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TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWER^ CONVENTION. 



MR. BUDLONG. There is one thing that has not been covered 

 entirely in this spraying proposition, and which is of vital importance. 

 I have had six years' experience in charge of six or seven different spray- 

 ing outfits; and I find that the great fault, and what I anticipate the 

 greatest damage arises from in spraying, is in the application. It is 

 not so much the mixture, it is not so much the percentage or the quality 

 of the oil, as it is the application. You hire a man at a cent and a half 

 a gallon to apply the distillate wash to your trees, and it is an incentive 

 for him to put on a great quantity in order that he make a good price. 

 You can mix up a solution of paris green and take a teaspoonful of it 

 without any damage, whereas a bucketful would kill you. That is the 

 effect the distillate has on the tree, the fruit, and the foliage. If you 

 apply too much, get on a greater amount than is necessary, it does the 

 damage. As to holding the nozzle and the application of the wash 

 directly to the tree, I have never seen half a dozen men do it correctly 

 and scientifically. I said I have had six years' experience. I believe 

 my first experience in spraying was nineteen years ago in Los Angeles, 

 and I have had more or less experience ever since. Now, in the appli- 

 cation of any spray for any purpose to citrus trees or trees in *Leaf, if 

 you apply a spray from the outside it mats down the leaves and the 

 spray does not penetrate the inside of the tree. Thrust the nozzle 

 inside of the tree, and throw the spray under high pressure along 

 the branches and the twigs, and the leaves will stand out horizontally 

 and get a thorough coating on all sides. Go around the tree, encircle 

 the tree with that process, only giving a little on the outside to catch 

 what you do not get inside, and you can effect a thorough application 

 with one fourth, one fifth, or one sixth the amount of wash they 

 generally put on citrus trees. As I said before, it is the quantity that 

 does the damage, and you can get a better result by the process I have 

 described of handling the rod and nozzle than you can by putting on 

 six times the quantity. Another thing, about the pressure to be used 

 and the size of the nozzle, the atomization of the spray as it leaves the 

 nozzle. It can not be done with any diameter, if you use a nozzle that 

 has an orifice of one eighth of an inch, as I have seen many of them do. 

 It takes a small nozzle and heavy pressure to get thorough atomization. 

 I have a theory I would like sprayers to think of and discuss with me 

 at some future time. That is, that on account of high pressure, throw- 

 ing the spray in fine mist, the volatile qualities of the distillate 

 evaporate in the air; and that is what does the damage to the fruit. 



MR. STONE. I desire to get back to the programme, the marketing 

 of dried fruits. I have had some correspondence with some Fresno 

 people who are endeavoring to get associations formed there similar to 

 what was done in this hall several years ago. It was represented at 

 Fresno that there was an exchange existing in Los Angeles. From what 



