Los Angeles herald., 1892-07-20
HOW TO SMOKE A TREE.
The Plan Given by Horticultu-
raj Commissioner Scott.
A Machine on Which There Is
No Patent.
A Simple Affair Which is Very Effect
ive-It is Not Very Expen-
sive-How 1t is
Made.


Made.
Mr.. John Scott, the county horticul
tural officer, yesterday made the follow
ing statement regarding a fruit tree
fumigated, which is of great value te
orchardists
1t is reported that patent has beer
applied for by some person residing in
Los Angeles for the new tent for fumi
eating trees. wish to state for the in
formation of fruit growers that the tent
in question was designed and worked by
Mr.. @. w. Finch of Riverside and dedi-
Gated to the use of all fruit growers, and
that no patent can be obtained on this
apparatus. On the 10th of March, Pro-
feesor Coquillett and myself went on
the invitation of Mr.. Finch and DIR.
Clafin, horticultural commissioner for
Riverside, to see the new tent in opera
tion, a full description of the tent, it's
cost and mode of working is given in
Insect Life, vol. w., Nos. 8 and 10, by
Professor Coquillett, as follows:
This fumigator is indeed an extremely
simple affair, and at the same time it
appears to serve all the purposes of the
mole elaborate and expensive ones. In
stead of tents, sheets of eight-ounce drill
are used. These are octagonal in out
line, as it was found to be easier to con-
struct them of this form than to make
them circular. The sheet used to show
us the working OF the fumigator meas
ured SO feet in it's greatest diameter, and
was large enough to inclose tree at
least "a feet high. It had been oiled
with boiled linseed oil, to each gallon of
which one pound of melted beeswax had
been added for the purpose of rendering
the cloth more durable. The sheet when
completed cost about $75.
The apparatus for placing the sheet
over the tree consists of two upright
poles, to the top of which are attached
the pulleys through which pass the
ropes used for hosting the sheet.
The uprights consist each of pine
scantling 3x4 inches in diameter and "a
feet long. A cross piece 5 feet long is
bolted to one end of this scantling, with
brace extending from each end of the
cross piece to a point on the scantling
few feet from its base; this cross piece
is for the purpose of preventing the
scantling from falling over to one side
when it is raised to perpendicular po-
sition. These uprights are very light
affairs, and one man can carry them
about with ease.
When the sheet is to be placed upon
tree, it is brought close to one side of
the tree and thrown upon the ground.
The two uprights are next elevated on
opposide sides of the tree from each
other, and leaned until their upper ends
are nearly above the sheet as it rests
upon the ground; stay rope attached
to the upper end of each upright and
held by men stationed several yards
from the base OF the uprights, and in an
opposite direction from the sheet, pre-
vents the uprights from falling over in
one direction, while the crosspiece at
the base of each upright prevents it from
falling over sidewise. The hook at the
end of the rope which passes through
the pulley at the upper end of each up
right is then hooked into an iron ring
fastened to rope that is sewed across
the tent about six feet from it's
edge; the opposite ends of the
ropes passing through the pu!leys
are then drawn downward until
the sheet is drawn to the upper ends of
the uprights, after which these ropes
are fastened to the braces on the up
rights, and the men holding the stay
ropes draw the tops of the uprights
towards them, thus drawing the sheet
over the tree, and after it has been
drawn far enough, the lower ends OF the
ropes passing through the pulleys are
unfastened and the sheet allowed to fall
down over the tree, the uprights at the
same time being allowed to fall fiat upon
the ground. When the sheet is to be
removed from the tree this can be done
either by hand or by the use OF the
uprights, and if each tree in the row is
to be treated the sheet can be drawn off
of one tree and placed over the next
without the necessity OF lowering the
uprights, since one man can carry the
foot of the upright several feet forward
with ease at the same time that the
sheet is attached to the top of it.
Five men can operate this apparatus
with less labor than is required to ma
nipulate the fumigators now in use, and
by the one pair of uprights and ropes at
least half dozen sheets could be oper-
ated by the one set of men, without any
loss of time.
F. I am informed that the cost OF this
apparatus, including half dozen sheets
large enough to cover trees % feet high,
will rot exceed $400, this being only
about one-third of the cost of fumigators
Tor operating tents as at present used.
This sheet fumigator can be used in
places when the ordinary kind could not
be used; for instance, on steep hillsides,
or among trees planted 30 closely to-
gether that an ordinary fumigator could
not be driven between them. The
sheet, in being pulled off of the tree,
does not catch beneath the branches, as
the ordinary tent is very liable to do.
AS this new fumigator can be easily
constructed by almost any fruit grower,
we may reasonably expect that this
method of destroying scale insects will
come into more general usa.