The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-05-01

Washington. May 1.-Fruit. either in fresh. dried, canned, preserved or Jellied form is food product of rec ognized value. The maximum pro- production of good fruit at this time is, therefore, of paramount importance. Directly concerned in the production of such fruit are spraying operations for the control of various insects and diseases.
 Owners of commercial orchards have long recognized the importance of spraying, but there are many small orchards and so-called home orchards, the owners of which have not adopted spraying operations, or do not give sufficient attention to the work. The uncared- condition of such or charges Is too often revealed by the great number of windfan fruits and the inferiority of that which remains on the trees, the U. s. Department of Agriculture finds.
 No single feature of orchard prac- tice yields so high, a percentage of benefit as spraying, often increasing the value of the product several hun dred per cent Every fruit grower. large or small, has 1t within his pow CT to save his fruit from loss by in- sect and fungous pests, and thus add materially to the food supply of the Nation. Spraying is now recognized by progressive growers as an exceed ingly cheap form of insurance, not only protecting the fruit during the growing season, but insuring its prop CT keeping in storage.
 xr.-
 The apple Is grown over very large territory and is our most important and valuable fruit crop, and when properly sprayed and handled will keep in storage for months.
 Insect Pests.
 The Cooling Moth: The codling moth is the dirty white or pinkish caterpillar which feeds within the frut, mostly around the core, result ing in large number of windfalls du- ring the summer and in wormy fruit at harvest time. In the absence of treatments this insect will destroy Neach year a large proportion of the crop Fortunately 1t yields readily to treatments. and a high percentage of benefit follows through spraying operations against it as outlined in the apple spraying schedule below.
 The Plum Curculio: This little snout beetle attacks various fruits, as the apple, peach, plum, cherry ,etc. Ear 1y in the spring the beetles puncture the little apples for feeding and egg laying purposes. causing much of the fruit to fall, and the fruit which re- mains Ion the trees Fbeeomes knotty and misshapen as 1t grows. The cur- culio is notably worse in neglected or chards as in orchards which are in sod and more or less grown up fnweeds and trash In order to effect a sat- isfacto-y control of the curculio by sprays, these unthrifty orchard con ditions must be corrected.
 The Apple Maggot: This insect often known as the "railroad worm, railroads or mines the pulp of the ap- pie, making brownish patches or trails Several masgots in the fruit will re. duce the pulp to filthy mass merely held togo<her by the skin. Its in juries are confined largely to tn, northeastern states. Present evi dence indicates that the apple mag got may be controlled by the applica ton of arsenical sprays to the fruit and foliage during early July, an, some observers hold that routine or cherd spraying is effective in, obviatinl important injury Drop worn1y frui should be promptly collected and de stroyed.
 Apple Aphids: Principally thre species of aphids attack the fruit an foliage of the apple; namely. the ros aphis, the green apple aphis and tn oat apf1is- The rosy aphis is espec ially injurious to the blossom clus ters and causes the fruit to becom knotty and distarted or to fail to prop erly thin out in the clusters, result ing in undersize fruit The oat aph, is of relatively little importance though the green apple aphis may SC riously check the growth of youn foliage These aphids winter on tn apple trees in the condition, tn young matching as the buds are break ing in the spring. They are best COT trolled by the use of 40 per cent. nice tine sulphate used at the rate of B. pint to 100 gallons of spray If th treatment for the San Jose scale | delayed. the nicotine m4y be added 1 the strong lime-sulphur wash, effec mg combination, treatment for thes two pests. The nicotine may also added to advantage to the first sea treatment of the spray schedeule.
 Leaf-eating caterpillars: vario, leaf-eating caterpillars, as cank, worms tent caterpillars, and the lik are more or less abundant in orchard each year in different parts of u country. These caterpillars, as a ru are kept we'll in check by the use
 arsenical sprays.
 ter-shell and scurfy scales are vel generally present in apple orchar, throughout the country. The Ss Jose scale is by all odds the mo injurious and in the absence of al nua1 treatments will destroy or grea ly injure the trees. An individu scale is about the size of pin hea and has a nipple-like prominence
 the center. When abundant u scales literally incrust the linn and branches, to which they give ash-gray appearance. Badly infes ed bark when cut into usual shows a reddish color. These sca pests are very successfully controls
 by the use of strong sprays appli
 during the dormant period of t
 trees, as indicated in the schedule
 applications.
 Diseases of the Apple.
 Apple scab, This is the most d
 structive. disease of the apple and
 almost universally distributed. It a