1910. 
379 
PUMPING AND SPRAYING WITH COM¬ 
PRESSED AIR. 
A few weeks since, in describing a meeting of tbe Vir¬ 
ginia Horticultural Society, we mentioned a visit to the 
apple orchards of S. L. Lupton, where compressed air is 
used for spray power and for pumping water. Since then 
we have been overrun with questions about this power. 
Mr. Lupton has sent us the following excellent descrip¬ 
tion of his plant. 
In the first place, allow me to say that in my judg¬ 
ment, spraying with compressed air is not suitable 
for small orchards, the expense of the apparatus being 
too heavy. It would, however, be an ideal arrange¬ 
ment if two or three or more small orchardists in 
a given neighborhood would unite in the purchase of 
a plant which could be used in common. Each spray 
outfit consists of two steel tanks, tested up to a 
pressure of 250 pounds, each tank holding 130 or 140 
gallons, which makes a good two-horse load when 
filled. These tanks are placed in a cradle on an or¬ 
dinary farm wagon, side by side, like two saw-logs, 
and connected underneath by 54-inch pipe and coup¬ 
lings. Each tank is supplied with an ordinary steam- 
gauge to indicate the operating pressure. The tanks 
should be kept rigidly in position by being bolted 
down to the cradle which should be made to fit both 
tanks and wagon. Air is forced into one tank by 
means of an air compressor and gasoline engine, up 
to a pressure of say 225 pounds, the other tank being 
filled simultaneously with the spraying material. When 
both tanks are filled, one with air and the other with 
spraying material, the team is driven into the orchard, 
a valve is turned, so as to admit the air into the 
liquid tank, and spraying commences; air being ad¬ 
mitted just fast enough to keep the pressure in the 
liquid tank at 100 pounds. 
I usually spray with a pressure of about 100 pounds, 
and find this amply sufficient to reach the tops of the 
tallest trees from a platform 10 feet high, built over 
the tanks. Two men do the work of spraying, one 
standing on the upper platform and one walking on 
the ground behind, the man on the platform also 
driving the team. The compressed air passes into the 
liquid tank through a pipe about five feet long, close 
to the bottom of the tank, and in which are a number 
of small holes; the air forcing its way out through 
the perforations in this pipe causing sufficient agita¬ 
tion to keep the liquid in proper condition to spray. 
I have used lime-sulphur wash, both factory and 
home-boiled, soluble oil, Bordeaux Mixture, arsenate 
of lead and various other mixtures of spray material, 
and have no difficulty so far with the agitation. Using 
a pressure of 100 pounds for spraying, when the liquid 
tank is empty, each tank will have an air pressure of 
100 pounds. The tanks are then disconnected, and the 
liquid tank blown out, thus cleaning out all sediment 
and grit and the team driven back for another load. 
I have five such outfits as I have de¬ 
scribed, and can spray from 30 to 50 
acres per day, depending, somewhat, on 
the weather and time of the year. To 
do this requires nine men and five two- 
horse teams, eight men in the orchard— 
two with each of four teams—and one at 
the pumping station. The man at the 
pumping station mixes the material, runs 
the engine and air compressor, loads up 
the tanks with spray material and air, 
takes tlie full tanks into the orchard and 
brings back empty ones, and, in that way, 
keeps four sets of apparatus busy in the 
orchard constantly. Each set of tanks 
has a complete outfit, so that the two 
men simply step from an empty set of 
tanks to a full set and go right on with 
the work without the loss of any time. 
W ith regard to pumping water with 
compressed air, my understanding is that 
to secure the maximum efficiency, there 
must be 60 per cent of submergence; in 
other words, for every foot of lift, there 
must be a foot and a half of submerg¬ 
ence; hence, if you have a column of 
water in your well standing 60 feet high, 
or 60 feet deep, a jet of air released at 
the bottom of the well will force water 
40 feet above the top of the column. 
In my own case, one well is 195 feet 
deep,- six inch bore, the column of water 
standing at about 30 feet from the sur¬ 
face of the ground. 1 simply drop a two- 
inch pipe down to the bottom of the well, inside of 
which is a half inch air pipe, the compressed air is 
released at the bottom of the well and consequently 
forces the water out through the two-inch pipe, 30 or 
40 feet above the top of the ground. With this ap- 
paratus we can fill our spray tanks and pump water 
at the sanie time at the rate of about 50 gallons per 
minute. I find such an apparatus as I have described 
extremely economical as to labor cost, and very effi¬ 
cient, there being nothing to get out of order in the 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
field. I have been using this apparatus now for about 
three years and, so far, I have not had occasion to 
spend any money for repairs. Some of the parts have 
worn out, such as valves and hose, and have had to 
be replaced, but no breakdown of any kind has oc¬ 
curred. 
There are quite a number of gasoline outfits in my 
neighborhood, none of which has been entirely satis¬ 
factory, owing to breakdowns in the busy season. One 
great advantage of the compressed air arrangement 
AN ARCH OP ROSES. Fig. 149. 
is that it is easy and comparatively cheap to add 
additional units, if necessary. I started in with one 
set of tanks and, as stated above, now have five and 
am using the same pumping machinery which I had 
at first. My several outfits have cost more than they 
should, because I had not the time to look about for 
cheaper ones, or set them up myself, as any ordinary 
farmer can do. I am using a six horse-power gasoline 
engine, which I already had on the place. The com¬ 
pressor will pump up a tank of air from 100 pounds 
to 225 pounds in about six minutes and will pump 
water at the same time. The liquid tank can be filled 
in about seven minutes. The compressor cost, ap¬ 
proximately, $ 200 , and each set of tanks with all 
necessary hose, extension rods, nozzles, fittings, etc., 
about $125. In pumping water with compressed air, 
it will answer just as well to have the half-inch air 
pipe go down outside the two-inch pipe as inside; 
in that case, however, the two pipes must be clamped 
together rigidly and the half-inch pipe turned up at 
the bottom so as to project upward inside the two 
inch pipe about 18 inches. I would not advise any 
one to try this method of pumping without first 
ascertaining all the conditions necessary for success, 
and determining whether or not those conditions exist 
in each case. s. l. lupton. 
Virginia. 
THE PHEASANT OR THE FARMER. 
On page 22 S John Burnham, Chief Game Protector, 
says: “From the best information which we can obtain 
pheasants do not pull tarred corn nor do they damage 
the farmer materially in other respects .... and 
are of the greatest possible benefit to farmers . . 
and they also destroy Potato bugs.” I am a farmer, 
and want to know where he got his “best possible in¬ 
formation.'’ I have observed pheasants closely for sev¬ 
eral years and know they will destroy almost any farm 
crop. In the Spring of 1908 I plowed four acres early 
and harrowed it often until July 1 , then set it to 
cabbage. I went to cultivate cabbage the next week, 
and found it about half pulled up, and a hole scratched 
where each plant was pulled, from three to seven 
inches across. I at once sent two men to reset plants, 
and the next morning found more plants pulled than 
the two men had set in all day. I examined the 
•ground and found from two to seven wireworms in 
roots of nearly every plant. By watching next morn¬ 
ing I saw pheasants pull plants, scratch out and eat 
the wireworms; saw them* take from 30 to 60 plants 
and not miss one. Crows also pulled some, I think 
they learned it from the pheasants, as I never saw 
them pull cabbage plants before. I kept the pheasants 
off as best I could, and reset the cabbage, some of it 
several times, but the weather came off dry and the 
late-set plants did not do very well, and the pheasants 
got most of it at last. I sold cabbage from field for 
$20 per ton, and at a very low estimate had from eight 
to 10 tons less than I would have had if the wire- 
worms had been left alone, as I watched several 
plants that had wireworms under them and they 
headed very well. I would like to have Mr. Burnham 
show me how I suffered “no material loss” and what 
a “great benefit” it was to me to have those few wire- 
worms destroyed, when if they had been left alone 
I would have received from $150 to $200 more for 
that one crop. 
Last year I drilled a strip of fodder corn (one 
bushel per acre) four rods wide and 30 rods long, and 
the pheasants got nearly every spear of it before I 
knew it. They are also very fond of muskiiielon and 
cucumber seed, as I have watched them pick holes 
in them and get the seeds. As they pick most of 
them before they are quite ripe it spoils them. I 
found about one-fourth of my tomatoes picked in the 
same way, but am not sure pheasants did it, as I could 
not catch them at it, but think they did it. I have 
opened the crops of (?) “three male 
pheasants” and in one that weighed four 
pounds found 27 kernels of field corn 
and some buckwheat; the others had 
buckwheat and corn in them and some 
insects but I did not find any Potato 
bugs. I believe pheasants will eat Potato 
bugs as I have seen hens eat them and 
act as if they were very fond of them, 
but the hens had been shut in pens and 
were nearly starved, and I suppose if 
there ever comes a time on our farms 
when pheasants cannot get wheat, oats, 
barley, buckwheat, millet, corn, peas, 
beans, berries or any kind of garden 
truck they might eat Potato bugs. Pheas¬ 
ants are much worse than crows about 
destroying farm crops, for the reason 
that they are so sly, and are of such a 
color the farmer seldom sees them. 
I have often walked within three feet 
of them along fences where there was 
grass, and would never suspect they 
were there had I not been watching 
them. They are also a very strong bird 
they will dig out corn or oats when it 
is eight inches high, and they work 
very rapidly. 
Suppose we admit that pheasants eat 
10 per cent of all weed seeds that grow, 
and io per cent of the bugs, from all 
the potatoes grown in the State, will it 
not take just as much poison, and labor 
to apply it, per acre, to kill the 90 
per cent that they leave as it would the whole of 
them, and the same is nearly as true of weeds. The 
farmer who cultivates his crops for best results will 
not be troubled much with weeds. Pheasants, like 
most other things, have their good and bad points, 
and their value to the farmer depends on who is 
looking for it, the farmer or the sportsman, but most 
farmers agree tha( there is one good thing about 
them, and that is they are excellent eating, w. g. a. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
A VINE-CLAD PORCH. Fig. 150. 
