BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY AND PLANT QUARANTINE 41 
Improved Methods of Applying Insecticides to Orchards Studied 
Because of possible large savings in labor costs and some savings in 
material, many orchardists have shifted from conventional orchard 
sprayers to mist blowers and other new types of sprayers or dusters. 
Developments in this field have been due largely to the high degree 
of effectiveness of DDT, parathion, TEPP, and other new insecticides 
with less complete coverage than was required with older insecticides. 
Data obtained in Washington orchards showed that the codling 
moth was nearly wiped out in one orchard sprayed three times with a 
speed sprayer, using parathion or DDT at two or four times the usual 
concentration, in another dusted twice with a high-power duster, and 
in a third dusted twice with an airplane. Fruit infestations not ex- 
ceeding 8 percent were observed in other orchards treated with differ- 
ent types of new equipment, including a helicopter. It is evident that 
satisfactory control can be obtained with several different methods of 
applying insecticides. This is especially true in orchards with low 
codling moth populations. 
Further possibilities of the newer methods of applying insecticides 
were indicated in tests and observations in Indiana, Louisiana, and 
Florida. In Indiana the codling moth was controlled as effectively 
with materials applied with a mist blower as when they were applied 
in dilute form with a speed sprayer. A concentrated mist spray con- 
taining parathion, copper sulfate, and lime approached in effective- 
ness dilute sprays containing wettable sulfur in combination with 
dinitro-6>-cyclohexylphenol or parathion in controlling the mite Tetra- 
nychus hicoriae McG on pecans in Louisiana. Pecan growers were 
also able to control light infestations of the black pecan aphid with 
mist sprays. In Florida mist -blower applications of parathion were 
effective against the pecan nut casebearer. 
Analyses of spra} T residues indicate that the capacity of the mist 
blower used in Indiana — 8,000 cubic feet of air a minute at 125 miles 
an hour — was not adequate for proper distribution of the spray 
throughout large apple trees. Deposits in the extreme tops and in 
the centers of the trees were only one-tenth as great as those in the 
outer and lower parts of the trees on the side from which they were 
sprayed. The variation in deposits in comparable parts of trees 
sprayed with a conventional machine equipped with hand guns was 
only one-third as great. 
Methoxychlor Promising Against Orchard Pests and Japanese 
Beetle 
Methoxychlor promises to be useful in controlling the codling moth 
and the apple maggot on apples, the plum curculio on apples and stone 
fruits, the Japanese beetle on corn and other crops, and the grape berry 
moth and the cherry fruit fly. Because of its low toxicity to human 
beings, it can be used closer to harvest than many other materials and, 
under certain conditions, where other insecticides might be objection- 
able. 
In laboratory tests against the Japanese beetle. 2 pounds to 100 
gallons of a 50-percent methoxychlor wettable powder was as effeet ive 
as DDT of the same strength. In field tests, two applications of this 
formulation gave nearly complete protection to various ornamental 
