Semi-weekly herald., 1913-07-07
MIXING SOAP WITH SPRAY
TO MAKE EVEN SPREAD

TO MAKE EVEN SPREAD
A great deal Of attention was at
tracted last fall at apple-picking time
to the orchard of w. Harrison near
Clifton, Colo, because of the excep-
tionally high percentage of perfect
apples. 1t was not an accident; back
of the achievement must have been
careful thought and thorough action.
AT the request of the Fruit journal
and Western Farmer, Mr.. Harrison,
in accordance with his well nown spirit
of active helpfulness to the western
fruit industry, tells how the results
attained were accomplished: His story
is as follows:
Now that the spraying season is on
it may interest some of your readers
to learn details of some experiments
made here last season, by the addi-
ton of soap to the arsenate of lead
spray for control of codling moth in
apples and pears.
In previous years we had consider
able difficulty in spreading the solu-
ton evenly over the fruit, especially
with Ben Davis and Gano, the smooth
skins of these varieties allowing the
lead to collect in blotches, which la
ter resulted in irregular coloring, and
in addition permitted large proper
tion of stung fruit. In 1911 read
in one of the horticultural papers of
some experiments being made at the
Montana agricultural experiment sta
tion to correct this difficulty, and con-
suited Mr.. George Weldon, now assist
ant state entomologist, and he secured
the Montana bulletin for my perusal.
They recommended whale oil soap as
producing the best results, and in 1912
j commenced with it, using it for my
calyx spray. But l had trouble with
it from the. start, for the soap was
in such hard cakes that it took one
person employed all the time in dis
solving it ready for use as required.
Even then small portions would clog
the nozzles necessarily, causing him
drances to the progress of the work.
In addition the operators complain
ed of its offensive smell, which their
wives naturally objected to having in
troduced to their homes at meal times.
l concluded from this must look for
some other kind and it chanced the
Grand Junction Fruit Growers asso-
citation had in stock small quantity
of what is known as Takanap soap,
and | secured some for trial. 1t an
swered my purpose well, the lead re-
naming in suspension long after the
agitators had stopped working, and
the solution bore the appearance of
creamy milk. 1t spread evenly over
the fruit and stayed there, slight
showers failing to cause it to run to-
gether.
This soap appears to me to be an
ordinary soap to which certain
amount of naptha has been added, and
l have an idea that the latter acted
as deterrent to the apple aphis, for
wherever it was used, my trees are
free this spring from the egg masses.
Later in the season / made trials of
other kinds of soaps, but none We're so
easy of application as the Takanap
soap and ordinary soft soft, and dur
ing the coming season shall use
those two exclusively in order to de-
termine whether the former is worth
the additional cost.
/ used six pounds of arsenate of
lead and six pounds of soap per 200
gallon tank, applied with an average
pressure Of 175 pounds. The spray
outfit not having tower we used
ten-foot aluminium spray rods, each
fitted with two Bean whirlpool nozzles
on angle pieces, using the coarse disc
for the calyx spray and finer one
for the later ones.
| think it very important that all
sprays subsequent to the calyx spray
should be Of the nature or mist, and
that the operators should desist before
the solution begins to drip badly and
at no time should it be allowed to
run down the trunks of the trees.
This method Of spraying will take
longer than that commonly used, but I
think it well worth the additional cost,
judging by results.