Killing Bugs with Dust 



This new way of exterminating insects in orchards 

 is fast superseding the old spraying method 



Dusting machines in use in peach 

 orchard. The powder is contained in 

 the hopper and a blower forces it 

 through the feed pipe under pressure by 

 air blast, thoroughly dusting the trees 



IT was formerly the custom to mix the 

 poisons intended to kill orchard in- 

 sects with water. A new method is 

 now employed. The trees are dusted with 

 the powdered mixture. 



The tremendous advantages of the 

 dusting method, and its success in con- 

 trolling the insect pests and diseases have 

 led to its adoption by many growers of 

 fruits, especially in New York. A man 

 living at Middleport, New York, has 

 recently perfected a high-power machine 

 which pumps the dust on the trees. 



Dusting is twenty-five per cent cheaper 

 than spraying. Orchards which it former- 

 ly took three men and a team two days to 

 spray may be given the same protection 

 against most insects and diseases with two 

 men and a team in three hours time. 

 The total weight of the dusting machine 

 complete with gasoline is less than one 

 thousand pounds. Wet seasons, soggy or 

 rough land in no way interfere with dusting. 



The dusting mixture is placed in a 

 hopper. A blower, which rotates at ap- 

 proximately 2,500 revolutions per minute, 

 forces a current of air through the air 

 chamber at the bottom of the hopper. 

 The dust is sifted through a slide feed and 

 carried with great velocity through the 

 outlet pipe. At the mouth of the pipe the 

 flow is broken and the dust particles burst 

 into a dense smokelike cloud, which will 

 cover thoroughly a large apple tree almost 

 instantly. 



Beneath the plate at the bottom of the 

 hopper is a slide feed regulator consisting 

 of two diagonally slotted slides which 

 work over each other. The position of the 

 slides is controlled by a small hand lever 

 conveniently located at the end of the 

 hopper near the discharge pipe. The 

 operator is thus permitted to regulate the 

 amount of material to be discharged, 

 which may be of one amount for apple trees, 

 another for cherry, and so on. 



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