FUNGI. 25 



is now made by many manufacturers of pumps and pumping 

 apparatus and is advertised by Messrs. W. & B. Douglas, of 

 Middletown, Conn., at about $11.00. 



For work on a larger scale, as in orchards or in potato fields of 

 five acres or more, the best apparatus consists of a cask or barrel 

 mounted on a two-wheeled vehicle and provided with a powerful 

 force-pump capable of throwing the spray to the tops of orchard 

 trees. Such pumps are usually fitted for two discharge pipes, 

 allowing of the simultaneous spraying of two orchard rows. If 

 these pipes are of sufficient length and are attached to long poles 

 there is no difficulty in applying the fungicide to every part of the 

 tree. For the application of Bordeaux mixture to potatoes on a 

 large scale, an apparatus was devised at the Connecticut Station 

 last year, which gave complete satisfaction. By its means two 

 men can treat ten acres a day, spraying four rows simultaneously 

 at the average walking speed of a horse. This apparatus will be 

 fully described in the forthcoming report of the Connecticut 

 Station. 



Of course the initial expense of spraying apparatus is consider- 

 able, and the cost of materials and labor counts for something ; 

 but when we consider that a properly constructed knapsack 

 sprayer or brass force-pump will last for years ; that by the use of 

 fungicides we can harvest a crop of apples, ninety per cent 

 of which will be clean and free from " scab" and other diseases ; 

 that our grapes may be absolutely protected from "black-rot," 

 and that the yield from sprayed potatoes may equal 322 bushels 

 per acre as compared with 102 bushels per acre from untreated 

 vines attacked by mildew, the initial outlay and the subsequent 

 cost of applying fungicides cannot but seem inconsiderable. In 

 these days of scientific agriculture and sharp competition, we 

 cannot afford to neglect any means which tend to increase profits, 

 and among the many means to this end I know of none more 

 important than the judicious use of liygienic and fungicidal 

 methods, by which the danger of fungous disease may be reduced 

 to a minimum. 



I fear that I have defeated my own ends by wearying you with a 

 multiplicity of details. If however, you take away with you some 

 conception of the broad and general facts regarding the nature of 

 parasitic fungi, and the means which long study and numberless 

 failures as well as successes have placed at our disposal in com- 

 batting their attacks, I shall be more than satisfied. 



