NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 377 
VOLUNTEER EXPERIMENTS. 
While there is a widespread complaint of the unsatisfactory ap- 
pearance of the foliage of apple trees through the work of the 
blister-mite, spraying has not generally been practiced for this pest. 
This has not been for the lack of desire, as owners of badly infested 
orchards are generally of the opinion that they would spray, if 
only they knew what spray to employ and were assured that the 
treatment would be profitable. The remedies that efficiently con- 
trol the leaf blister-mite are comparatively untried sprays for the 
majority of our apple growers, who are not accustomed to spray 
for the scale; and they hesitate to adopt new spraying practices. 
Kerosene emulsion, it is true, is an old and well-known insecti- 
cide, but it has never been extensively employed, outside of the San 
José scale areas, as farmers dislike the bother of making it. Mis- 
cible oils are new insecticides and their merits and their uses are 
not generally recognized. The recent agitation concerning the San 
José scale has made the lime-sulphur wash well known by name, 
but the reputation of this insecticide among fruit growers who are 
not familiar with the methods of preparing and handling it, is, 
usually, that the mixture is a disagreeable spray. 
For the purpose of making available the experience of various 
orchardists and of pointing out what they have accomplished in 
their first efforts in spraying for the mite, in order to encourage 
others in a similar effort, it was thought desirable to include in this 
bulletin a discussion of the more important details of these opera- 
tions. These are designated “volunteer experiments” as they 
have been largely planned and carried out by the fruit growers 
themselves. To them belongs the credit,— not to the Station. In 
compiling these experiments, the facts have been stated precisely 
as they were given to us; and, for purposes of accuracy, a copy of 
the manuscript discussing his experiment was also furnished to 
each orchardist for correction and approval. 
For the sake of brevity the reports have been very much con- 
densed, but as far as possible the more important items needed to 
convey a fairly accurate description of the conditions and results 
of the experiments are given. The experiments are designated 
by numbers and are arranged in the order of their location, com- 
mencing with the Hudson Valley, and continuing through the sass 
ing apple-growing counties of western New York. 
