LIVING ENEMIES OF TREES 



The question of sprayers is not hard to solve. A few gas 

 sprayers have been made, but compressed-air machines are the 

 most satisfactory by all odds. We have found several makes 

 and sizes on the market to be very good. Some are illustrated 

 here. A man usually develops a liking for some one kind after 

 becoming well acquainted with all, because of differences in 

 type and working. The principal points to consider in buying 

 are these: 



An outfit should be of a size suited to your needs, and made 

 so it will work satisfactorily under your condition. For a half- 

 dozen trees a small hand-pump in a bucket will do the work. 

 A knapsack sprayer is a better form of this. The next step up 

 is a sprayer with a tank and pump, mounted on a frame in the 

 form of a wheelbarrow, and worked by either one or two men. 

 Where you have to spray more than fifty trees, it will not pay 

 to go as slow as this kind of machine does the work. 



Even for a dozen trees it will pay to have a barrel-pump, 

 to be set on a wagon or sled, and run by two men. Effective 

 work can be done with this, and many orchards containing a 

 couple of thousand trees depend on two or three such outfits, 

 yet it is poor economy to use this type of sprayer for more than 

 a hundred and fifty ten-year-old trees. 



Variations of this form of sprayer are to have the pump and 

 the barrel or tank mounted on a frame and two wheels of its 

 own, either as low as possible, to pass over stumps, etc., or as 

 high as a man's head, to aid in getting pressure. The high type 

 is best on land that is nearly level, but the low type is necessary 

 on hillsides, on account of the danger of upsetting. Whether 

 the mounting be on wheels, sled or wagon, the tank barrel 

 or other shape, and made of wood or steel, the pumps hori- 

 zontal or perpendicular, the handle long or short, red or green, 

 the air pressure is got by working the lever by hand. 



Every man who has a hundred and fifty or more ten-year-old 

 trees, or a larger number of younger ones, should get a power 

 sprayer. The advantage of securing the pressure from an 

 engine instead of from man-power are many. The pressure from 

 an engine on the average is about twice as high and more regu- 

 lar than with hand pumps, insuring better work; the engine 

 does not get tired; and two or three nozzle-men can give all 

 their attention to reaching every leaf and twig with the liquid. 

 With a power outfit you can get over the whole orchard during 

 the limited time in which spraying needs to be done you will 

 not have to start too early and continue too late. 



There are many types of power sprayers, some with engines 

 and pumps on skids, to be mounted on a sled or wagon with a 

 tank, but the best are those on low, broad wheels of their own, 

 with a cut-under frame that permits short turning; a steel tank 

 holding about two hundred and fifty gallons, hung no higher 

 than two feet from the ground, and the engine and pump at 

 one end of this, preferably in front. The tank should contain 

 a geared agitator. The pump and all other machinery should 

 be taken apart easily for removing clogging materials or for 

 repairs and cleaning. A tower built over the tank, with a 



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