ITie (anadian i|orticalt(]rist 



Volume XXVIII 



JUNE, 1905 



mm 

 worn 



Number 6 



SPRAYING DEMONSTRATIONS IN ONTARIO 



p. W. HODGETTS, B. S. A., ONTARIO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



FOLLOWING the request last March 

 of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Asso- 

 ciation that the Minister of Agriculture 

 should place a number of power sprayers 

 throughout the province, this matter was 

 promptly taken up by the Department, and 

 after some investigation two machines were 

 placed in operation at Meaford and Trenton 

 respectively. Both these points are centers 

 of large apple growing sections. 



According to the report of the Bureau of 

 Industries for 1903, Grey county, in which 

 Meaford is situated, is credited with 352,894 

 apple trees over 15 years of age and 200,000 

 under that age. Northumberland county, 

 in which the other machine is operating, 

 possesses 366,381 old trees and 288,669 

 young ones. These two counties, with the 

 addition of Huron, 'headed the list for pro- 

 duction during 1903, showing a total crop 

 of over 2,000,000 husheds each. It follows 

 that these sections are of great importance 

 to the apple industry, and anything that the 

 Department of Agriculture can do to im- 

 prove the quality of the fruit shipped there- 

 from will materially assist those farmers 

 who are striving to make this branch of agri- 

 culture successful. 



As power spraying machines are of com- 

 paratively recent introduction into Canada 

 it was thought wise to test at least two dif- 

 ferent types this year. There are, perhaps, 

 four types altogether in use in the Dominion 

 using as motive power the gasoline engine. 



geared direct to a pump, the expansion of 

 carbonic acid gas, the expansion of com- 

 pressed air, and the wheel-driven pump re- 

 spectively. Many of these are in operation 

 throughout Ontario, especially in the Nia- 

 gara district, where the presence of the ter- 

 rible San Jose scale compels the grower to 

 spray or uproot his trees. 



Readers of The Horticulturist are 

 familiar with the well known Wallace, 

 Spramotor, and Niagara Gas machines, 

 which have been illustrated and advertised 

 so frequently in these columns. Each has 

 its strong admirers, and each, I believe, is 

 doing good work. At Meaford one of the 

 Niagara Gas machines, at present manufac- 

 tured in Buffalo, was placed, while the 

 Spramotor Company, of London, supplied 

 the gasoline outfit in use at Trenton. 



The gas machine, a cut of which appears 

 as frontispiece, is run by the expansion of 

 liquid carbon gas. The main tank, which 

 holds the spraying mixture, is closed abso- 

 lutely tight when filled, and is supplied with 

 agitator, pressure guage, etc., on top. The 

 gas is purchased in iron cylinders contain- 

 ing 25 or 50 pounds under high pressure, 

 and when released slowly into the large tank 

 containing the spraying mixture forces the 

 latter out from the nozzles in a fine mist. 

 By releasing more or less gas the pressure 

 can be varied to suit the will of the operator, 

 and any number of nozzles may be used. 



The Spramotor machine at Trenton is 



:d9 



