190 SPRAYING MATERIALS 



speak of specific remedies. The most important of these is the 

 question of buying the mixtures already prepared or of buying 

 the materials and preparing the mixtures on the farm: com- 

 mercial mixtures vs. home mixing. There are certain things 

 like arsenate of lead which cannot be made as well at home as 

 they can by the manufacturer. ]\Ioreover, the price for these is 

 relatively low because so many firms are manufacturing them. 

 It seems, therefore, much better for any grower, large or small, 

 to buy ready-made stock of such materials. 



On the other hand, there are certain other things such as the 

 various substitutes for Bordeaux mixture which often come at a 

 high price to the orchardist and which it is relatively easy to 

 make on the farm. It would seem that such mixtures might be 

 prepared by the grower, at least when he is operating on a 

 reasonably large scale. If a man has only a few trees probably 

 it is better for him to pay the manufacturer his extra price for 

 doing the mixing, rather than to bother to "post up " on methods, 

 and then go to all the trouble of getting the different ingredients 

 and combining them. But for the man who has as much as 

 ten acres of orchard the writer is very strongly of the opinion 

 that it pays to prepare these mixtures at home. 



Classify Spray Materials. — Another point which has already 

 been mentioned is the need of getting all these remedies classified 

 in one's mind so that he understands which are insecticides and 

 which are fungicides and which are a combination of both. 



Dusting. — A third general question is the relative value of 

 spra^^ng and dusting. In many sections the latter has come to be 

 largely used, particularly for controlling insects and diseases of 

 peaches. And in a few sections, notably the Annapolis Valley, 

 Nova Scotia, it has to a considerable extent displaced spraying. 

 But in most sections spraying is still the main reliance and dust- 

 ing is used for supplementary work where rapidity of applica- 

 tion is the all important factor. 



Copper Salts. — We come now to a consideration of some of 

 the principal spray materials which are used by the fruit grower. 

 Moreover, up to the present time satisfactory dusts for dormant 

 applications have not been developed, though of course they may 

 be in the future. 



