Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-06-14
BROWN ROT CAUSES
 B|G LOSS YEARLY
Costs Farmers Of Ar!tansae Thous. ands of DoIlar5-Kecp Spray
 Going.
By J. s. Knox, Agricultural Extension

By J. s. Knox, Agricultural Extension
 Division, University of Arkansas.
 or all the peaches that go to waste every year after the danger of frost Is past possibly 75 Der cent of them do so because of the brown rot dis ease. It is by no means ar uneom- mon sight in Arkansas to visit one of the shipping points and find basket after basket of peaches with brown rot already plainly in evidence being loaded into tine cars for shipment A peach showing evidence of brown rot or even those that have not been spray ed should not be loaded in the same car with the fruit that has been proD- erly sprayed. It is an injustice to ask man who has properly cared for his fruit to ship it along with that com ing from the neglected orchard.
 If you are selling a car load Of nosa and your own lot contained only well grown and healthy hogs, would you want to load them on the same car with the razor back that had cholera and accept the same price for them on the market? Certainly you would not! But do you realize that the same thing is true in the shipping of fruit? If one fellow brings in just a few baskets of diseased, unsprayed fruit and loads it into the cars with the sound, sprayed fruit it has exact ly the same effect on the price to be paid for that car of fruit as would the sick hogs in the other.
 The time is soon coming when the railroad companies will refuse to ac- cept for shipment fruit that has not been sprayed and is not free from disease at the time it is loaded into Inc cars.
 Brown rot can be controlled by properly spraying the fruit with self boiled lime sulphur solution and there IS no reason why any orchardist need come hauling in a lot of diseased stuff asking that 1t be accepted and sent to market. By spraying l mean thoroughly covering the fruit and ro- 1age with the material. Only that so covered will be protected against the disease. Simply driving along the rows touching the trees here and sherc Is not spraying and such work Is practically useless. Do your work right.
 The Department of Agriculture the Experiment Stations and the various railroads through their agricultural agents have spent time and money m working out methods for the con lrOl of diseases and insects. Self boiled lime sulphur has proven the best material for use in the control of brown rot. Yet we find many peo pie using some kind of substitute that IS either worthless or far inferior to the material recommended Some of these men have been told time and again and have had these things dem onstrated right before their eyes; yet they use substitutes. Why is this the case? .
 Please bear in mind that thor ough spraying should be given the peaches, about four weeks previous to tho time of harvest. Notice the word thorough in the above sentence and make your spraying measure up to 1t. It has often been noticed that brown rot does it's greatest damage from the time the starch in the fruit begins to change to sugar up to the time of ripening. It is therefore evil dent why it is necessary to empha- size thoroughness in the work at thYs time.
 Two years ago the various cOI.lmis- sion men who bought peaches in Ar kansas were disappointed in the qual- ity of the fruit We have a splendid crop of Elbertas this year. Let's keep them in condition for the market and in this way encourage buyers to come to Arkansas for real first class peaches. This is the only way 'n which We can win out and establish a desirable record for our fruit. To accomplish this we need the hearty cooperation of every peach grower in the state. If you are peach grow CT help us to make the quality of our peaches better. It means more satis- fled customers, more money to the grower and easier sales in the future. Spray and spray thoroughly.