Costs of materials have increased. Spray material costs per box in 1927 was 

 as low as two to two and one half cents. Today it is twenty to twenty-five 

 cents or about ten times as much. 



Pest Control Equipment 



Spray and dust equipment has also been greatly improved. Thirty years 

 ago all of the equipment was hauled by horses. Today it is hauled by either 

 trucks or tractors. Hand spray machines were still in use in 1927 although 

 power sprayers and dusters were owned by many of the growers. Most of the 

 machines were low capacity, three to ten gallons per minute pumps and operated 

 by a two to five horse power engine. Bamboo rods on which were mounted nozzles 

 with a capacity of one to three gallons per minute were standard equipment. 

 Spraying was all done from the ground, dragging fifty feet or more of hose. 

 A six to ten gallon per minute outfit required three men to operate it, one 

 man driving, sometimes only one horse and two men spraying. Tank capacities 

 were from 50 to 200 gallons. 



Spray guns and large capacity, high pressure machines appeared in the early 

 30' s and later the multiple spray nozzles. The development of this better 

 equipment made it possible to force spray solutions greater distances and 

 growers began riding the spray rigs and using larger capacity guns and nozzles. 

 This method greatly speeded up the spraying operation and made applications 

 more timely. Along with the larger machines came the water supply tanks with 

 large valves. This equipment made it possible to fill the spray tank in a 

 few minutes. About fifteen years ago the air blast machines were developed 

 and today machines delivering 50 to 75 gallons per minute operated by one man 

 does most of the spraying in orchards in New Hampshire. Supply tanks on trucks 

 deliver spray solutions directly to the sprayer in the orchard greatly increas- 

 ing the amount of spray applied per hour. Today one man will apply more spray 

 in an hour than three men did in a whole day in 1927 and do a more thorough 

 job. 



Night spraying was introduced in 1930 in New Hampshire. The cover picture 

 on our orchard practice bulletin published in 1934 is a night spraying scene at 

 the Horticultural Farm. Around-the-clock spraying made more efficient use of 

 spray equipment permitting growers to take care of a larger acreage and apply 

 more timely applications. 



Recently the application of concentrated sprays has increased the number 

 of trees that can be covered with a tank of spray solution and also has increased 

 the efficiency of the pest control equipment. 



The use of air craft the past two or three years is receiving more attention 

 as a means of applying pest control materials. The development of more effective 

 materials such as dichlone, parathion and DDT which can be applied safely at 

 high concentrations has made the application of such materials practical. In 

 1956 several hundred acres of apple orchards in New Hampshire were treated by 

 helicopter with a 3 per cent dichlone dust in the pre-pink and pink applications 

 for scab control. Growers were well satisfied with the result and we can 

 expect the use of air craft for pest control to increase. 



