THOROUGHNESS IN SPRAYING. 241 



sprayed might prove of inestimable value to them. While it is not my 

 purpose to discuss the relative merits of different makes of spraying 

 machines, since so much of the success of spraying depends upon the 

 efficiency of the sprayer used, I think it advisable to mention some of 

 the essentials of a good spraying machine. To do the work thoroughly 

 it requires a good pressure of, say, from 90 to 120 pounds in a hand ma- 

 chine, and 150 to 200 pounds in a power machine. As most spraying solu- 

 tions are of a caustic and corrosive nature, the pump should have all 

 brass working parts, which can be easily gotten at in case it becomes 

 necessary to take the pump apart to clean or repair it. It should have 

 thorough agitation, be easy to operate, and simply constructed. Right 

 here I want to say that, contrary to the belief of many, a high pressure 

 machine will not throw the spray or mist more than six to eight feet 

 from the nozzle, as where a mist or fine light spray is formed it can not 

 be thrown very far, owing to the resistance of the air, making the use of 

 extension rod or pipe necessary to do good work. A low pressure ma- 

 chine that produces a coarse spray or sprinkle will reach up higher 

 but is of little benefit. A fine vapor spray is what you want. The 

 preparation of the spraying solution should be given careful attention, 

 being sure that the chemicals and ingredients are thoroughly dissolved. 

 To do this it is absolutely necessary to have separate barrels or casks for 

 preparing your spraying material. Many make the mistake of putting 

 their spraying material into the tank of the sprayer and depend on the 

 agitator of the sprayer to mix and dissolve the ingredients. This is not 

 so bad where a power sprayer is used which has a mechanical agitator 

 which operates very rapidly, but when you attempt to do this with a hand 

 sprayer you can not get satisfactory results, as the agitation is not suffi- 

 cient to mix and dissolve the spraying chemicals perfectly, resulting in the 

 spraying material being too strong at one time and too weak at another, 

 burning the foliage in the first instance and doing no good in the latter. 

 If your trees are infested with any of the scale diseases it is advisable to 

 spray them in the fall or early winter when the temperature is not below 

 the freezing point, with either lime and sulphur or soluble oil. The writer's 

 experience has been that it is best to spray with the soluble oil in the fall 

 or early winter and follow with the lime and sulphur while the trees are 

 still in a dormant condition in the early spring. By doing this you not only 

 control the scale diseases but to a large extent eradicate any fungous dis- 

 eases that may be present. If your trees are not infested with scale it is 

 not necessary to do any spraying while the trees are in a dormant condi- 

 tion, but as soon as the petals or blooms begin to fall you should spray 

 thoroughly with arsenate of lead in combination with Bordeaux mixture or 

 a weak solution of lime and sulphur to kill the codling moth and rid your 

 trees of fungous diseases. In this spraying especially high pressure is nec- 

 essary, and the tree should be thoroughly covered so as to be sure of get- 

 ting the poison into the calyx of the forming fruit, so as to kill the cod- 

 ling moth. The writer's observation and experience has been largely with 

 apple trees, and if you will follow the above instructions in spraying your 

 apple orchard the benefit and profit that you will derive from it will sur- 

 prise you. 

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