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it is always best to apply them in a certain way by means of a 
specially constructed machine. To apply insecticides in a dust- 
like form, diluted with such other dry substances as flour, 
plaster paris, sifted wood-ashes, or road-dust, it is best to 
utilize a dust-gun, of which several kinds are in the market. 
If it is desirable to use insecticides wet, dissolved in water or 
other liquids or suspended in the same, itis important to apply 
them in the form of a fine spray. By spray is meant a fine 
mist and not a stream composed of large drops. The posses- 
sion of a spraying-machine can hardly beurged too strongly to 
farmers, gardeners and fruit-growers. A spraying-machine, 
operated with a good force-pump, is useful in many ways, and 
will quickly pay for itself by saving poison and labor, and, at 
the same time, doing better execution than any application by 
hand. Without such machines, not only a large amount of 
insecticide is wasted, but the plants to be protected are not 
evenly covered with this protecting material. Without them 
portions of the plants are covered with too much poison, 
frequently to the injury of the plants, while others are not 
covered at all and consequently the insects are not prevented 
from eating them. A good spraying-machine, or a combina- 
tion of a force-pump and spraying-nozzle, will do the required 
work thoroughly, rapidly and cheaply. A force-pump is 
always of great use on a farm, not simply against insects, 
but because it can be used in many other ways and for many 
other purposes, as for washing wagons and windows, or in case 
of incipient fires. 
APPLICATION OF WET INSECTICIDES. 
When spraying first came into practice, syringes were used. 
These threw streams of water broken into large or small drops, 
only a part of which would stick to the plant which was being 
syringed. This was an improvement over the sprinkling-pot, 
and it paved the way for better apparatus. In many places, 
as in green-houses, such syringes, holding a quart or two of 
liquid, are still in use and with good effect. When a field or 
orchard of any size was to be sprayed, however, the syringe 
was found to be inadequate, andforthis purpose small force- 
pumps, fitted with nozzles that produced a spray, were substi- 
tuted. They proved much more effectual and are, with many 
