The National Nurserj^^nl 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK. 
Copyright, 1893, by The National Nurseryman Publishing Co. 
VOL. II. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., SEPTEMBER, 1894. 
NO. 8. 
SPRAYING NURSERY STOCK. 
A recent bulletin issued by,the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture discusses in an interesting and instructive 
manner the effects of spraying nursery stock with fungi¬ 
cides. The experiments were conducted by Professor B. 
T. Galloway and his assistant, P. H. Dorsett. The 
bulletin states ; 
Nursery stock, especially pears, cherries, plums and 
apples, is subject to several fungous diseases which attack 
the foliage, causing the latter to lose its vigor and fall 
prematurely, or dry up and become useless to the plant. 
The diseases attacking the pear, cherry and plum are 
commonly known as leaf blights, while the one affecting 
the apple has received the name of powdery mildew. All 
the diseases mentioned attack both seedlings and budded 
or grafted stocks, and, as a result, in the case of seed¬ 
lings, the active wood ripens so that the buds can not 
be inserted, or if they are inserted the union with the 
stock is imperfect and the bud dies ; if the bud or graft 
should grow, its development is checked by the annual 
early loss or drying up of its leaves. This brings about a 
stunted development from which it is doubtful if the tree 
ever fully recovers. 
The series of experiments which are considered in the 
bulletin were begun in the nurseries of Franklin Davis 
& Co., at Mullikin, Md , in the spring of 1891, and were 
completed in the autumn of 1893. The work had for its 
object primarily the obtaining of some definite informa¬ 
tion as regards the effect on the growth of the trees of 
applying fungicides, beginning with the seedling or cut¬ 
ting and continuing until the budded trees were 2 years 
old. Incidentally it was thought the experiments would 
throw some light on the question of the relative value of 
the various stocks so far as resistance to disease and 
^ effect on the growth of the bud were concerned. It was 
arranged that the treatments should begin with the seed¬ 
ling and continue each year until the tree was of salable 
size. The first year different stocks were to be budded 
at the usual time, the buds of at least three varieties 
being inserted in each kind of stock, and careful records 
were to be kept of the growth of both treated and con¬ 
trol seedlings, their condition at budding time, the num¬ 
ber of buds inserted, and the number of buds which took. 
An account was also to be kept of the number and date 
of the treatments, as well as the time required in making 
the applications and the amount of material used. The 
second year’s observations were to be made on the growth 
of the budded stocks, the behavior of the different varie¬ 
ties, so far as resistance to disease was concerned, the 
time occupied in making the treatments, and the amount 
of material used. The third and last year, or when the 
budded stock was 2 years old, careful notes and measure¬ 
ments were again to be made of the growth, the time 
and material were again to be taken into account, and 
finally the stock was to be carefully graded and photo¬ 
graphed. 
It was hoped that by following this plan it would be 
possible at the end of the experiment to settle two prac¬ 
tical points with a reasonable degree of accuracy, namely : 
(1) the cost of treating the various kinds of stock, and (2) 
the profit or loss resulting from such treatment. For 
the experiment as a whole, 6,000 seedlings and cuttings 
were used, as follows; Japan pear seedlings, 1,000; 
French pear seedlings, 2,000 ; Cherry stocks (Mahaleb), 
500 ; apple seedlings, 2,000 ; plum stocks (Marianna), 
500. The stocks were planted in a piece of ground 700 
feet long by 21 feet wide, the block as a whole being 
divided into thirty-three plats, in such a way as to insure 
as nearly as possible uniformity in soil conditions and 
cultivation for all the trees. 
The fungicides used in the work were as follows : 
Bordeaux mixture, containing 6 pounds of copper sul¬ 
phate and 4 pounds of lime to 22 gallons of water ; 
ammoniacal solution of copper carbonate, consisting of 
3 ounces of copper carbonate dissolved in i quart of 
ammonia and diluted with water to 30 gallons ; and pot¬ 
assium sulphide solution, made by dissolving 2^ ounces 
of potassium sulphide in 10 gallons of water. The 
applications were made with a knapsack pump and Ver- 
morel nozzle, and were so arranged the first year that 
some of the stocks were sprayed seven times, some six 
times, and some five times. The reason for adopting 
this plan was to determine (i) the effects of early treat¬ 
ments on leaf blights, and (2) the effects of treatment up 
to the time of budding compared with those continued 
a month after the buds were inserted. As already pointed 
out, every plat was budded with three varieties, the 
object being to obtain for future work stocks susceptible, 
moderately susceptible, and resistant to disease. For 
pears, Tyson, Lawrence, and Kieffer were selected ; for 
cherries. Early Purple, Governor Wood, and Black Tar¬ 
tarian ; for plums, German Prune, Shippers Pride, and 
Lombard ; and for apples, Rome Beauty, Ben Davis, 
