8 



It is evident, therefore, that we have in our present standard 

 fungicides and insecticides that fortunate compatibility so 

 requisite for practical and efficient use in meeting the problems 

 of disease and pest control. 



Modern Spraying Machinery. 

 While the discovery and development of safe and effec- 

 tive fungicides and insecticides have been fundamental to 

 the present-day methods of plant protection, the perfection 

 of machinery with which to apply them has been almost 

 equally important. Bordeaux was first applied with a whisk 

 broom, and the primitive sprayers of the 80's were scarcely 

 more than sprinklers. We regard with amusement and con- 

 tempt the so-called nozzles through which our fathers squirted 

 Bordeaux and paris green. The knapsack and barrel hand- 

 pump sprayer have been almost entirely replaced by the handy 

 compressed-air sprayers and engine-driven orchard outfits. 

 The mechanical genius of the manufacturers has given us an 

 annual crop of improved nozzles, the most modern develop- 

 ment of which is the spray gun. Once satisfied with a pressure 

 of 25 to 50 pounds, we now demand 200 to 300 to get that 

 fine driving mist so generally recognized as essential to effective 

 application. The development of the spray gun was a^ direct 

 reply to the demand for greater rapidity and conservation of 

 labor in our spraying operations. Speed in operation has been 

 obtained, however, at the sacrifice of certain essentials in 

 application. A greatly increased wastage of spray materials 

 has undoubtedly resulted where spray guns have replaced the 

 pole and angle nozzle. Inferior control or distribution of ma- 

 terial over the leaf surface, especially in large trees, unquestion- 

 ably occurs, with the result that only the lower branches are 

 thoroughly covered, while the attempt to reach the higher 

 parts of the trees has resulted in frequent and serious foliage 

 injury due to drenching of the leaves below. In spite of the 

 claims that the solid stream from the gun will break into a 

 fine mist in the tops of tall trees, an examination of the foliage 

 there, and the poor control of scab and worms frequently to be 

 observed on the higher branches, does not bear out these 

 claims. If one is to judge from the frequent comment of gun 



