THE VALUE OF SPRAYING. 



173 



Mr. Pettit's Spramotor at Work in the Vincjard 



and sulphur," said J\lr. 

 Smith, " which is applied 

 to the trees while the buds 

 are dormant. I spray once 

 with the lime and sulphur 

 and three times with the 

 Bordeaux mixture." 



" How many acres have 



A\ in fruit?" was asked. 



About 35," replied Mr. 



.-^mith, "including 1,500 or 



I /'xDO peach trees, 2,500 



um and pear trees, and 



-' acres of grapes. I spray 



ery thing. This year I 



arted spraying about 



April 13, and expect to get 



through by May i. As soon 



as the blossoms drop I start 



With thi 

 same time. 



outfit it is possible to thoroughly spray vines on botl 



engine not only for spraying, but for cutting 

 feed, sawing wood, and other work of that 

 nature. It is a three horsepower machine. 

 Before buying my spraying outfit I ex- 

 amined the others on the market and became 

 convinced to my satisfaction that the Spra- 

 motor machine I purchased was the best as 

 regards ease of operation, cost of power and 

 durability. The chief feature in its favor, 

 in my opinion, is the quickness with which 

 the spray can be applied. W'hen loaded 

 with liquid it weighs about one ton. By 

 deriving the power from the engine no hard- 

 ship is entailed on the horses." 



Adjoining the orchard there were nine 

 barrels in which the lime and sulphur mix- 

 ture was being boiled. The mixture was 

 cooked by steam secured from the engine. 

 The cooking operation lasted about one and 

 a half to two hours. Eighteen pounds of 

 sulphur were used to 36 pounds of lime. 

 Mr. Smith explained that for the conveni- 

 ence of his neighbors he boiled this mixture 

 and sold it to them for 90 cents a barrel on 

 his place. " I boil about 300 barrels of lime 



des of the cart at the with thc Bordcaux mix- 

 ture on the plums, pears, 

 grapes and apples. Very few growers in this 

 vicinity spray as thoroughly as I do, but I 

 have found it has paid me to do it thorough- 

 ly. My plums last season netted me about 

 $2,500. They were a very clean crop, and 

 I believe the large percentage of first-class 

 fruit was due to the spraying. Most of my 

 neighbors who did not spray had a very light 

 crop. This year the majority of them are 

 spraying. If I had used the Bordeaux mix- 

 ture on my grapes last year I believe I would 

 have saved the whole crop. As it was I 

 only had about a third of a crop, owing to 

 the rot w^'hich made its appearance for the 

 first time in my vineyard. I sprayed one 

 row with the Bordeaux mixture as a test, 

 although when it w^as applied I did not ex- 

 pect to be troubled with the rot. Out of 

 the 75 or ^6 rows in the vineyard the one I 

 sprayed was the only one that was good. 

 This year I intend spraying every vine." 



" What do you find your spraying costs ?" 

 was asked. " Last year," replied Mr. 

 Smith. " it cost about $250. This year the 

 cost will be $350 or $400. While this may 



