The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1908-05-16
Geo. w. Payton
Successor to James n. McGohan T.

PROF. MelanQer: we nave gaLnoreQ
our apple crop and marketed 5,605
boxes, and by as careful an estimate
as We could make, we lost not more
than one-tenth of one per cent. That,
consider, very remarkable, consider
ing the great loss l had last year. You
have certainly demonstrated the fact
that the codling moth can be kept in
check with proper spraying.
Very respectfully,
2. A. LANHAM.
"This would place the loss from
worms at but six boxes, an impress
sive contrast to the 5000 boxes lost
the year before. Six hundred and
seventy-five trees of the orchard were
banded The entire number of worms
obtained from these bands this year
was 178. Last year the same bands
harbored over 100000 worms.
THE conclusion we can draw from
this recital is that the first spraying
was so thorough that every blossom
was filled with poison. Since practic-
ally all the early worms seek to enter
the apple at the calyx end, they were
destroyed as fast as they came. This
complete destruction Of the first
brood left no prOgenitors of the Sec
Ond and Their were 20 late worms to
blemish the apples. From the record
this year at Wenatchee it would
seem that the first spraying did all
the work, and that not enough worms
escaped to make the other three
sprayings pay for their application.
The truth of this assertion will be
determined next season.
1T may be of value to note the
cost of this treatment. The trees OF
Mr.. Lanham are. ten years of age, but
are very large. At the first spraying
they averaged IL gallons of spray
At the second less than three gallons
were used. The increasing size Of
the fruit at the third and fourth spray
ings required four to five gallons per
tree. During day eleven tanks, or
1900 gallons, were sprayed, the cost
divided as follows:
Labor: team and driver. ......$ $50
Two men, at $3.50. 500
Materials: Gasoline ........... 80
Arsenate of lead, A lbs. at &c.. 700
$500
''The cost per gallon IS therefore
less than three-fourths of a cent. The
10-year-old trees of this orchard aver
aged twenty gallons for the seasons
spraying, costing fifteen cents per
tree. The entire spraying bill for
this season amounted to $225. Last
year but twelve gallons were used to
each tree, but with Vermorel nozzles
and the lower pressure it required
longer time to spray, and with the
triple strength of arsenate Of lead, !
this brought the cost of the seasons
spraying appreciably over $500.
Inadvertently all the trees in Mr..
Lanham's orchard were sprayed
Therefore as a check on the value of
the spraying we must consider the
results obtained in neighboring Or
chards. Otherwise those unfamiliar
with the conditions might suppose
that this was an off-year with the cod
ling moth. For this purpose we pre-
f9r 10 quote from a letter received
from the special horticultural in
spactor for the ChelanOkanogan dis
trict
q consider the results obtained in
the spraying demonstrations here
wonderful | had never before seen
or heard Of such results. I vas pres
ent when the count was made AID out
Of 1900 apples only eleven were
found wOrmy | inspected other or
chards in the immediate neigbbor-
hood 10 compare results. At the Cox
place adjacent to the Lanham place.
roughly estimated the per cent of
wormy fruit to be about 30 per cent. /
This orchard had been sprayed sew
eral times but evidently not accord
ing to up TO date methods. The Gar
Tison place, within one-fourth mile
from Lanham's, had also about 90
per cent worry fruit These results
obtained by our state college officials
are truly encouraging and they prove
to me that any intelligent fruit grower
need no longer fear the ravages of
the codling moth
Signed, P. S. Darlington, specia,