1911.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 47 



THE SPRAYING OF TREES. 



BY G. E. STONE. 



The great value and economic importance of spraying shade 

 and fruit trees have resulted in placing on the market a large 

 variety of fungicides and insecticides and types of machinery. 

 Massachusetts has unfortunately been obliged to spend more 

 money in spraying than any other State, and many towns and 

 cities in the eastern part of the State, where the brown-tail and 

 gypsy moths are so prevalent, spend thousands of dollars yearly 

 in spraying. 



Besides the larger spraying enterprises -which are being car- 

 ried on under the supervision of the Gypsy and Brown-tail Moth 

 Commission, much private work is being done, and hundreds of 

 tons of arsenate of lead are used annually in this work. While 

 the above-named pests have not at present invaded the center and 

 western part of the State to any extent, the presence of other 

 pests necessitates spraying our shade trees. 



The question of economical spraying on a large scale is an im- 

 portant one, and for a long time there has been a need for more 

 efficient and cheaper methods. The writer, who has for many 

 years had experience as tree warden, has had unusual opportu- 

 nities to observe the work being done along this line in Massa- 

 chusetts, and has felt the great necessity for improvements in 

 the methods of spraying. Tt has often been a question whether 

 our towns and cities can afford to use the methods which are 

 recommended and practiced by the best orchardists for shade 

 trees. The aim of the orchardists is to cover every part of the 

 ti'ee which needs protection with a very fine mist spray. This 

 method cannot be too closely followed by orchardists, since it is 

 not necessarily expensive when only orchard trees and small 

 fruits and crops such as potatoes are concerned. When how- 



