the "Winter Washing of Fruit Trees" (No. 70), it is 

 recommended that the soda and potash should be dissolved in water and § lb. of soft 

 soap or agricultural treacle added before making up the mixture to 10 gallons. 



