ESSENTIALS IN SPRAYING. 



(C. E. Bassett, Fennville, Michigan.) 



In the first place, the mixing station deserves considerable more 

 attention than most fruit growers give it. If this is not complete 

 and convenient in arrangement, valuable time is lost, the spray may 

 not be mixed properly and various other difficulties arise. I think 

 one of the best mixing stations I ever saw was designed to make 

 Bordeaux for a fifty-five acre vineyard of grapes. A storage tank 

 that held thirty-four barrels was mounted upon a tower eight feet 

 high. A gasoline engine in a little shanty beneath the tank filled 

 it with water. A well built platform upon which were placed the 

 stock solution barrels was about six feet above the ground and 

 five feet below the bottom of the storage tank. A two inch hose 

 was used to transfer the water from the storage tank to the two 

 dilution barrels. Each of these had a one and one-half inch faucet 

 or valve which were caused to empty at the same time into a trough 

 which, in turn, emptied into the strainer, placed in a hole in the top 

 of the spray tank. While the dilute copper sulphate and dilute 

 lime were passing down the trough, the poison was poured in. 



To my mind, a better arrangement could not possibly be made. 

 With stock solutions of both lime and vitrol handy, and with the 

 poison within easy reach, the owner could prepare and load one 

 hundred gallons of Bordeaux in eight minutes. The only change 

 necessary to adapt this to any sized sprayer would be to change the 

 size of the dilution tanks. In all cases the dilution tanks should 

 have a capacity of, at least, one-half of the spraying tank. For 

 larger orchards perhaps a fifty barrel storage tank would be better, 

 especially if you depend upon a windmill for pumping water. 



If you make lime and sulphur, this arrangement can be modi- 

 fied so that the boiler which furnishes the steam for boiling the 

 mixture can pump the water into the storage tank. The steam can 

 also be used to dissolve the vitrol, if you prefer to do that way 

 rather than keep a stock solution. I have seen sixteen pounds of 

 vitrol dissolved by steam in three minutes. 



The gasoline engine has been so much improved of late, is 

 so inexpensive to operate, and requires so little attention, that its 

 use as a power in spraying is greatly increasing. The horizontal air 

 cooled engine is preferred by most orchardists as it is considerably 

 lighter than the water cooled engine, because it dispenses with the 

 cooling tank. Which ever style, — air cooled or water cooled engine 

 is used, I think it is best to have from two to two and one-half 

 horse power. A less powerful engine is more apt to be overloaded, 

 will not do as good work or last so long, and cannot be adapted 



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