The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
349 
turned to give a look that may have meant most 
anything, and disappeared. 
BEGINNING THE WORK.—It was in 1911 I pur¬ 
chased a commercial apple orchard in the Ragged 
Mountains of Virginia. At that time the orchard 
was being sprayed with horse-drawn spray tanks. 
There was a great waste of time as well as spray 
material through this method of spraying,, Also it 
was difficult to reach all trees. Having been suc¬ 
cessful in reaching out-of-the-way trees by connecting 
several lengths of hose, I conceived the idea of estab¬ 
lishing a central power plant, using galvanized pipes 
to reach all parts of the 
orchard. This new sys¬ 
tem was put into opera¬ 
tion and worked per¬ 
fect 1 y, enabling the 
sprayers to cover the 
orchard in a most thor¬ 
ough manner in less 
than four days, at the 
same time eliminating 
the use of horses, while 
with the old method, 10 
days to two weeks were 
required. No f r u i t 
grower operating on a' 
large scale can afford to 
overlook this newer, 
method of spraying, 
which although of great¬ 
er value to owners of 
hillside orchards, would 
result in a saving to 
owners of level orchards 
as well. Instructions for 
proper installation and 
operation should be 
carefully followed if the 
best results are to be 
had. !| 
PLANNING THE 
PLANT.—In level or¬ 
chards a central loca¬ 
tion for the power plant 
is best. In the case of 
hilly or mountain or¬ 
chards, the most elevat¬ 
ed point, consistent with 
the water supply, is the 
proper location. In 
some orchards it will be 
necessary to pump water to the water tank. The 
spray pipes may be used for this purpose before be¬ 
ginning to spray. After deciding on proper location, 
a large water tank sliould be erected, the bottom of 
•the tank to be 5 ft. from the ground. A fully 
equipped spray tank of 250 or 300 gallons capacity, 
with pump capable of maintaining 275 to 300 lbs. 
pressure, bolted to the regular steel frame without 
the running gear, and made stationary about 18 in. 
from the ground and 5 ft. from the water tank, is 
advised. A four horsepower oil-burning engine on 
concrete foundation 18 in. above the ground and 12 
ft. from the spray tank and pump, connected to the 
latter by belt, is recommended. Water is carried 
from the water tank to spray tank through a 2%-in. 
pipe, controlled by gate valve. 
THE PIPE LINES.—A short piece of %-in. pipe, 
on which a gate valve is placed, is to be connected 
directly to outlet pipe at pump and run down to the 
ground, where in turn it connects with main lines. At 
this junction of lines, gate valves are placed and kept 
closed except on the line to be used. The gate valve 
on the short piece of pipe just mentioned, which will 
be the nearest one to the pump, is to bo kept closed 
during refilling of spray tank, and pump kept in op¬ 
eration so as to have thorough agitation and a uni¬ 
form mixture when the gate valve is opened and the 
solution enters the pipe for spraying. Where trees 
are planted 30 to 35 ft. apart, the lines of pipe should 
have four rows of trees between them. This will 
enable the sprayers to cover two rows of trees 
each side of the pipe line, using 100 ft. of %-in. 
hose. 
DETAILS OF APPARATUS.—Friction is to be 
taken into account in determining the size pipe to 
use. • In medium-sized commercial orchards, %-in. 
pipe will serve for main lines and %-in. for short 
lateral lines. One inch will serve for up-hill work 
where there is considerable rise. This is a mathe¬ 
matical problem and will be figured for your orchard 
by the nearest experiment station. Unions placed at 
intervals along each line are useful for disconnecting 
when desired. Air chambers, which act as cushions, 
are essential, and should be placed along the main 
lines about 500 ft. apart. A piece of pipe 2 ft. long of 
same size as main line, and screwed into same in an 
upright position with cap on upper end, serves this 
purpose. White lead should be used at all times 
when screwing up connections. Tees are placed in 
all lines 100 ft. apart. Into these tees brass bibs 
with hose connections, or hose valves, are placed. 
Brass gate valves (do not use globe valves) are 
placed every 300 ft. Before starting to spray, care 
should be taken to see that every gate valve is closed 
on the line to be used. The sprayers start at the 
spray tank and work away from it, opening the gate 
valves as they are reached. 
HANDLING THE SPRAY.—It is important that 
the solution after entering the pipe, be kept in mo¬ 
tion. The sprayers must not stop spraying at the 
same time for long. While one man is changing his 
hose to the next connection, the other is to keep his 
reed in operation. With the water arrangement men¬ 
tioned, the spray tank will fill in three to four min¬ 
utes. This short time for refilling does not allow the 
heavier properties in the spray mixture to settle in 
the pipe. Where the men are working considerably 
below the spray tank, spraying may be continued by 
gravity during refilling operations. It can be readily 
seen that considerably less pump pressure is re¬ 
quired for down - hill 
work. 
It is well to mention 
here that powdered ar¬ 
senate of lead should be 
used in preference to 
the paste. Although not 
essential, the writer rec¬ 
ommends the powdered 
lime-sulphur. 
FURTHER SUGGES¬ 
TIONS. — When spray¬ 
ing operations are to 
stop for the day, or 
changed to another line, 
water must be run into 
the spray tank the mo¬ 
ment it is empty, engine 
kept running and gate 
valve at pump open, 
thus pumping the clear 
water into the pipe line, 
which forces the spray 
solution ahead of it. 
When the sprayers see 
clear mist emerge from 
the nozzles, they will 
know all the solution 
has been used. Forcing 
water into the pipe back 
of the spray solution 
serves two purposes. It 
permits the use of every 
gallon of mixture with¬ 
out waste, and at the 
same time washes out 
the pipe line. 
It is a good plan to 
leave water in the pipes 
and t a n lc s between 
sprays, provided the weather is not freezing, at 
which time water must be drawn from all pipes, 
pump and engine. 
It is an interesting fact that the fruit in the 
writer’s orchard, sprayed 1,500 ft. from the spray 
tank and 238 ft. above it, using 1-in. pipe, and the 
fruit sprayed 2,000 ft. away and 318 ft. below the 
engine, using %-in. pipe, received as uniform spray, 
and averaged as perfect as did the fruit on the 
nearest trees. f. h. schroeder. 
Virginia. 
Corn Breeding 
GREAT CROP.—Of all America's crops, In¬ 
dian corn leads both in quantity and value. In 
1923 the corn crop was valued at more than one- 
fourth of the combined value of all the wheat, 
oats, barley, buckwheat, rice, potatoes, hay, tobacco, 
cotton, apples, peaches, oranges, and a dozen other 
things. I am aware that this statement will look 
“large” to many people, but here are the Government 
The Strawberry Bed Gets Down to Business. Fig. 118 
Orchard 'That was Sprayed from Central Plant. Fly. 119 
