The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1905-03-29

ODta1ned Dy tnOSe VINO nave mad expert
ence in the work. l know of a farmer
who owns young bearing orchard
which almost every spring has prom
Used an abundant harvest but when
fall came and the time for harvesting
the crop drew near, the apples which
still hung on the trees were so full of
worms that the profits derived from
their sale were indeed small The man
was so impressed by the good results
of spraying as practiced by one of his
neighbors who grows the same varieties
of apples, that in 1904 he finally made
preparations to spray in earnest. He
was advised as to the best methods of
doing the work. and the proper mater
ials were applied, yet at first he could
not overcome the fear that his trees
would not be just as thoroughly pro-
tected as Others had been. and that in
spite of the application the apples would
turn out as they did in the past. But
the fruit was fair, and his orchard will
no doubt be regularly treated in the flu
ture. Such doubts are needless. Pro-
lection by spraying will be Just as eff
ficient for one man as for another. and
provided the enemies of the plants are
equally serious. the results in one case
will be just as marked as they are in the
other, if few points are observed, name
ly to be very thorough in your work of
spraying.
One of the great principles of spraying
is; first, be on time with your spraying,
and don't fail to spray thoroughly, and
see that your solution is properly pre-
pared and kept thoroughly agitated. 1t
seems to be natural for some people to
be careless about spraying and that they
have only one thing in view and that
one thing is to get through with their
spraying Just as quickly as possible and
as cheaply as possible and again it seems
to be common practice for most peo-
pie in spraying to leave the tops of their
trees go unsprayed. regardless of the
height of their trees whether they be no
higher than your head or higher. Just
as though there was no danger of the
scale or other pests iniuring the tops.
but there is just where they are mis-
taken. | is j ust as essential to spray
the top twigs of the fruit trees as it is
any other part of the tree, and much
more essential to spray the tops of the
trees than it is to spray the trunk of the
tree. I was out through the country 10
some extent the other day and saw sew
eral young orchards. some of them not
more than 4 feet in height that had
from six inrhc, to one foot of the top
that apparently there had been no
attempt made at spraying. II certain
~ seems as though the people would
wake up to their own interest and do
their work thoroughly. When people
plant out their orchards they certainly
start in with the determination of grow.
ing an orchard and certainly they should
be just as determined to keep the same
free from the pest and don't overlook
the fact that You should be Just as much
interested in seeing that your ncighbor
sprays and sprays properly as you are
interested about the spraying of your
own orchard.
subject of insects,
Practically all the applications which
are made to destroy insects are design
cd to act in one of two ways The sub
stance may be destined to enter the d.
gcstive system of the insect and thus
cause death; just as many poisons
cause death when taken into the stom-
achs of higher animals. This method is
by far the cheapest, and when possible
it is advisable to make use of it. The
second method does not consist in put
ting poison on the food of the insect it.
self. 1t then causes death either by stop
ping up the breathing pores or it pene-
trates the outer coverings and so enters
the body directly. This method cannot
be used with success against all insects.
as some have very tough and dense COW
crings which are not readily penetrated
by any material that we can use for the
purpose. Beetles. for example. can scarce
ly be destroyed in this manner, but all
soft bodied insects. such as aphides.
worms and caterpillars. yield readily to
the treatment if sufficient material
comes in contact with their bodies. This
method of killing insects by means of
substances which cause death merely by
penetrating the creatures body. is rather
expensive, and it is resorted to only when
the pest cannot he treated by poisoning
its food. 1t thus comes that most worms
and caterpillars are destroyed by means
of poisons which are eaten. though they
yield to the other treatment equally "a
well. the food of many insects, however,
cannot be poisoned since they feed up.
on the juice of plants and don't eat the