Evening journal., 1914-07-01
intensive farming
and A result
Ten Thousand Peach Trees
Threatened With Brown
Rot Give Record Crop
$4,000 FOR OWNERS

Zen thousand OF our peach trees.
say ]. G. Harrison g. Sons, Of Berlin.
Nd, we're attacked in the spring Of
1913 by brown rot to the extent that
the entire crop OF fruit was on the
brink Of total destruction. We saved
this crop, and sold it for more than
$4,000. The story Of the battle we
had to put up. and the details OF
spraying, should be extremely inter
esting and highly instructive to any
peach-grower.
During the growing season Of 1919
we were luiled by an apparent secur-
ity from enemies to relax our spray
ing schedule. Before we knew It,
brown rot had developed so rapidly
that all the fruit was destroyed and
much wood killed and infected. The
rot even produced cankers on the
twigs and limbs, and the outlook for
the crop Of 1913 was very blue.
This extraordinary infection proved
its virulence early IN the spring of
1913. As soon as the buds began 10
swell they showed the presence OF
fungus, and we realized that prompt.
thorough and properly directed work
alone would save the crop. Accord
ingly, we called on the Maryland Ag-
rlcultural College for help and they
sent man who took entire charge
of the spraying campaign.
Previous to this mans coming early
In March, We sprayed all the trees
. ] or rI Ir.I,.
Il 10 % for San Jose scale. This
spray is a fungicide as well as a con-
tact insecticide, but IL did not stop
the development of brown rot. On
! April z, under the direction of the ex-
, pert, we began to spray with a fungi
eide and poison combined. The fungus
was very active then. Curculio also
was present. We used two pounds of
lime and two pounds of arsenate OF
lead instead of the regular diluted or
-. self-boiled lime-sulphur, because this
| spray was cheaper, and it was judged
, that under the circumstances its
. fungicide power would be ample to
check the brown rot Within three
days 1t could be seen that the fungus
b was controlled.
e About the end OF April, when the
y blossom shucks were beginning to
= drop, twigs and buds began to die
again, and a most thorough and com
y plete spraying was given with reaY.
3, lar self-boiled lime-sulphur and- 80
senate Of lead (S-S-5O. plus 2
IL pounds Of Lead. In five days the
10 fungus activity was checked almost
completely. A fourth spraying with
the same material as was used for the
/ third was begun on the 23d Of May.
e and at this time there was not much
indication of the presence Of brown
rot. About the same time the twigs
that had been killed earlier In the
season were cut out and burned. A
hfth spraying was begun on the goth
e OF June, with self-boiled lime-sul-
! phur (nO arsenate OF lead used be-
cause there was no longer any dan
. ger from curculio). There was lit
tie or no indication of rot present at
this date, but We did not intend to be
caught mapping again.
It should be remembered that the
2 dates given are for the beginnings Of
, the several sprayings. Ten thou
sand trees make a large orchard, and
as a matter Of fact we no sooner had
2 gone over the orchard with one
+ spraying than 1t was time to begin
p the next We had spraying machines
> In the orchard every day from early
April until picking season. It would
have been better in this case to have
D started the first spraying i've days
p sooner than we did. The plain lime
b and-lead spraying used first, IN April,
, was cheaper than lime-sulphur and
lead, and was successful in this case.
/. The last spraying, in June and early
July, was made with plain lime-sul-
] t,Ilf nd L..
' longer threatened, and because 1t was
deemed best to be on the safe side IN
matter OF shipping fruit covered with
poisonous spraying material.
, So runs the account of how this one
Q huge crop Of peaches was saved-a
crop worth five or six times as much
as the entire orchard cost, a crop
which would have made the orchards
u profitable If we never had got a
e peach from the trees before or since
+ The work was expensive. but il paid,
\ and that is the important factor al
+. ways. The trees now are in normal
condition, and you may remain as
sured that we will not rest in any
fancied security again, but will give
the orchards their regular schedule
I Of three thorough sprayings each sea-
J son. The extraordinary efforts this
5 | season (nYe sprayings) we're made
; necessary only by the extremely bad
, infection from the previous year.
z What we have done this year is les
son In what may be done. No mat
Z ter how bad the attacks may be- II is
possible to save the crop Of fruit In
; perfect condition by prompt, careful
I work
; The entire orchard was disked about
} every week from the first of March
= till the first of July. Trees we're
/ wormed four times during the year
3 The varieties making up the less
j than ten thousand trees were mostly
Carmen, Champion, Ray, Belle OF
d, Georgia, Elberta and Crawfords
Late. From our test orchard contain
4 ing over 100 varieties we picked
e peaches from June 14th to October
Z 18th.
t From our orchard nearly 60 cars. or
d 1914 bushels of peaches were
e shipped. The total net sales OF
T peaches was s35, 1858. and the aver
d age net price per bushel received, in
d cluding all grades. soft peaches sold
locally. etc., was S1.83.
'e The cost of labor was $4,223.36. and
r together with expenses fer baskets
Of carriers, labels, spray material and
ar other miscellaneous items OF s5.103..
"a 49,