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Show SUMMER SPRAYING IS QUITE ESSENTIAL Students Studying Spraying at Missouri College of Agriculture Equipment for the Small Farmer Being Examined and Tested. (By C. C. WAGGANS, Missouri College of Agriculture.) Summer spraying is essential in the production of first-class apples. Un-sprayed Un-sprayed fruit is usually scabby and very often shows injury from codling moth or curculio. Wormy or diseased fruit has poor keeping qualities. Thus, In order to have fresh apples during winter months, it is necessary to practice prac-tice summer'spraying. Spraying consists of applying to the growing fruit and leaves some substance sub-stance which will either kill or prevent pre-vent the growth of the insects and disease dis-ease spores. Some form of arsenic is used to kill the insects, lead arsenate being the most common form. It may be purchased at local drug stores and costs from ten to twenty-five cents a pound. Sulphur is very effective in preventing the development of apple scab and other fungous diseases, since disease spores cannot develop in its presence. This substance in the form of concentrated lime sulphur may be purchased from companies handling spray supplies, and in small lots will cost about fifteen cents per gallon. The spraying schedule recommended recommend-ed on the basis of the tests and experience ex-perience of the Missouri agricultural experiment station calls for three sprays during the season. The first, to be most effective against the apple scab, should have been applied just before be-fore the blossoms opened. This spray of lime sulphur at the rate of three gallons of commercial mixture to 100 gallons of water is not very necessary in dry season, because scab can develop de-velop only during damp weather. The second spray, applied just aftei the blossoms fall is most Important and should be applied even though the first was not. It is made by mixing three gallons of commercial lime sulphur sul-phur and five pounds of lead arsenate paste with 100 gallons of water. Since the lead arsenate and the lime sulphur are placed In the same solution, one spraying is sufficient to apply both substances. This spray serves as a further protection against the scab, but its greatest value comes through its effect upon the codling moth and curculio. Enough poison clings to the surface of the apple so that these insects are killed before they have done much injury. Serious injury comes only from the full development devel-opment of the codling moth or "apple worm." The sting of the curculio causes apples to grow in deformed shapes and, although this may not materially ma-terially lower the keeping quality, yet very often a "sting" may serve as a place of entrance for some rot and thus be the indirect means of causing decay. The third spray follows the second after an interval of ten days or two weeks, but this application is not so important as the preceding one. The solution is made by using three gallons gal-lons of lime sulphur and five pounds of lead arsenate paste to 100 gallons of water. It is effective against both insects in-sects and diseases. If apple blotch or bitter rot are present some later applications may be necessary, but these are given only in special cases. |