The Forrest City times., 1892-03-18
SPRAYING FRUITS.
WHY. HOW AND WHEN TIT IS
 DONE.
Read Before the Thirty-fourth Annual Meeting of the Missouri State Horti- cultural Society at sedalia, Mo. De cember 3, 1891.
By William stahl, Quincy, IL

that presents itself for answer in any consider ation of spraying This question is the uni- versal touchstone nowadays. If 1t pays 10 spray. we want 10 know it, that we may adopt this method Of fighting insects and fungi and get our share of the financial reward. If it does not pay 10 spray, we want 10 know IL, that we may not be led into unproftable undertak- ing. We may be in the business o' irult-grow- ing for our health, but we are also ln 1t Tor the profit that may be made.
 My experience with spraying is propably as extensive as that of any one in the country ana It has shown me very conclusively that It aoes pay to spray, and it pays very handsoinely. Some times it pays 800 to l.OpO per cent That is certainly sufficiently prosperous. Are you increduoas about that l can only say that my experience has shown me that a profit of Il 5O0 per cent in spraying Is by no means un- | usual, and there are many In tnts | state, some probably present here tc- day. that can bear the same testimony Profit depends upon the cost of tning ana the results achieved. We will first consider the cost of spraying It is inconsiderable. Fortunately no one need be deterred from spraying by the cost. In spraying there arc I three important mixtures used. Other tnings are used but these three mixtures are used much | more than all things put together, and many T fruit growers, perhaps majority. will never have occasion 10 use anything other than these three mixtures. For the sake of orevity will { consider only these three. They are the Bor- , deaux mixture, the London purple solution ana Il the kerosene emulsion.
 The kerosene emulsion is to prevent the T ravages of hop lice, squash bugs, leaf hoppers | aphis bark lice ehineh bugs etc. It IS made I hard soap in four pints of water To this add 4 a gallon Of kerosene. and the whole is agitated [ brisl1y until a stable mixture is forced The | agitation is best accomplished by using force ] pump and pumping the mixture with force ! back into the vessel that contains IL This K emulsion is ordinarily diluted for use by adding afuaf, ia asafx i e and used at once. or it may be allowed 10 stand and be diluted when needed. Now as to the cost of it Only the best whale-oil soap should . be used, but it costs only l5 cents per pound pound of the soap and two gallons of kerosene, total cost 70 to i5 cents will make thirty gallons Of the emulsion diluted for use. Not taking into account the light labor required in It's pre- paration the cost of the emulsion, ready for use is less than cents per gallon. | The second of these three important reme- dies is the Bordeaux mixture, made as l follows: Dissolve six pounds or sHlphate of | water in another vessel slake four pounds 1 of lime in six gallons of water. When this has cooled, pour It slowly into the copper s0in- 1 tion. being careful to mix the fluids thoroughly | by constant stirring As 10 the cost or this | The water, of course, costs nothing, the lime i next to nothing. and 100 pounds Of the copper ] sulphate will cost only cents per pound The Bordeaux mixture is used for the black rot of the grape, for pear and quince leaf blight and | for potato blight or rot. To spray with it the | average vineyard will cost, per spraying for labor and material including the cost or putting l it on. not more than ei UO per acre
 | The third and most important of these reme- | dies is the London purple solution-the remedy ! for the codling moth, canker worm and curcnno | of the plum. etc Ii is made by mixing London l purple with sufficient water to make a paste. | This is stirred thoroughly into pail Of water | and allowed to stand over night The contents of the pail are then strained through fine sieve | or a coarse cloth into the distributing tank or barrel containing water. There should be rom I4O 10 l5O gallons of water for each pound Of l London purple The pound of London purple will cost 20 cents. and fifty gallons Of the solu- tion will spray an acre of tlh average orchafa- 1 Mir. F. D. L. Evans or Houseman, Mieh, writes me that with my barrel sprsyer, which requires one man to operate II, he sprayed hls ! ten-acre orchard between o'clock in the fore noon and 8 in the afternoon. using eight barrels of solution. II is easy to see that thls spraying did not cost 20 cents per acre for material ana | labor Mir Evans says: Our orchard IS the only one that has any fruit on 1t 8 all "
 Mir. Frank WellhOuse, FaiTnoblt han-,. the largest apple-grower in the conntry; ,S writes. s l We sprayed i6O acres twice, equal to 33u acres once and 277 acres three times equal To s5i acres once, or a total Of ,115 acres at sihgle spraying. To do this we used 6o.c1D gallons or water and 600 pounds of London purple, and It took forty-six days to do the spraying so tnat the expense stands thus: Forty-six atys wllh team al E. 50 per day, Sll5; 600 pounds London purple at 10 cents pound, S5o total, sf.75; or a little over i5 cents per acre. and about 1s nliIs per tree for each spraying - | As already appears, It is necessary 70 spray more than once. Alittle information about the times of spraying will be necessary to deter mine fully the cost of spraying each orcha rd or yineyard and with this information we VIII also have nearly all the inlormation necea ary as to how to spray To prevent the black rot of the grape by using the Bordea ux mixture spray in the spring an CT the vineyard has been pruned and put tn order. but before vegetation has started; agahH about ten days before the flowers open; the third time when the flowers are opening, and from this time on every three weeks until the fruit begins to color. To destroy cod.ing moth, canker worm or curculio of the apple by using the London purple solution, spray soon after inc blossoms have fallen-when the apples aof,a rf a obtained, a second application should be made ! a week or ten days after the first To prevent leaf blight of pear and quince, begin in March and spray every three weeks until August l. It will be seen that not many Spraylng are re- quired, and that the cost is insignificant when compared with heavy yield Of perfect fruit. | There is one item in the cost of spraying yet
 to be considered-the pump. good pump
 does not cost large sum, but must warn
 which mean one costing s4O0 or 500 You
 cannot reasonably expect to get seryiceao.e
 sured that you will not get such pump
 unless you pay a reasonable price for IL
 Of all the vexatious things in the world,
 spra wing pump that will not spray deservedly,
 stands near the head. Inferior pumps that
 would not work, or that would not do good work.
 have done more than all things else to retard
 the spread of spra ying and the constant freeing
 of our orchards and vineyards from insects and
 fungi. For spraying vines shrubs, etc..
 Knapsack Sprayer is best and good one can
 be got for from SIP to sl5 For spraying trees
 a Barrel Pump is required, and good one can
 be got for rom SiZ 10 Fl0 up. SOfne comptctc
 Tank Sprayers sell as high as s75, and are worth
 it. A good pump used with reasonable care
 and stored properly when not in use will last
 for years so that the pump adds scarcely any
 thing to the cost of spraying.
 Finally, what do we accomplish by spraying?
 Doubtless you are familiar with the reports of
 experimental stations. and especially with the
 reports of the Department Of Agriculture, and
 without doubt this intelligent body reads hOrti-
 cultural papers; hence there can hardly be any
 question among you that by spraying we can
 prevent the ravages among our fruits or those
 Insect pests and fungous diseases that have
 proved so destructive. But, while have the
 greatest confidence in the experimental work
 of the Department of Agriculture and Of our
 State experimental stations, much prefer to
 have the experience of actual, practical fruit
 growers, whose experience covers not few
 feet but acres. and who must pay for their ex-
 perieuce out of their own pockets, hence are
 apt to be conservative and safe in their con disposition. Hence l will quote from very ! few of the letters I have received from fruit 1 growers in this state l have letters from
 above 900 fruitgrowers that triod spraying the past season, and their universal testimony
 Is that 1t accomplishes all claimed for 1t. But time forbds that l should quote from more
 thar, half dozen of these letters.
 Says Isaac Smalley, lila, Mercer Co, Mo.
 It was too wet to give it fair trial We
 never got to spray but once on our trees. We
 sprayed about 6JJ trees and the apples look fine Apples left unsprayed in the orchard are full of worms. I cant recommend it too highly"
 Fl. W. Sherman. Neosho Co. 'I received two
 wagon loads from an orchard yesterday that
 was sprayed and there was not a peck oi 1 wormy or specked fruit fin the two loads l purchased the fruit from the same orchard iasl
 year which was not sprayed. aud there was