1915. 
TL'HiC KUKAL NEW-YOKKEK 
129 
Cactus Water for Spraying. 
ERE is a new one for our old friend 
the cactus. This plant grows in 
great abundance all over the West and 
Southwest, and is often a great nuisance 
to settlers and farmers. As we have 
told our readers, stockmen find some 
feeding value in the cactus. They singe 
off the thorns, run the cactus through 
a fodder cutter, and get some value out 
of it when mixed with Alfalfa or cotton¬ 
seed meal. At various times reports 
have come indicating that alcohol, sugar, 
glue, and other substances can bo made 
from cactus. In most cases practice 
shows that while these substances may 
be obtained from the plant, it will not 
yet pay commercially to manufacture 
them. Now, however, comes a new idea 
from the Department of Agriculture. 
Cactus water is used to make insecticides 
stick to vines or trees. It appears that 
the Mexicans often add cactus to white¬ 
wash in order to make it stick better to 
boards. It contains a sticky substance 
which does help bold the wash in place. 
Acting from this suggestion an entomo¬ 
logist conceived the idea of using cactus 
water ns a “sticker” for Paris green and 
arsenite of zinc, when these poisons are 
used in powder form for spraying. The 
thorns are first removed from the cactus, 
which is then sliced, put into water, and 
soaked over night. About 15 pounds of 
cactus to 50 gallons of water is the 
right proportion. The water leaches out 
the sticky substance in the cactus, and 
it is said that cactus grown on low wet 
ground has loss of this substance than 
that grown in higher regions. The water 
from this cactus soaking was drawn off, 
three pounds of zinc arsenite used to the 
50 gallons of water. This was used on 
sugar beet plants, and on various other 
crops. The results obtained are described 
as excellent, for the sprays containing 
this cactus water stick to their job very 
much better than those without it. It is 
said that the paste forms of poisons have 
been used by fruit and vegetable growers 
in the Southwest, because they have stuck 
better than the powders, but with this 
cactus stiekum to help out the powders 
give better results. The report is that 
one pound of zinc arsenite in powder 
form with cactus, gives better results 
than three pounds of the paste form with . 
the same amount of water. In these re¬ 
sults cactus water and zinc arsenite has 
given better results than other forms of 
arsenite, and is recommended for use in 
the Southwest. It is said that the cac¬ 
tus solution, when kept for a time, has 
a tendency to ferment. This has been 
overcome by adding one pound of dis¬ 
solved sulphate of copper to 28 gallons 
of the cactus water. This stopped fer¬ 
mentation, so that the solution kept per¬ 
fectly for about four weeks. It is not 
likely that for some years at least the 
use of cactus water will be considered 
east of the Rocky Mountains, yet the 
time may come when it will form a rec¬ 
ognized part of our spraying campaign. 
At any rate, it is worth knowing about, 
and an interesting thing to realize how 
one by one the plants which have been 
considered pests, are now being utilized. 
NEW YORK STA TE FRUIT GROWERS’ 
ASSOCIATION. 
Part II. 
LA NT DISEASES.—Prof. F. C. 
Stewart, on plant d's'ases, said in 
part: “So far as I know, the prac- 
tical control of fire blight in apples and 
pears stands exactly where it did a year 
ago—in a very unsatisfactory position. 
You have been told to plant resistant var¬ 
ieties; avoid over-stimulation of growth; 
cut out hold-over cases of the d'sease; 
destroy old, worn-out apple and pear 
tree's which harbor the disease; control 
the insects which spread it; and (except 
on large bearing apple trees) cut out 
and burn all blighted branches as fast 
as they appear. These recommendations 
are all sound, theoretically, but, unfor¬ 
tunately, their value cannot be demon¬ 
strated experimentally, and experience 
has shown that fruit growers who try 
to carry them out fail in a large per¬ 
centage of cases. With peach leaf-curl, 
I confidently assert that the disease can 
be satisfactorily controlled by spraying 
the trees, while dormant, with lime-sul¬ 
phur solution diluted at the rate of one 
to eight, or with Bordeaux mixture of 
the 5-5-50 formula. The common causes 
of failure are two: (I) The spraying 
is not done early enough or, (2) It is 
not done thoroughly. When the buds be¬ 
gin to break it is too late to spray for 
leaf-curl. The spraying must be done 
so thoroughly as to cover the branches 
on all sides. With the apple scab situa¬ 
tion, the present need is not so much for 
a better fungicide than lime-sulphur as 
for closer following of directions and 
more thorough spraying. The plant doc¬ 
tors have prescribed four applications 
for the control of apple scab. The fruit 
grower who omits one or more of these 
applications or does a poor job of spray¬ 
ing and then has scabby apples should 
charge the loss to his own neglect. Mon¬ 
tana Station Bulletin No. 0(5. furnishes 
additional evidence of the occurrence of 
twig infection on susceptible varieties 
like McIntosh, and cites an instance in 
which an extensive development of scab 
occurred in barreled apples between 
Christmas and March. In Bulletin No. 
223 of the Maine Station, one point 
brought out prominently is that the 
fungicidal properties of arsenate of lead 
are greater than is generally known. 
Dr. Reddick has studied the dead-arm 
disease of grapes and published the re¬ 
sults of his work in Bulletin No. 389 of 
the Geneva Station. The chief method of 
control lies in marking and removing all 
vines showing symptoms of the disease.” 
More Spraying Experience. —The fol- 
low’ng is quoted from I’. .T. Parrott’s 
paper on “Spraying Mixtures and Rec¬ 
ommendations for Plant Lice.”: The 
most effective means of combating the lice 
is a thorough spraying of the trees at the 
time when the insects are assembled on 
Pc' tips of tbe buds showing green and 
while the buds are compact. From the 
standpoint of safety to buds and effec¬ 
tiveness against the insects the most sat¬ 
isfactory treatment is three-fourths of a 
pint of nicotine solution, -10 per cent, to 
100 gallons of water, to which are added 
f - om three to five pounds of dissolved 
soap. Growers who are spraying at this 
time against the San Jose scale may add 
tbe nicotine preparation to the lime-sul- 
phur solution. If this is done the soap 
may be omitted from the combination. 
As the Lee that appear on the opening 
buds are the progenitors of many broods 
that are to follow, and constitute tic 1 
first and only forms to infest leaf and 
c’usters at this period, special efforts 
would be made to allow as few as possi¬ 
ble of the insects to escape this treat¬ 
ment. It should, therefore, be the aim of 
the orchnrd'st to kill all of the insects, 
cud work so directed will destroy from 
95 to 90 per cent, of the creatures. To 
this end apply the spraying mixture in 
liberal quantities, endeavoring to wet all 
of the buds. Varieties differ as to the 
time of opening of buds, and tree's of the 
same variety may show retarded or accel¬ 
erated growth, according to the conditions 
of its environment. For these reasons 
the grower needs to take into considera¬ 
tion the stages of growth of the differ¬ 
ent varieties, keeping in mind the impor¬ 
tance of killing the lice before they ob- 
ta : n protection in fuzzy, unfolded leaves 
of the opening buds. 
Fruit Stocks. —Prof. IT. P. Hedrick 
snoke on “Stocks for Fruits.” He said 
we actually do not know what the best 
stocks are for all fruits. The stocks 
influence the size and quality of fruit; 
however, the results are modified by soils. 
One thing determined is that cherry trees 
are more desirable on Mazzard than Ma- 
haleb stock. Sometimes hardy stocks give 
greater hardiness to tender varieties top- 
v o-ked on it. Again diseased stocks may 
impart disease to scions. The time of 
maturity is modified somewhat by the 
stock, also the color of fruit is changed 
by stock to some degree. Size of fruit 
and acidity are influenced by stock. 
Pears on apples and apples on pears are 
st’ort-lived trees. Much that has been 
s-'id of apple stocks is true of grapes. 
There is reason to believe that specific 
substances pass both ways from stock to 
scion, after union is made, and in some 
way not well known one re-acts on the 
other so both may be modified. Unfor¬ 
tunately the stocks most often used by 
nurserymen are those that are the most 
convenient to work and give less trou¬ 
ble, as for instance he wants a stock 
that does not sprout. Seedling root- 
pruned stocks are the most ideal, and 
cutting stocks generally are less desir¬ 
able. The speaker has little faith in 
pedigree trees. We have little hop*' of 
counteracting bud variation, but improve¬ 
ment. by stock breeding seems feasible. 
Prof. Hedrick said a white apple would 
rot change color if grafted on red apple 
y‘ cl,-, and vice versa. Mr. Morrell said 
Pat Bose pears will not do well on 
T""fiV>r pears. “I hope to top-work Kief- 
f t to Bartlett, by gradually changing 
the top, but this is on light soil. So 
far. we are eliminating the blight on 
5.000 Bartletts by top-working Kieffer 
stocks.” Prof. Hedrick said he thought 
very little of dwarf apples as a commer¬ 
cial proposition. Plums are desirable on 
Damson stocks. w. h. j. 
cuing For Laying. —I sold 20 pul¬ 
let: - the first of September, and they be¬ 
gan m lay in about a month, and one of 
them laid 2S eggs in 30 days. She laid 
every day up to the twentieth day with¬ 
out s’-'nning a day. The hens (White 
Orpington) were hatched from extra good 
layers, so I am keeping them the third 
year. T want to keep that strain, but 
have no cockerel unless I use one hatched 
from those hens last Spring. The cock¬ 
erel used last Spring was no relation to 
the hens. a. d. l. 
Massachusetts. 
WAGONS BUGGIES HARNESS 
WHY IT PAYS TO BUY 
A STUDEBAKER 
I am using a Studebaker Farm 
Wagon which has been in constant 
use for 35 years. The wagon was 
bought from J. D. Lester by Fred. 
Gruner and wan used for hauling 
grain to Tclena, fifteen mites away. 
I bought the wagon from 
Mr. Gruner and have hauled as 
high as 50 bushels to the load. 
The wagon has been in several 
runaway accidents but has never 
had a broken wheel or axle, nor 
has a new felloe or spoke been 
put in. 
The wagon is in excellent con¬ 
dition and is being used every day. 
C. E. Stephenson, 
Atwood, III. 
Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 
Hauls his grain to 
market in 35 year 
old Studebaker 
H ERE’S a Studebaker wagon 
that has had hard usage for 
thirty-five years, served two owners and is still on the job. 
And this isn t an exceptional Studebaker, for we have 
thousands of testimonials telling similar stories about the long 
life and good service Studebaker wagons have given. 
Why Studebaker^ Last Longest 
These many long lived wagons are the 
result of Studeba 
aker superiority; a superi¬ 
ority which comes from the long ageing and 
weathering of the timber, tested steel, the 
splendid standardization of the manufactur¬ 
ing processes and the rigid requirements of 
test and re-test through which each wagon 
has to pass. Even Studebaker paint and 
varnish is analyzed before it is used. 
But, remember, since paint can make all 
wagons look of equal quality, appearance 
is a most deceptive thing. And that since 
the cost of a farm wa 0 on is m direct pro¬ 
portion to its length of life, that wagon is 
the cheapest that can prove the longest 
average term of service. 
To make sure you will get a lifetime of 
service, buy a Studebaker. You will 
never regret having bought it. 
Studebaker Buggies and Harness are 
also built to outlast others. 
STUDEBAKER, South Bend, Ind. 
NEW YORK CHICAGO DALLAS KANSAS CITY DENVER 
MINNEAPOLIS SALT LAKE CITY SAN FRANCISCO PORTLAND. ORE! 
Ailv 2031 
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slabs. Make these and other improvements 
with good sand and gravel or crushed stone 
mixed with 
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