April, '08] JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 107 



I believe the aim of all of us to continually induce the grower to 

 secure his own spraying apparatus is the correct one, for there is 

 no doubt of its desirability, not only for spraying, but for other 

 purposes on the farm, and the convenience of being able to conduct 

 spraying when opportunity and favorable conditions present them- 

 selves. It also has been our aim in Maryland to induce persons to 

 conduct public sprayers in different parts of the state, where their 

 service is needed, but we have signally failed in promoting such busi- 

 ness enterprises, due I believe in part to ignorance on the part of 

 those persons who could undertake it and the consequent failure ta 

 recognize the opportunity for a remunerative income. 



Thus from time to time requests from small growers or citizens 

 in towns who have infested trees would come and still come to my 

 office, reading something like this : "If you will advise me who I 

 can secure to do my spraying, I will gladly order same done, but cir- 

 cumstances are such that I cannot do it myself." This condition ex- 

 isting in many parts of our state led us to devise some means of meet- 

 ing it. 



In providing public sprayers, the following points were to be con- 

 sidered : 



First, Should a state department conduct public sprayers? Is it 

 a good policy to pursue? 



Second, How should they be conducted, as a source of income, or 

 expense, or should charges be made to cover costs and general ex- 

 penses ? 



The board of trustees permitted me to give the matter a trial, con- 

 ducting them on a basis to cover all expenses. Accordingly, we lo- 

 cated three rigs in different parts of the state with the especial pur- 

 pose of treating orchard, shade or other trees and also small orchards 

 in small towns and villages for San Jose Scale or other scale insects. 



It is only necessary to discuss briefly the operation of one in this 

 paper. 



The rig, which consisted of an eclipse barrel sprayer fitted with 

 two leads of hose, small boiler and other vessels, horse and wagon^ 

 etc., carrying materials for making the lime sulphur solution, com- 

 menced work in Hyattsville, Maryland, about March 20th, 1907. It 

 continued to work during favorable weather until about April 25thy 

 when the opening of the buds prevented. In this time it visited over 

 forty-five different places and sprayed effectively about twenty-five 

 hundred trees and considerable ornamental shrubbery, hedges, etc., 

 with the lime sulphur wash. Under the excessive charges for labor 

 and team incurred by this rig, a charge of 10c per tree was made to 



