346 
THE KU KAl> NEW-YOKKEH 
March 8, 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
Small Okchauds. —It will be understood 
that by “commercial spraying’’is meant the 
practice by which one or more persons 
owning a spraying outfit make a business 
of spraying trees, plants, etc., for the farm¬ 
ers of the community. This is not yet a 
very common practice though we hear of 
them starting up here and there. It is 
hardly necessary any longer to convince 
tlm average farmer that he should spray, 
for he generally understands the necessity 
of it very well, especially since the San 
Josfi scale has been destroying orchards in 
so many parts of the country. But how to 
get it done, this is the real problem con¬ 
fronting many farmers in their efforts to 
raise some fruit both for family use and 
market. The old adage “if you want a thing 
done well, do it yourself.” I suppose, ap¬ 
plies equally as well to spraying as to many 
other things but the average farmer with his 
few dozen apple and other fruit trees is 
hardly in a position to do his own spraying. 
There are times when the farmer is busy 
with his crops, sowing oats or preparing corn 
ground, and to leave this work to spray the 
orchard might mean disastrous delays in 
getting the seed grains into the soil. To 
leave the spraying for a few days till the 
rush is over is generally just as disastrous 
to the orchard, or at least the fruit crop 
for that year. Winter spraying for scale 
can of course be done before the busy farm 
season opens, but this is not possible with 
the spraying for fruit. Again, the average 
farmer does not care to go to the expense of 
purchasing even a good barrel spray pump, 
much less a gasoline power outfit. Thirdly, 
farmers generally do not have much knowl¬ 
edge of fruit diseases and insects, nor their 
proper remedies. If these are not good rea¬ 
sons for the farmer not doing his own 
spraying, they are at least excuses which 
a majority of farmers will offer, when 
advised to spray. These conditions have 
given rise to commercial spraying, and this 
practice does meet some of these difficult 
nroblems, though it has some serious prom- 
lems of its own. 
Experience With the Work.—I owned 
a half share in a commercial spraying 
outfit for two years, but sold it just re¬ 
cently, as I did not care to be bothered 
with it any longer. I have my own orchards 
to attend to and am increasing them as 
fast as possible, so have plenty to do with¬ 
out it. I did not care to entrust the com¬ 
mercial spraying to hired help, and fur¬ 
thermore. good spray hands are hard to 
get, for several reasons. The work is nasty, 
to say the least, lasts only a few weeks in 
the year, and then not every day during 
the spray season. For the same reasons 
I found it difficult to secure a purchaser 
who would take up the business. The 
business is fairly profitable, the farmers 
being willing to pay such a price for hav¬ 
ing their orchards sprayed as yields a fair 
profit to the sprayer under favorable 
weather conditions. Work is plenty. There 
are a hundred or more farmers in this val¬ 
ley who would be glad to have their or¬ 
chards sprayed if they could get a good 
man to do it at a reasonable cost, and I 
suppose there are thousands of other com¬ 
munities just like this one. And yet com¬ 
mercial sprayers are scarce and are liable 
to remain so. 
Methods Used.—F or the benefit of those 
who contemplate embarking in the spraying 
business as well as for the benefit of farm¬ 
ers who will patronize them, I will give a 
brief account of our methods of handling 
the business, with a few words of advice 
thrown in for good measure. First I may 
say the sprayer should not only be willing 
but determined to give honest and efficient 
service for money received. To do this he 
must have a thorough knowledge of his 
business, as to how to spray, when, what 
with, and why. He should read all the 
bulletins and books he can get on the sub¬ 
ject. both State and national, and then not 
take much for granted but experiment all 
he can and be a close observer. I had the 
advantage of being much interested in the 
subject, and spraying for myself several 
years before I sprayed for others. One of 
the first men to spray in this community 
was apparently after the money only, and 
in some cases charged about as much for 
one spraying as the trees were worth. It is 
needless to say he did not remain in 
the business very long. Farmers should 
look well to what kind of men they hire 
to spray their orchards. 
The Outfit. —dn the next place the 
sprayer should have a good outfit. We had 
a pump, 2 Vi horsepower gasoline air-cooled 
engine. 125-gallon wooden tank mounted on 
a truck with wooden wheels with four-inch 
tire ; two leads of 25-foot hose, one adjusted 
to extend out through the rear end of the 
cab (so one man can spray from the 
ground), the other leading up through roof 
of cab. Two 10-foot bamboo extension rods 
fastened to end of hose, then “eight-turn” 
or 45-degree elbows fastened to the rods, 
and next the “Y" fastened onee on each 
elbow. The nozzles are of course fastened 
on the “Y.” This makes the capacity of 
the outfit four nozzles, which is plenty for 
two operators. The cab is built on rear 
end of truck, and houses engine apd pump. 
It is about four feet high, and the roof 
is used as a platform by one of the spray¬ 
ers. One of the sprayers, or a third party, 
drives the team, depending on the team. 
Where trees are small or medium-sized a 
good barrel pump will answer very well, 
and such an outfit mounted on a cart was 
used by one of our commercial sprayers 
here. This is a much slower method, but 
the cost of the outfit is also much less. 
The gasoline outfit fully equipped will cost 
about $250, while the cost of the barrel 
outfit need not exceed $20 and may be pur¬ 
chased for loss. 
IIow It Worked.—M y partner and I oper¬ 
ated the outfit alone, each having a horse, 
and traveling from farm to farm through 
the valley. Sometimes our jobs were scat¬ 
tering, especially when the business was 
new, and as the orchards are mostly small 
we sometimes spent nearly as many hours 
of the day on the roads as in the or¬ 
chards. Time is precious, especially during 
the fruit spraying season, and we try to 
arrange our route so as to avoid as much 
traveling as possible. We charged six cents 
a gallon for the dilute lime-sulphur as it 
goes on the trees, allowing 5 per cent dis¬ 
count for cash (50 days). We always ad¬ 
vocated pruning first, as we could then do 
more thorough work at less expense to the 
farmers. In contracting for jobs we never 
guaranteed to get the work done, but al¬ 
ways “if weather permits.” If another 
sprayer happened to be in some remote part 
of our territory we gave the farmers the 
privilege to get him, or wait on us, just as 
they chose. This especially as the season 
was drawing to a close. 
Commercial or Home Spraying. —In con¬ 
clusion i may say that it is still a question 
in my mind which is the better method, 
for the farmers to do their own spraying, 
or to depend on the commercial sprayer to 
do it for them. Very probably both prac- 
tlcos will continue, as long as any spraying 
is done. The commercial fruit grower will 
of course do his own spraying, or at least 
see that it is done according to his own 
ideas, but the average farmer will either 
have to take more interest in fruit growing 
and its problems or find some reliable and 
efficient man to do his spraying for him. 
Where such a man is not available the 
farmers will simply have to quit raising 
fruit, and this I fear is just what is going 
to happen. Because of such difficulties the 
production of fruit is fast passing into the 
hands of the commercial grower. Though 
a commercial grower myself I do not like 
to see the worthy farmer not even raising 
enough fruit for family use. Many apple 
trees are dying in this vicinity from such 
diseases like canker and blight which even 
spraying will not cure. The old orchards 
are going and the new ones where planted 
by farmers are seldom properly taken care 
of. The only way I know is for farmers to 
take as much pains with their orchards as 
they now do with their wheat fields or 
cattle, planting enough so it pays to bother 
■with them, or else drop the fruit business 
altogether and buy the home supply from 
some person who does take care of his 
orchards. david plank. 
Pennsylvania. 
Salt for Weeds. 
Is there not risk in using salt to kill 
weeds (particularly “paint brush”) in close 
proximity to three-year-old pine trees? Is 
there an effective and safer way of kill¬ 
ing the “paint brush?” f. h. s. 
New York. 
We have no data on the question, but 
judging from our general knowledge of ef¬ 
fect of salt on roots, would say that prob¬ 
ably it would be rather disastrous to the 
seedlings. I confess that I cannot see 
any point to the question, as if there are 
sufficient pines on the land to completely 
restock it, he need not apply salt to kill 
the paint-brush, as the shade from the 
trees will do this. If he does not intend 
to have fully stocked areas of pine, I 
should not suppose he would want to save 
the pine. n .a. chanelly. 
Prof. Wendell Paddock of the Ohio Agri¬ 
cultural College says: “Probably the best 
scheme ever devised for handling the ma¬ 
jority of orchard soils, where the lay of 
the land will permit, is a combination of 
clean cultivation with cover crops. This 
method includes the plowing of the land as 
early in the season as the weather will 
permit. The plow is followed, at intervals, 
by the harrow, in order that the surface of 
the soil may be kept mellow throughout 
the growing season. Usually in the latter 
part of July or the first of August, at the 
close of the growing season for trees, a 
crop of some kind is planted, and this 
Is allowed to occupy the land until the 
next .Spring. The land is plowed again 
as early as possible, and this is followed 
by clean cultivation and a cover crop as 
before.” 
PAPER POTS 
orDIRT BANDS 
Just the thing for starting vegetable plants—You 
can transplant without loss of growth. Write us 
for free sample and prioes. 
NIAGARA BELT DRESSING CO., Niagara Falls, N. V. 
5,000,000 Extra Fine Strawberry Plants 
at $2 per 1,000. Also Raspberry plants cheap. Best 
varieties. No expensive adv. No fancy catalogue. 
My customers get the benefit. Send for circular. 
J. V. MEEDER, - No. Girard, Pa. 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS 
100 varieties—$2 per 1000. Asparagus roots, early 
and late seed potatoes, all as good as grow, at bar¬ 
gains. Catalogue free. J. G. PRESTAGE. Allegan, Mich. 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS 81.00 per 1000. 
Lees than others ask for same quality. 
You can’t buy better plants than Townsend’s 
Thorough-lireds-120 Varieties. 20th Century 
Catalog—Freo. Tells everything. E. W. Town¬ 
send, East Vine Street, Salisbury, Md. 
New Strawberries 
Onr annual plant catalog free to all. Reliable, in¬ 
teresting and instructive. All about the New Everbearers 
and other important varieties. The New Progressive 
Everbearing Strawberry. Rockhill’s best of all, now 
offored for the first. Plants set last spring and 
fruiting until the ground froze produced for us at 
the rate of $1,000 per acre for the fruit alono. A 
Great Sensation. Address, 
C. N. FLANSBURGH & SON, Jackson, Mich. 
STRAW,BERR[Y PLANTS 
Wo have selected eight out of a hundred kinds, so 
we have eight of the very best. Get onr 1013 cata¬ 
logue of all kinds of plants and seed. ROMANCE SEED 
PLANT AND TRUCK FARM, Caleb Boggs 8 Son, Cheswold, Del, 
The Dewdrop Strawberry 
Fall Bearing. There is nothing to excel it in any 
respect. Plants ready now. Send for circular. 
H. F. DEW. ALBION, MICH. 
whprrv Plstt-if-c over 30 varieties at 
JiraWDerry Flams * 2.50 per 1 , 000 . Des¬ 
criptive catalog freo. BASIL PERRY, Cool Spring, Delaware 
CTK A WBERR Y PLANTS-Money making va 
u rieties. Prices from $1.30 per 1000 up. Sendfor 
my price list free. DAVID RODWAY, R. D. 39, Hartly, Del 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS my speciality. Catalog frr 
B. G. Tingle, Box R, Pittsville, M 
The Amazing 
“J. H. HALE ” Peach 
After 8 Years of Tests—After 3,000 Plantings 
“I have at last found a peach that I am not only willing 
but proud should bear my name. Its astounding size, 
flavor, hardiness and amazing yield in every peach soil and 
climate, after eight years of fruiting and developing, lead 
me to stake my life-long peach reputation that it is the 
greatest and best peach the world has ever known. That 
fruit-growers everywhere might share in the profits which it 
offers, I have arranged with the 
best-known nurseryman in the coun¬ 
try, William P. Stark, to propagate 
and distribute it.” 
J. H. HALE 
Mr. Halo’s fame as the 
’’Poach King” is nation¬ 
wide. # This peach is tho 
crowning achievement of 
his life’s work. 
A Better Peach 
than the Elberta 
of Agriculture, says: "Richer and more 
juicy than any Elberta I ever tasted.” 
James W. Fraser, ^VlabaroA. says* “In a 
class by itself. Large size, bright red color, 
splendid flavor. Elberta no comparison." 
G. W. Endicott, Vice-Pres. Horticultural 
Society, Illinois, says: “Finest thing I’ve 
seen in sixty years of peach-growing.” 
Commission men, growers and orchard- 
ists are unanimous in asserting J. H. Hale 
has made the greatest hit of his brilliant 
career in this wonderful peach. 
Enormous Profits for 
Early Planters 
Like the men who first gained fame and 
fortune through planting commercial or¬ 
chards of Elbertas a generation ago, the 
early planters of this remarkable “J. H. 
HALE” Peach will skim the cream of the 
markets for the next ten years. 
Only a limited number of trees available 
for this year’s planting. 
Orders are coming in by every mail. Act 
immediately if you want to share in the 
profits growers will divide by early planting. 
Buy William P. Stark Trees 
Direct—Save 50 Per Cent 
We sell only by mail direct from our 
great nurseries. No agents. You save 
half on absolutely dependable trees for 
commercial and home planting. Every 
tree absolutely guaranteed. 
ValuableNew 
Book FREE! 
A gold mine of valu¬ 
able information for 
fruit-growerH largo and 
small. 100 pages, beau¬ 
tifully illustrated. Tho 
“J. It. HALE” Peach 
and complete assort¬ 
ment of fruits and 
bushes and ornamental 
trees, shrubs and vines 
described and priced. 
8ent only on request. 
Write for it today. 
WILLIAM P. STARK NURSERIES, Station C 9 , STARK CITY, MO. 
Through an exclusive 
contract arrangement with Mr. Hale, we 
are able to offer this wonderful peach com¬ 
mercially for the first time anywhere. 
The variety is enormously productive; 
fruit one-half larger than Elberta; color a 
deep golden yellow, overlaid with carmine; 
smooth, heavy skin, without fuzz; flesh 
firm and solid, tender, juicy; unusually de¬ 
licious flavor; true freestone—all together 
an amazing combination. Extremely 
hardy'.stands more cold than Georgia Belle, 
Carman or Fox (all extra hardy varieties). 
Long fruiting season. Adapted to any soil 
or climate where peaches will grow. A 
tested and proven success for eight years. 
Experts Call It 
“The Million Dollar Peach” 
Shrewd orchardists from Maine to Cali¬ 
fornia are wildly enthusiastic over the new 
“J. H. HALE” Peach. They tell us it will 
revolutionize peach growing in America— 
that it is the greatest money-making peach 
ever introduced in this country. 
F. C. Sears, Professor of Pomology, Mass¬ 
achusetts, says: "More fruit to cubic inch 
than anything I ever saw on a peach tree.” 
Norman S. Platt, Connecticut State Board 
“J. H. HALE” ELBERTA 
Larger, finer and bettor than any Elberta. Two poachoa, 
both average size, grown under tho samo conditions. 
WM. P. STARK 
WHOLESALE PRICES 
On worth and up. Strawberry, Raspberry, 
Blackberry, Bush Plants, Grape Vines, and Garden Roots. 
Extra heavy rooted, high grade stock. No better 
plants can b© grown. Everything fully guaranteed. 
Catalog free. 
A, C* WESTON &CO,, Bri<lgman, Michigan 
FAY & WILDER CURRANT BUSHES 
Very fine, 2 year old, true to name. $18 per M 
J. F. WYGANT, - QIarlboro, New York 
CLOVER *4J? 
AND TIMOTHY MPterBlL 
INVESTIGATE—Btt.t and Cheap..t Seeding Known. 
Alsike Clover and Timothy mixed. Fully 1-3 alsike, a big 
bargain. Greatest hay and pasture combination grown. 
Write for Freo Sample and 76-page catalog and circulars 
describing this wonderful grass mixture. Beats anything 
you can sow and ridiculously cheap. We handle only best 
tested recleaned seed guaranteed Write before advance. 
A. A. BERRY SEED CO., Box 560, Clarlnda, Iowa 
FREE Fmxit B 0 OK 
. Contains much valunblo 
information and many bargains for every fannerand fruit grower. Write for ttnow and save money. 
~ Buying direct from us. the growers, you save agent’s profit of 6O4 or more. 
It gives a complete description of all fruits, tells how and when to plant, spray and 
care for trees of all kinds, where, when and how to buy to the best advantage, etc., etc. 
REILLY’S RELIABLE TREE COLLECTION. 15 GUARANTEED TREES SI.00 
1 Ky. Harvest, 1 Yellow Transparent, 1 Wealthy, 1 Ben Davis Apple, 1 Bing, 1 Dyehouse 
Cherry, 1 Wilder, 1 Kieffer Pear, 1 Elberta, 1 Ey. ltivers, lEy.Crawford, 1 L. Crawford Peach, 
1 Lombard. 1 Bradshaw Plum, 1 Orange Quince. Agent’s price would be $3.75. 
Write for our FllEE FRUIT BOOK today and save money. 
REILI.Y BROS. NURSERIES, 1»8 Reilly Road, Dansville, N. Y. 
aloneyi Qualitylrees 
are hardy, hoalthy and vigorous, gnaranteed true to nama and free from dis«a*e, In 
growing trees, we always have the planters’ interest in mind and select only quality 
stock ; realizing that a satislled customer is onr bext advertiser. 
300 ACRES 29 YEARS 2,000,000 TREES 
We are always pleased to show our patrons tho kind of trees we grow 
how we handle orders, ate. After inspecting our extensive plant, you r 
will have Implicit confidence in our stock and will gladly entrust, 
your order to us. Our large business is built on 29 years of growing 
trees and selling direot to the planter at wholesale prices. Our 
prices are reasonable, our stock is right and is delivered to you ex¬ 
actly as represented. 
POPULAR COLLECTION. $1.00. 16 Trooa and Plants 
1 Elberta Peach, 1 Harvest Apple, 1 Bartlett Pear, 1 Winter Apple 
—•Baldwin, 1 Montmorency Sour Cherry, 1 Oxheart Swoet Cherry, 
l Quango Quince, l Maloney Prune. All 4 ft. high. GRAPES: 1 Con¬ 
cord, blue; 1 Deiawnto, red; 1 White Grape, best white; i Pieplant roots. 1 
Each tree end plant perfect. ALL FOR $1.00. Write today for our 
FREE wholosale illustrated catulogue and look It over carefully. Head 
what others say about our stock. MALONEY BROS. A WELLS 00., 122 
Main St., Dansville, 5. T. Dansville’s Pioneer W hole sale Nurseries ] 
v • ' J 
Quality Before Price 
bas always been our watchword. Our customers get quality trees every time. Twenty-five years' 
experience have enabled us to know tree values ami we have discarded all varieties not profitable to 
the Fruit Grower. 10 TWO-YEAR APPLE TREES S1.39 
2 Northern Spy, 2 York Imperial, 1 Winter Banana, 2 Wolf River, 2 Wealthy, 1 Yellow Transparent. 
Our 1913 CATALOG illustrates and describes all loading varieties. Write for it now and 
order at once. KELLY BROS. NURSERIES, 35 MAIN ST.. DANSVILLE, N. Y. 
You’ll Never Regret Planting Kelly Trees 
