PROFITS IN SPRAYING 



47 



now arisen, therefore, considerable indifference or 

 even opposition to spraying, and I expect to see much 

 less of it next spring then I saw this spring. If, then, 

 next year should be prolific in insects and diseases, 

 there will be a few orchards here and there which 

 will reward the forethought of the owner, and very 

 many others which will be monuments of the results 

 of neglect. It is a common fault with farmers that 

 they draw their conclusions from the behavior or 

 experiences of each recurring season, and do not con- 

 sider the aggregate results of a series of years. Every 

 operation should rest upon some fundamental reason 

 or philosophy, rather than upon any single half- 

 understood experience. 



''A fruit grower wrote me as follows last July : 

 'You are always advising people to spray their 

 orchards. All my neighbors spent much time and 

 money last spring in spraying, but I did not spray 

 and my fruit is just as good as theirs.' 



" 'I do not doubt your experience,' I replied ; 

 'this has been a dry year and there has been little 

 scab fungus. But you should have insured your 

 orchard against probable loss by spraying it.' 



^'A few days later, the same correspondent wrote 

 again : 'We have had a heavy rain, but it seemed to 

 be poisonous to my potatoes and they are all black- 

 ened and wilted. What shall I do?' 



"I hope that there was no feeling of scarcasm in 

 my reply : 'I am sorry to hear of your loss, but it 

 is now too late to avert the calamity. Your potatoes 

 were not insured.' " 



Effect on Size of Fruit — There is a very general 

 agreement that apple trees properly sprayed with a 

 combined fungicide and insecticide yield larger fruit 

 than those not sprayed. A striking instance of this 

 as recorded by Lodeman, is illustrated in the picture 



