21 



just the same as the same sulfur put on wet. It sticks Hke 

 dust sticks to furniture or to the carpet, and it will stick just 

 as well, as far as I know, as it will when it is put on wet. So, 

 so far as blowing off is concerned, you do not need to worry 

 about that, unless you have windier blows here than we have 

 in New York State. The question is often raised whether it 

 will wash off, and I give the same illustration. 



Chairman Jenks. Can you give us some idea as to the rela- 

 tive costs of spray materials and labor in dust and liquid 

 spraying? 



Professor Whetzell. There is no question but what dust 

 materials to-day cost more money than the same materials for 

 spraying, that is, than the spray materials that are used. But 

 that is not the way to figure your relative costs of course. If 

 you figure labor saved and time saved and the value of timeli- 

 ness, — well, leave out that which is the most valuable point, — 

 the time and labor saved, if you figure those in, counting labor 

 costs and cost of materials, in Nova Scotia this year Professor 

 Saunders found that to dust cost about the same as to spray. 

 I think in the two experiments that he made his figures on, the 

 difference was 10 cents less to dust than it was to spray, per 

 acre, — a small amount. 



Now, the relative costs of those methods would depend upon 

 many factors which are not constant. A man who has every- 

 thing right for spraying — water handy, doesn't take much ■ 

 time to fill, and good engines — can put his spray on cheaper 

 than a man who has all these other troubles. 



But taking it by and large this last year, so far as I have 

 been able to get figures — accurate figures — experimentally 

 taken by Professors Saunders and Brittain in Nova Scotia, those 

 figures show that the cost, counting labor and materials, was 

 approximately the same for the two. 



Now, then, that was counting the relatively high cost of 

 materials for dusting, but, as I pointed out to you, we are in 

 the experimental stage with dusting, and naturally the stuff 

 costs more money than when it is commercial, so you can save 

 on the cost of apparatus. In other words, we are using a crude 

 machine as compared with sprayers, and the duster will be 

 improved. We will get around to it by and by until we control 



