DUST SPRAYING. 469 



edy, as we do when we fight the biting and chewing insects, is the 

 problem we must solve. In our earlier efforts we found that when 

 used as an insecticide, the dry conveyor was far superior to the 

 liquid, but when used as a fungicide it did not give the positive re- 

 sults we expected. When you fail in any direction in life, it is a wise 

 precaution to stop and determine the cause and remedy it if possible. 

 In order to determine positively what we were doing, we went to the 

 laboratory to find out. We were at this time combining the blue stone 

 with the lime by making a solution of the blue stone and dry slaking 

 the stone lime with this solution into a powdered form. We thus 

 brought lime, water and blue stone together, as in the formation of 

 the liquid Bordeaux. The laws of chemistry demonstrated that when 

 this is done in any manner, the positive action of the blue 

 stone is lost, chemical changes at once take place, and new com- 

 pounds are immediately formed. We therefore reasoned that if we 

 could get the positive action of the blue stone, as we did of the 

 insecticide, we could get positive results. We are very much grat- 

 ified to state that we have accomplished this, and although the past 

 season was an unusually severe one with us for the test, on account 

 of excessive rains, and therefore favorable to the development of 

 fungi, we controlled it, and the only question to be determined 

 now is the ratio to be used for effective work, as with the insecticide 

 we can apply the sulphate of copper of any strength desired to all 

 kinds of foliage. A simple change in conveyors that thus changes 

 a hazardous treatment to one of the utmost simplicity, still using the 

 same recognized standard remedies, is surely worth our while, and 

 needs but to be known to insure its universal adoption. 



It may be well to remind you, that in the introduction of new 

 methods for protecting orchard crops, the growers are apt to expect 

 too much, comparisons of results are made with well established 

 methods in like lines, and they lose sight of the important fact that 

 the new system, whatever it may be, lacks in rotundity and complete- 

 ness, that can be acquired only by patient effort and long practice. 

 We were forcibly reminded of the injustice of this practice by a con- 

 versation we had with a fruit grower, at our exhibit at the World's 

 Fair, who had used both the liquid and the dust sprayer on his apple 

 trees the last season. We inquired if he had gotten as good results 

 from the use of the dust spray as he had from the liquid. He re- 

 plied, "Not quite." We then asked him what formulae he had used 

 and how he had prepared them. He had used the standard Bor- 

 deaux formula in the liquid, and with the dry conveyor he had used 

 a formula that was unscientifically compounded and only succeeded 

 in getting a poor quality of dust that did not cling well to his trees. 

 He was an expert with the liquid, a novice with dust. The sim- 



