220 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



March 16, 1912. 



When 



How to Spray Fruit Trees and Reasons Why. 



Year by year tho spraying of fruit trees 

 gets to be a more general operation, and 

 it is not too much to sav that in the future 

 it will ^beeome part of the cultural routine^ 

 just the same as pruning and other work. 

 That this is wming is indioate-d iby the fact 

 that the people who already take the most 

 trouble over spraying and spend the most 

 money on it are the commercial growers 

 who are dependent on their fruit for a live- 

 lihood. They, in short, realise the necessity 

 of the operation, as they are far too shrewd 

 to spend time and mom»y on it if there was 

 no return ; and when <ommerciiil growers 

 lead the way, amat-CMirs, farmers, and 

 others who grow as a ^ide line are i^ure to 

 follow, though many of the latter may be 

 slow to make a stirt. 



1 am afraid there are a good many people 

 wTio spray fruit trees in a rule of thumb 

 kind of way, because someone has told 

 them that it is a good thing, but without 

 liaving any clear ideas of their own as to 

 why tliey do it or what they expect to get 

 as the result. This sort of thing is wrong; 

 it is like shooting without aiming, and to 

 spray intelligently and siiccessfully one 

 should have some knowledge of the diseases 



and the life histories cf the Insect foes 

 that the spraying is intended to check or 

 eradicate. How can this knowledge ho 

 obtained? Partly from books, and fortu- 

 nately there is plenty of cheap and reliable 

 litrratnr*^ in the market that the practical 

 growt r < an make use of, and the knowledge 

 can partly be scK^ured by observation. We 

 talk about nature study in schools, but, 

 bless mo, we want more nature study out 

 of schools and amongst adults. The ignor- 

 ance that still prevails amongst practical 

 growers in respect of insect life is appall- 

 ing, and the habit of including all the com- 

 mon pests under the comprehensive an<I 

 meaningless heading of " blight " is far too 

 common. If you know the tactics of your 

 enemy you are half way on the road to- 

 wards defeating him ; but there are many 

 people who etill look upon ''blight" as 

 being inevitable, and if tliej' fight it at all 

 they do so blindly, hut without taking any 

 trouble to find out what it really is. where 

 it comes from, and how it multiplies. 



What, then, are the objects of spraying? 

 First, to cleanse; to keep the stems and 

 branches of trees free from lichen 2:rowths 



and other harbours of insect life. Is this 

 cleanliness necessary? Look into an old 

 West Country orchard and see the branches 

 of the trees simply fringed with lichen. 

 Note the sickly nature of the growth, take 

 stock of the fruit that is produced, and you 

 hav^e the answer to the question. Secondly, 

 wo spray w^ith an object of preventing the 

 development of inse<ts from an egg to a 

 living and feeding fitage, and if a means 

 could only be found for doing this quite 

 ofFectually, a good deal of time and money 

 might he save+l. Thirdly, spraying is done 

 to kill insects while they are actually en- 

 gagefl in their work of destruction^ and 

 this has to be done when preventive mea- 

 sures fail. Lastly, all the enemies of the 

 fruit grower are not animate, but they take 

 the form of fungoid diseases of a destruc- 

 tive nature, and these not infrequently pre- 

 sent greater difficulties in eradication than 

 living insects. 



Quite a host of people are engaged in 

 feeding practical growers with material for 

 spraying. First, there is the scientist, who 

 makes a study of insects and diseases, and 

 suggests remedies; secondly, there are the 

 manufacturinii chemists who have floode<l 



the market with insecticides and fungi- 

 cides to save the grower trouble and make 

 business for themselves; and thirdly there 

 is the appliance maker, and to his credit 

 it must be said of him that he has turned 

 out spraying machines of a reliable charac- 

 ter, from the big motor-driven plant to the 

 knapsack which the operator carries on 

 his back. But, in spite of these opposing 

 forces, Nature protects her own, and, as 

 insects and diseases continue to multiply, 

 growers have to arm and protect their in- 

 terests. 



We talk of winter spraying and summer 

 spraying, the former being done when trees 

 are dormant, and the latter when they 

 are in growth ; but it would ibe rather more 

 correct to speak of the former as spring 

 spraying because it is mostly done in March, 

 before growth commences, and its effects 

 are naturally preventive and somewhat 

 speculative, as it is carried out in anticipa- 

 tion of trouble. 



The Objects of Spring 



Spraying:. 



If the only object of March spraying was 

 to cleanse trees, there would be no diffi- 

 cultv about it, for ever since caustic soda 

 and the spraying machine took the place 

 of lime and the old whitewash brush, there 

 have been winter washes galore put on the 

 market; and while they are all successes 

 as cleansers, it is doubtful how much fur- 

 ther they go, for most of us have seen trees 

 spotlessly clean, and with shining bark, 

 but victims nevertheless of caterpillars and 

 other inset't pests. Nevertheless, progress 

 has been made in the matter of spring 

 spraying, even at the expense of spraying 

 to no purpose ; a good many things have 

 been found out, though there are still dis- 

 coveries to be made, and we can ?pray this 

 mouth with the assurance that we are not 

 only cleaning trees, hut doing something 

 to prevent insect and fungoid troubles later 

 on. Still, in the matter of spring spraying 

 it is necessary to exercise faith. 



Spring: Spraying: with Lime. 



After all, the use of lime on fruit trees 

 is only a case of history repeating itself. 

 Long before sprayers and insecticides were 

 introduced, farmers used to paint the 

 stems of their orchard trees ghostly white 

 with lime wash, and from the tops of lad- 

 ders they used to dust lime amongst the 

 branches to kill lichen growths. And noAv 

 we have come back to it again, first as a 

 cleanser, and secondly, because though 

 lime does not claim to destroy the eggs of 

 insect pests, notably apple sucker, which is 

 one of the worst of the tribe, it is claimed 

 for it that anv rate a coatino; of warm 

 limo on the twigs and branches seals in 

 the eggs of the above pests and a great 

 proportion of them are prevented from 

 hatching. Further, it has the same effect 

 in preventing tho development of fungus 

 spores of the apple scab and the brown rot. 

 Tliere are a few rules, however, that should 

 l>e observe<l in respect of lime spraying. 

 First^ it shoidd be left as late as is consis- 

 tent With safety, or the end of this month 

 when the buds are swelling, but before they 

 cpand. Only the best white lime should 

 be used, at the rate of one bushel to 25 

 gallons of water. Place the lumps of lime 

 in a tub with enough water to cover them, 

 and as the lime is slaked add the remainder 

 of the water, stirring the mixture up to a 

 cream. Thorough straining is very essen- 

 tial, or a lot of time will be Jost through 



the clogging of the nozzle, and the lime 

 wash should 'be applied while it is warm to 

 all parts of the tree, and particularly tho 

 ends of the shoots. A still day is desirable 

 for spraying, and the eyes and hands 

 should be protected, the former with gog- 



ng 



m 



The addition of sulphur with lime is re^ 

 commended in order to add to its efficiency 

 as a fungicide to' prevent scab, and this at 

 a lower strength may also he used as a sum- 

 mer ^pray, but for the moment we have 

 only to do with March spraying. The lime 

 and sulphur wash is more difficult to pre- 

 pare than when lime alone is used, but pro- 

 prietary mixtures can be obtained if de- 

 sired. The home-made preparation which 

 is known as the Californian wash consists 

 of 61bs. quicklime and 31bs. flowers of sul- 

 phur to 10 gallons of water. The lime and 

 sulphur should '* be put in a tub with 

 enough w^ater to cover them. When the 

 lime is slaked and still hot, add more water, 

 boil for forty-five minutes and make up tho 

 quantity to 10 gallons.'* 



APIM.E CHEiniES OR .SUCKKRS (Psyila mail). 



Male and female infie<;t«. 



In 



No insecticide has yet been discovered 

 that will act as a destroyer of all the pest^ 

 that affect fruit trees; and while I have re- 

 ferred to what may be described as general 

 preventives, the grower has to be on thf* 

 look-out for his enemies when they actually 

 commence to fee<l, and adopt approved 

 methods then for putting a check on their 

 depre<lations. Amongst the living foes ot 

 fruit crops tliere are some which only ap- 

 pear occasionally and locally, but othen 

 which are widespread are the most ^^i}^^K 

 ous, and the majority of these are described 

 below. 



Apple Sucker.— Masses of sticky honey- 

 d<'w in the trusses oF blossom always indi- 

 cate the presence of this aphis-like pe-s|^ 

 and it is questionable whether the app|^ 

 crop has a worse enemy. The 

 (Psylla mali) hatch out in April from tne 

 eggs that are laid oii the young shoots, an 

 after they have done their evil wwk ti 



blossoms turn brown, and the fl^^'^^/vrnfi 

 wither and fall off. March is the best tim 

 to spray for Psylla with the Imie jaso, 

 wliicli seals the eggs to the shoots and p^^ 

 vents tho development of the insects. 

 May and June the pests may be seen 

 a winged state and they commence t" 

 eggdaying in the autumn. Prevention 



