Vol. LXXI. No. 4142. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 16, 1912. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PEI YEAR 
SPRAYING WITH DUST. 
Comparison With Water Spraying. 
MUST FIGHT INSECT AND GERM.—It being 
a well settled fact that it is impossible to grow apples 
successfully in any part of our country without the ap¬ 
plication of fungicides and insecticides, perhaps one of 
the most important questions which confronts the 
commercial grower is how to apply them most ef¬ 
fectively and economically. After many experiments 
that have been made during the past few years I 
think the scientists, as well as the growers, are pretty 
well agreed that lime and sulphur for fungus diseases 
and Paris green and arsenate of lead for insect in¬ 
juries have come to be the standard remedies for 
used in former years, with less danger of burning the 
foliage or discoloring the fruit. 
THE USE OF DUST.—For my dust spray I used 
flowers of sulphur, hydrated lime and Paris green, 
with the addition of some powdered sulphate of cop¬ 
per—about three pounds to 100 pounds—but whether 
the powdered sulphate of copper did any particular 
good or not I am not prepared to say. I am quite 
sure, however, it did no harm. In older orchards, 
where there is any danger of blotch or bitter rot, I 
believe it is advisable to add the sulphate of copper, 
for it has been repeatedly demonstrated that it is one 
of the best remedies to hold these diseases in check. 
Now, as to the results between the liquid and dust 
sprays. In my orchards I could discover no material 
difference. But it may be proper in this connection 
circumstances, and our Ozark apple crop, as a rule, 
was therefore rather poor in quality in all sprayed or¬ 
chards and almost worthless in orchards that had no 
attention. 
DUST OR LIQUID.—Now, whether liquid or dust 
is the best process in spraying our commercial or¬ 
chards is a question that is being extensively discussed 
by both liquid and dust “cranks” all over this western 
country. So far the scientists are mostly on the 
“wet” side of the question, and they can see little 
good in the “dry” situation. To my mind both are 
good if properly applied, with this advantage in favor 
of the “dry”: It is more practical and cheaper in 
large commercial orchards. Every grower knows that 
the most important time to spray to prevent scab is 
just before the trees begin to bloom, or about the 
USING THE “DUST SPRAY” IN A WESTERN APPLE 10RCHARD. Fig. 122. 
general use. There are, of course, some who still 
adhere to the Bordeaux mixture preparation, especially 
for the first application, but whether that is better or 
equal to the lime and sulphur, is a question about 
which there will always be more or less difference of 
opinion, for scientists and apple growers, like doctors 
and women, hardly ever agree on any proposition. In 
my orchards, of about 1,000 acres, I use both the 
liquid and dust process in applying the remedies. I 
use liquid on the level land and where water is con¬ 
venient, and dust on hilly land and where it is un¬ 
handy for water and for hauling heavy loads. Dur¬ 
ing the past season I used mainly lime and sulphur 
and arsenate of lead for my liquid spray and found 
results fully equal to the Bordeaux mixture, which I 
to mention that we had very abnormal climatic con¬ 
ditions in the Ozarks during the past year, which in 
my judgment was quite detrimental for the growth 
and development of apples and in fact all kinds of 
fruit and vegetables. It was cold and wet around 
blooming time and then we had a severe drought, with 
unusually high temperature, lasting over three months, 
which was followed by incessant rains and murky 
weather generally and continued till almost harvest 
time. Under such conditions it was impossible to do 
either liquid or dust spraying in the manner and at the 
time it should be done for best results. It was there¬ 
fore out of my power to make correct or reliable 
comparisons between the two methods. Neither one 
of them could show satisfactory results under the 
time the red fruit clusters have separated, and then, 
in order to prevent injury from the Codling moth, di¬ 
rectly after or during the blossoming period. In order 
that these two sprayings may be most effective the 
work must be done quickly. Any delay in making 
these first two sprayings may ruin the crop for the 
year. 
ADVANTAGE OF DUST.—Now, the difference 
between a power dust sprayer and a power liquid 
sprayer is that we can go over about four times as 
many acres and cover about four times as many trees 
in a day with the former than we can with the latter, 
provided neither one of the machines gets out of or¬ 
der and water is very convenient. My experience 
so far has been that a liquid power sprayer gets out 
