The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1910-01-20
DEFECTIVE FRUIT.
You May Send Damaged Fruit Leaves
and Twigs TO Professor Surface,
Harrisburg.
he WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO.

HE WILL tELL tUU Wuht W pos
Commencing his letter with the
statement: III have an orchard OF
q few hundred fruit trees, of all
kinds, but for the last few years
our fruit has been extremely
faulty, apparently all of 1T stung
by insects and worm eaten," a
Monroe county man wrote Pro-
fessor Fl A. Surface, State Zoolo
glst, Harrisburg, for information
and also inquired about "oll emul
slons."
Professor Surface replied: ~
have at hand your letter stating
that you find your fruits defect
i've, and asking what to do to pre-.
vent such troubles. beg to say
that the first thing to do is to find
out just what Is the cause of such
defects. You can send damaged
fruits, leaves and twigs to this
Office for examination, Thecause
of each imperfection will be CIV
en-. Then the next step Is to ap.
ply the right remedy In the right
way, with the right material, in
the right proportion, and at the
right time. All these things are
necessary for success. Not one
can be overlooked. For example,
the insect making the wormy
fruit, of which you write, is doubt
less, the codling moth. The pre-.
ventive is to spray with an arsen.
zeal poison, such as paris green
or arsenate of lead, using either
one-thlrd pound of the former,
or two pounds of the latter, IN
fifty gallons of water or Bordeaux
mixture, applying it thoroughly
as q spray blown with force from
above the fruit so as to reach IN
to the blossom ends of the young
fruits just after the petals have
fallen, and again In ten days or
two weeks.
''If you do not have any certain
kind Of pest present, or liable to
appear soon, 1t Is unnecessary to
spray for 1t. For example, the
sulphur and oils, used when
the trees are dormant, are for
San Jose scale and other scale in
sects. If such are not present,
there is no need of going to the
expense and tronble of spraying.
However, you should be certain
whether your trees have San Jose
scale. To be sure of this you
should send to this Office some
clippings or twigs. Get twigs
showing the ring that was last
winters terminal resting bud,
from which the 1900 growth
started. 1t is here that we will
be most likely to find the Scale,
II present. Specimens can be
sent by mail. Your spraying op.
erations should be in accordance
with what we find.
"You ask about the use of oil
emulsions. ! presume you mean
the commercial preparations. I
do not recommend them, for the
fact that they do not always kill
the Scale without injury to the
trees. Many orchards IN this
and other States have been en-
tirely destroyed by them. You
cannot afford the risk. The com.
mercial oils may be all right for
two years, but the next year
cause thousands of dollars of dam
age in the same orchard, as was
experienced by one OF Pennsyl.
vanla's most prominent and sue
cessful fruit growers. At Mont
Alto, Franklin county, an owner
lost between five and ten thous.
and dollars worth of fruit in 1909
by using oil sprays, although In
1908 and the year before, the re.
suits with the same materials on
, the same trees had been appar-
emily good"