Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-07-23
DUST FOR |Il:l. ORCHARDS.
I New Plan for Destroying Insects
and Protecting Fruit.
POISON SPRAYED ON THE PLANTS
Mixed With Lime Dust and Used 20
Much Advantage BY Those Who Are
Troubled With Enthusiastically
Useful in Dry Weather.

The spraying of fruit trees has be-
come an absolute necessity to the mod
ern fruit grower. 1t is no longer a
luxury, to be tried by those fond of
experimenting Time and experience
have shown that fruit trees and vines
do mot thrive or bring good yield
without a generous application of in
secticide. More than that, the fruit
does not hang as firmly to an unspray-
ed tree. A passing storm is much
more likely to tear a promising crop
off the trees and inflict a damage that
may wipe out the whole years profit
OF even cause considerable loss to the
man who is depending on his orchard
to furnish him a means of livelihood.
Gradually the science of spraying has
been developed. Its introduction and
spread have been gradual. The oppo-
sition OF the unbelieving has been con-
stantly growing less, until now there
are very few orchards in which this
method of exterminating insects is not
being used. Only the man of the '1et
alone" variety still leaves his trees I'M
protected, and of course, suffers for
his carelesspess or stupidity. His
ledger, if he takes trouble to keep one,
shows a comparatively small profit at
the end of the year.
Insects Constantly Coming.
Insects keep pace with fruit culture.
Hardly has a new variety of fruit
been successfully grown before some
animal is brought into existence whose
chief aim seems to be the destruction
of this particular fruit. The orchard
man is never given a chance to rest
secure in the belief that no insect can
harm him. His effort to bring forth
something new only seems to call for
an added eXertion on the part of the
insect. OF all the pests which prey
on fruit trees the canker worm is one
Of the worst. 1t is usually looked for
late in March. This worm is Matched
from eggs deposited on the trees. The
female, unable to fly, crawls up the
trees at night and lays its eggs with
great regularity. The eggs are not
more than one-sixteenth of an inch
long and are lead colored, which makes
it hard to distinguish them from the
bark.
Eggs Hatch in Spring.
The early warmth of spring matches
the eggs in a few days, and in an in
calcuably short space of time the tree
is covered with thousands of canler
worms. At first the naked eye can
hardly detect their presence, but they
grow rapidly, feasting on the tender
leaves and blossoms. They grow to a
length of perhaps one and one-fourth
inches. Oftentimes they eat into the
smaller branches ofsthe spring growth.
When everything has been destroyed,
say about May Is. the worms drop
from the trees and bury themselves
IN the ground for their years sleep.
A Common Mistake.
Often the fight on the canker worm
is begun too late in the season. 1t is
often thought that the worms have
been destroyed by spraying, when in
reality they have already finished
their work and only left their eggs be-
hind for the next year. The following
spring the orchard man wakes UP to
the fact that his work of the preced-
ing year has accomplished nothing,
and that his trees are almost ruined.
In some instances cotton or even tin
or mosquito bar collars are used to
keep the insects from getting to the
foliage. None of these methods, how
,SN0I, Is dS SlilCdClOuS as spraying.
done at the proper time and in the
proper manner.
Spraying Good Plan.
Spraying has come in for it's deserv-
ed share of attention There are vari-
GUS methods and various spraying
compounds, each with it's following of
advocates. Roughly, these methods
may be divided into two classes-tne
wet spray and the dry or dust spray.
Wet Spraying.
Up to the present time wet spraying
has been the most popular. In this
method Paris green or arsenite of cop
per is used, in proportions of three.
fourths of pound of Paris green to
a fifty-gallon barrel of water For or
binary purposes this solution is too
strong. and quicklime is added to it in
such quantities as to make the amount
of lime three times that of Paris