Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-12-05
THE ORCHARD
is pray in g Work at
Highmoor Farm in
Year 1918

Report Of the Experiments Made by
Wilson W. Conant, Orehardist, to
this Maine State Pathological So
! eiety
| Orono, Me-, Dec. 4-The following
| was issued today from the Office Of
Charles D. Woods, director Of the
Maine agricultural experiment sta
! ton at the University Of Maine:
| Mr.. Wilson ". Ccnant. the well
known Oxford County orchardist, is
the member Of the Maine Agricultural
Experiment Station appointed by the
Maine State Pathological Society. At
the annual meeting in Portland Mr..
Conant presented his report of the
apple work at Highmoor Farm the
past season. The following is his re-
port on the apply spraying expert
mentS.
| In 1918 II plots Of "a trees eacn
we're included in the spraying expert
ments. In general the methods fol-
lowed were much the same as in the
past, but the experiments were so
planned as to secure data upon GER
tain definite questions upon which
some information had already been
obtained. Our spraying work at
! Hishmoor has shown, if it has shown
anything. that it is unsafe to draw
! conclusions upon the results of sin
gle year and that with regard 70
some questions the results of series
| Of years are necessary.
In 1917 a beginning was made on q
test to see if the fungicidal effects of
arsenate of lead in controlling apple
scab were dependent upon the. form
| of the arsenate. The most common
form in use is the acid arSenate, and
this is what was used in the earlier
work. Theoretically neutral or or
thoarsenate can also be prepared.
Practically what has been sold as this
compound consists of mixtures of
neutral arsenate and a new basic ar
senate Of unknown composition. WITH
the latter predominating.
III 1915 one half of the plots or in
number were devoted to securing
data regarding the effectiveness Of
these different arSenateS Of lead. used
With and without standard dilution
lime sulphur. AS checks on these
and the other plots one was sprayed
with standard dilution lime sulphur
alone and another was left unSprayed.
On two other plots arsenate of linz
was used alone and in composition
with lime sulphur. One other plo.
was treated with the modified spray
ing program which has been found
very successful at Highmoor, namely.
lime sulphur 20 per cent stronger
than standard dilution for the pink
bud spray and for the last two. two
pounds Of dry arsenate of lead in 80
gallons of water. Still another plot
was sprayed with a commercial lime
sulphur and arsenate of lead in order
to check the effectiveness of the
home prepared materials used on the
remaining plots.
Again arsenate Of lead used alone
: showed considerable fungicidal value,
as all forms used alone materially re
duced the amount Of scab, as com
pared with the unsprayed check.
When combined with lime sulphur it
did not. however. increase the fungi
cidal value of the spray. Not only
that. but the lime sulphur used alone
gave better results in controlling scab
than did any Of the combined lime
. sulphur and arsenate of lead sprays.
The So called "T. p" arsenate of lead,
contrary to the results obtained in
1917 did not show d superiority over
the acid arSenatc when used alone or
in combination with lime sulphur.
The results obtained with this mate
. rial in 1918 were. on the whole, not
equal to those obtained with acid ar
senate. A material obtained from
California on account of it's being
claimed to be an orthoarsenate was
found to be nothing more than an
acid arsenate and gave approximately
the same results as this material in
the field.
Dry arsenate of lime was also found
to have high fungicidal value when
used alone for apple scab-in fact it
gave practically as good results as
any of the combined sprays made of
home cooked lime sulphur and ar
senate of lead. It's use in this man
ner. however. is prohibited on account
of causing a large amount of leaf
injury and a great reduction in fruit
set. The amount of fruit russeting
resulting from it is slight On the
other hand the results obtained from
the use of arsenate Of lime and lime
sulphur arc very promising. In the
percentage of perfect fruit it gave the
second highest score in the series. 1t
caused no leaf injury and probably
did not influence fruit set although
this latter question should not be con-
sdered definitely settled. The amount
; of russeting Of fruit was somewhat
less than where home cooked lime
sulphur and arsenate of lead were
used as combined spray.
The modified spraying program al
ready mentioned again gave the high
est percentage Of perfect fruit in the
series, and gave better scab control
than where home cooked lime sut-
phur was used alone or in combina-
ton with arsenate of lead. The COM
mercial lime sulphur gave much bet
ter scab control than the home
] cooked a<ticle but it caused more rus
I setting than any other spray treatment
used in the series.
Osman P. Erskine, son of Mr.. and
I Mrs Frank Frskine of North street