162 KEPORT OF THB BOTANIST OF THE 
It will be seen that the carrier of-this machine is so con- 
structed that after the first round it sprays two rows at a time, 
or, rather it sprays one row completely and one side each of two 
other rows. The reasons for constructing the carrier in this 
way was, first, that it makes a balanced piece of apparatus. 
Second, with a heavy machine, carrying such a weight of liquid 
it was desirable to cover aS many rows at a time as possible. 
When it was desired to spray a single row caps were placed on 
the ends of the outer telescoping tube of the outside arms. 
LIFTERS. 
Another feature, and one that was found necessary after the 
machine had been put in working order, is the lifters or rakes. 
These were found indispensable not only as a protection to the 
carrier arms but also to lift the asparagus so that it could be 
sprayed to better advantage. It is essential that the lifters 
should be adjustable, hence the principle of telescoping was 
again employed. It was found that rake teeth would injure the 
asparagus the least, be the least in the way, and add the least 
amount of weight. Two teeth were employed for each pair of 
lower nozzles. As shown in Plates XVIII and XIX, they were 
attached to horseshoe shaped pieces of iron, one tooth being set 
ahead of the other; the object being to have the forward tooth 
partially lift the asparagus, the rear one to lift it still higher 
and hold it until the nozzles had passed. The horseshoe shaped 
irons were attached to ordinary iron pipe, the latter serving as 
an attachment bar, the sizes being 1 and 2 inches. This bar 
was anchored to the rear end of the side plates of the truck. A 
brake for lifting the rakes was attached as shown in Plate 
XIX, and so weighted that when released it would lift the rakes. 
The teeth for this lifter should be made to order. Old rake 
teeth were used as a trial but tempering them to secure the 
right shape spoiled them so that they either bent out of shape 
or broke off. 
