The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-03
SPRAYING.

The agricultural college OF Utah has
Just issued a timely bulletin on spray
ing, prepared by f. C. Sears, horticul'
turist and botanist of the experiment
station staff. While The Herald ha:
not the space 10 print it III full, some
interesting and useful extracts are
given. The summary is as follows:
SUMMARY.
Spraying is undoubtedly effective and
paws if fruit raising does.
Spray thoroughly and spray when II
viii do the most coed and not before
or after.
For fungous diseases spray with some
copper salt, a simple solution OF cop
Ter suIohate. one pound to 10 gallons
of water. before the buds swell; later
with the Bordeaux mixture, and as the
fruit nears maturity use the ammonia
cal solution of copper carbonate.
For insects which gnaw, spray with
Paris green or London purple, one
pound to 200 gallons of water, applying
il when the enemy is seen at Work OF
earlier, if he works within the plant.
For insects which suck the plant
juices spray the insect itself with kero-
sene emulsion and be sure that each
one gets its share.
The aphis or apple-root louise is sue
cessfully combatted by applying to-
bacco dust about the roots of the af-
fected tree. The cost is about cents
per tree.
Neither spraying for insects nor for
fungous diseases Injuries the fruit for
use as food.
Spraying falls under two general
heads. according to the pests which we
are fighting, and very different classes
of remedies are used in the different
cases. These two general heads are;
Spraying for fungous diseases. and
spraying for insect pests. A fun
gous is only a very minute and very
low form of plant. 1t has no chloro-
phyll (the green cOloring matter of
higher plants. by means of which the
substance taken from the soil and air
are prepared for use by the plant. as
food, but it depends on getting the
food for its growth from other
and higher plants. There are
two general classes of these little plants
that are OF Importance to the
fruit-grower; first, those like the scab
of the apple, which make the most of
their growth within the leaf of the
plant attacked, and second. those like
the miideWs where the most of the
growth is on the outside of the Leaf
In the spring the sDOre from one of
these little plants which corresponds
TO the SeeG OIL higher lldnlS. II B4ON II
about by the wind and finally it may
lodge on the leaf of the plant 10 be at
tackled Here under the influence of
heat and moisture, it terminates, just
as the seed of a higher plant would do
in the soil, and sends out a little sprout,
or germ tube as it is called In the
case of those fungi which live inside
the leaf, this little sprout enters one of
the breathing pores already described
and then grows about through the It's
sues of the leaf in a manner quite sim
liar 10 that in which a root grows
through the soil. 1t takes up the plant
juices and applies them to its own use
The other form differs from this o1lv
in what correspond to roots in higher
plants. Fungi thus rob the host 9lant
If what would otherwise be used in
new growth and in the production of
fruit Aside from this. the fungus may
injure the plant in another way. When
il comes to the fruiting stage. that is
when il produces its spores, it usually
produces them in large numbers and
Just under the epidermis of the leaf
So abundantly are they produced that
they often rupture the epidermis, and
of course this INJURIES the plant. AL
most all of the brown spots and scabby
places on the fruits and leaves of
plants are produced by some sort of
fungus. and in most cases these can
of spray.
AS TO REMEDIES.
Now as TO remedies. It will be easily
seen that when once the fungus gets
inside the leaf ii is impossible TO de-
stroy ii unless we also destroy the leaf.
For this reason all our efforts should be
directed toward keeping the fungus
from gaining an entrance into the
leaves. This we do by spraying the
plant at time of year when we know
the fungus has not yet gained en-
trance, with something which will
either prevent the spOre from germi-
mating or kill the gerb-tube after it is
sent out. For this purpose nothing is
better than Bordeaux mixture. a COM
bina ton of copper sulphate and lime. |
the preparation of which is described |
under the heading of Remedies
The number of sprayings depends !
greatly on the weather. If it is dry. |
TWO or three weeks or even a month |
may be allowed to elapse after the first |
application before the second will be |
necessary, but if the weather is rainy |
it may be necessary to spray a second /
time in a very few days.
INSECT PESTS.
The ravages of insects are, for the |
most part, included under two gen
eral heads; first, that of insects which |
gnaw their food. taking part of the |
plant into their stomachs, and I
second, that of insects which /
suck the juices of the plant /
attacked. If an insect chews the leaves
of the plant on which il feeds then
some form of poison applied TO the
leaves will destroy it. But if il sucks !
the juices of the plant, as does the
squash bug, the chinch bug and the
aphis of the apple, then no amount of
Paris green applied to the plant will /
affect it in the least, for its beak is
thrust through the poison and through
the epidermis of the leaf before il be-
gins to draw in the sap.
1t is not difficult to discover how an
insect feeds if we will observe its oper-
ations and the appearance of the plant
1t is feeding upon. In the case Of gnaw
ing insects you viii see notches in the
leaves where it is at work or the green
part of the leaf may be eaten out, leav-
ing only the framework. or lastly, in
me case of those which attack the fruit
there will be distinct holes made. In
any Of these cases the insect eats part /
cf the plant Just as horse or COW does.
and if we apply some form of poison to
the plant fed upon, we should be sue
-essful in destroying the pest. There is
probably no better substance for this
purpose than Paris green.
In the case Of insects which suck the
Juices of plants. since we cannot get
1T them through their food supply we
must use something which applied to
The insect itself viii DESTROY it. For
his purpose we. use something which
viii either stop up the breathing pores
md sufocate the insect or penetrate it
nd Tins Destroy il For this class IF