Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-07-28

| Ben Davis orchard No. ] at High
moor Farm contains lis acres. At the
/ time the farm came into the possess
sion of the Station it contained 1898
trees of which it was estimated that
, 152 should be replaced. Many hun
dreds of tons of stones were removed
from the orchard in 1912. At present
the orchard is practically free from
rocks. In the spring of 1918 there
We're set 139 young Ben Davis trees
Also several large trees We're moved
from No. 3 orchard to this. So that
the present year there are 1892 large
trees and 139 small trees in the or
|chard, making a total of 1881 trees.
As stated in other letters in this Sc
ries it is impossible to exactly figure
the cost of any one thing on a farm
or plant doing numerous things at the
same time and for which much of the
apparatus is used for more than one
kind of work. But the figures for ma
terials and hours of labor can be de-
pended upon. Upon cost of upkeep of
plant, the cost of the spraying mate
rails and the price of labor there will
be differences in cost due to different
environments Also there will be diff
ltEtIlCtS Ill dS " Niiit 10
needed. TO us it seemed important to
spray for plant lice this season. 9th
ers having orchards as badly infest-
ed might think they could be neglect
ed 1t costs cents a tree for all the
trees or 3,4 cents tree for the large
trees for the black leaf used.
The orchard was sprayed three times
in 1913 with lime sulphur and arsen-
ate of lead. At the last spray, be-
cause of plant lice, Black Leaf 40
was used in the spray mixture. At
the first or pink spray" it took 1880
gallons to cover the trees. at the sec
end or "calyx spray" POPS gallons
were used and at the third spray (two
weeks after the 'calyx spray'O 3l25
gallons were used.
The spray was applied by gasoline
power outfit that cost with engine,
hose. nozzle, spray rods etc, approx
mately $500. The me-sulphur cook
er cost about $25. The storage tanks
and barrel for water and mixtures
cost about $50. The materials used
and their cost We're as follows:
200 pounds flowers of sulphur at
g. cts. a pound $500
100 pounds of lime at Il cts.
pound, l.zo
2l0 pounds dry powdered arsenate
of lead at Is cents, 5LoO
a pound, $3.50
~ % cts cts '''''' WV go
quart cylinder oil (for engines). Is
l pound grease for engines), 10
Wood for cooker, 30
The labor was as follows The cost
per hour is based upon the wage of
81 rs for hours work for a man and
12N cents per hour for one horse.
Cooking lime sulphur 10 man hours. s2.76
man hours. 3.Sl
solutions to trees III man
hours, 3l.46
Applying solutions to trees ia
horse hours, H25
The total cost of preparing lime |
sulphur for spraying the IFS acres |
1881 trees three times was |
81 OF. The cost for the arsenate of |
cad was $3.50. The cost OF the Black |
Leaf 40" for aphids was $3.50 The |
cost of mixing and applying to the
rees was $49.02.
The total value of the plant involved
other than horses was about 1916.
Both this and the cooker and water
ank are used for other purposes. On
the assumption that the outfit was
used exclusively for spraying this CIR
hard an allowance that seems rea
sonable to us fer cost of upkeep and