THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
this vicinity the fruit grower may see orchard developments 
at once instructive and extensive, irrigation enterprises 
bearing upon fruit growing of impressive dimensions; and 
within easy reach of the city of Denver are scenic attrac¬ 
tions second to none on the continent, and probably in the 
world. 
Let everyone, therefore, who can break away from his 
work make a special effort to join the pilgrimage from the 
East and be one of the cheerful gathering at Denver, where 
he will absorb instruction, new ideas and inspiration, which 
will send him back to his home with a fresh stock of energy 
to carry him through the trials of the oncoming year. 
Members are asked to especially note Secretary Hall’s 
announcement in regard to this convention which appears 
on another page of this journal. 
With the opening of the season will come 
the annual fight against plant enemies. 
The important question is, are we ready 
for it ? Fully half the battle rests in being 
prepared for the conflict. The trouble is 
that the injury to our trees and shrubs is often inflicted be¬ 
fore we realize it, and remedies applied then are of little or 
no value. All remedial efforts for the suppression of plant 
parasites should be on the principle that prevention is better 
than cure. Preventive measures, therefore, can only be 
effective when applied early enough to act as such. 
Among the difficulties of the nurseryman is that in 
fighting these enemies a somewhat technicaf*training and 
knowledge is necessary, so that the sprayer should know 
something of the life history of the parasite to enable him to 
attack it at its most vulnerable point. The field foreman is 
usually an exceedingly busy man, and often busiest just at 
the season this kind of work should be done. If he observes 
a trouble he is obliged to depute the work of applying the 
remedy to someone else, who may, or may not apply it 
efficiently. 
Why should not large nurseries maintain their own sani¬ 
tary expert? A man of this kind would find continuous 
work in the field during the summer, and could easily be 
employed in office or packing house during the winter. He 
should be continually on the alert to discover an enemy and 
apply the remedy promptly. The salary of such a man 
would be saved many times within the year in the majority 
of the wholesale and extensive retail nurseries of the country. 
NURSERY 
PARASITES 
In summing up the weather conditions of 
the winter the consensus of opinion is that 
SEASONAL it was of the good old-fashioned type, that 
NOTES it more nearly approximated in the 
steady cold and heavy snowfall the win¬ 
ters of the boyhood days of the older members in the nur¬ 
sery craft than any we have had in recent years. Fortunate 
it was that with the low temperatures came heavy snowfall. 
A winter of heavy snowfall is usually followed by a season of 
prosperity, for the snow is one of nature’s most successful 
methods of furnishing necessary water to the farm crop. 
Certain it was that the cold, while expressing no unusually 
low temperatures, was much steadier than usual throughout 
587 
the Northeast. The heavy snow blanket obviated any 
possibility of root injury, which was fortunate. 
The spring temperature came on with extraordinary 
rapidity, and almost phenomenal intensity, during the last 
days of March and the early days of April. This was suc¬ 
ceeded by some nights characterized by stinging frosts, 
which undoubtedly caught and pinched advanced vegeta¬ 
tion here and there throughout the country. Unquestion¬ 
ably the peach crop has been somewhat thinned, but up to 
this date (April 14) has not been destroyed, contrary reports 
notwithstanding. Forward grape vines are reported nipped 
in some parts of the country, but these will recover. In the 
nature of things we must expect occasional frosts during the 
month of April in all of the northeastern part of the country. 
There was remarkably little difference in the condition of 
vegetation between the North and South on the 5th of April. 
Deciduous trees in the North were almost as far advanced as 
they were several hundred miles farther south at the same 
time. [The heavy freezes of the latter part of April came 
after the above was written.] 
SUMMER USE OF LIME-SULPHUR FOR APPLE 
DISEASES 
The experiments of the past two years in the use of lime 
sulphur in preventing brown rot of peach and scab of apple 
seem to indicate that this remedy is likely to replace the 
standard Bordeaux in combating fungous diseases. Mr. W. 
M. Scott of the U. S. Department of Agriculture offers the 
following suggestions for the treatment of diseases of differ¬ 
ent varieties of apples in Circular No. 54, Bureau of Plant 
Industry. 
“On varieties subject to attacks of apple scab, especially 
in districts where this disease prevails, use a reliable com¬ 
mercial lime-sulphur solution (registering about 32 degrees 
on the Baume scale) at the strength of gallons to 50 gal¬ 
lons of water or an equivalent strength of the home-boiled 
solution, with two pounds of arsenate of lead. Spray 
the trees (1) just before they bloom (after the cluster buds 
open); (2) as soon as the petals fall; (3) three to four weeks 
after the petals fall, and (4) nine to ten weeks after the petals 
fall. This course of treatment is intended for the control of 
apple scab, codling moth, leaf-spot, and other minor 
troubles. 
“In the treatment of varieties not seriously subject to 
scab, or in districts where this disease is not prevalent, the 
application before the trees bloom may be omitted, making 
only three applications in all. 
“On varieties requiring treatment for bitter-rot, the lime- 
sulphur solution and arsenate of lead may be used in the 
two or three early sprayings, and Bordeaux mixture (3—4— 
50) and arsenate of lead in the applications required for 
bitter-rot, as follows: About nine weeks after the petals 
fall and at intervals of two or three weeks until three appli¬ 
cations shall have been made. 
“On such varieties as the York Imperial, Grimes, Ben 
Davis, Gano, and Wealthy, located in Virginia, West 
Virginia, Maryland, and other similar sections where these 
varieties suffer very little, or not at all, from attacks of scab, 
