December, '17] SAFRO: spray ECONOMICS 523 



during the entire season actually did exceed the gross receipts from the 

 crop. Nevertheless, the rule should still hold. As soon as an appli- 

 cation has been made, the cost should immediately be charged up to 

 the investment; we can, therefore, very readily imagine a condition 

 that would finalh^ result in a large amount of money being paid out 

 in the late part of the growing season in order to recover by such late 

 application all or part of the money previously expended in spraying, 

 as well as other farm operations, carried on in the earlier part of the 

 season. 



The rule specifies, "Pests that threaten to destroy all or a large 

 part of the crop." What, then, shall be the attitude of the grower in 

 a case of uncertainty as to whether the destruction of all or a large 

 part of the crop is actually threatened? 



It seems to the writer that the grower should not give himself the 

 benefit of any doubt. If there is a doubt at all, then he should play 

 safe by considering the destruction as actually threatened. 



In this same category the writer would place the problem of parasit- 

 ism. Parasites may possibly appear in sufficient numbers to afford 

 such an effective control as to render spraying unnecessary, provided 

 the epidemic of parasites could have been definitely foreseen. Unless, 

 however, such parasitism can be definitely foreseen, then the attitude 

 of the grower must be that of the business man in respect to fire insur- 

 ance, who, knowing that the chances of his business being destroyed 

 by fire are less than one in one hundred, nevertheless carries insurance 

 against such a contingency as a business necessity. 



It will be noted that we have said nothing regarding the market, 

 and the writer has done this advisedly. Whether the market price 

 be high or low does not affect the need of getting the greatest amount 

 of product and the highest grade possible; in fact, when the market 

 price is low, there is all the more reason that the individual grower 

 turn out the best crop he can. But the essential point is that, even 

 in cases where the market price may fall below the freight charges, 

 this is a contingency that the grower can very rarely foresee at the 

 time he must deal with his spraying problems; and, therefore, the 

 possible course of the market in the future should not affect his efforts 

 or expenditures in taking care of his crop after he has incurred the 

 expense of planting it. 



