The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-05-25
Spray Ring Will
Improve Orchard
Co. Operative Plan Tried
Successfully in Several
Fruit States.
prepared by the United States Department
OF Agricultural

prepared by the United States Department
OF Agriculture)
The cooperative spray ring, devcl-
1ped In connection with demonstrations
in orchard spraying, is solving the
problem Of spraying the small home
orchard, for an increasing number Of
farmers, according TO reports TO the
United States Department of Agricul-
ture. While the plan has been used
most extensively In Iowa, farmers ~
Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois
and Ohio find it a good method, and on
the Atlantic coast several counties in
Connecticut and New Jersey organized
rings in 1921. In Iowa, the number of
counties reporting the organization OF
spray rings increased from 10 in 1921
to 81 in 1892. Seven counties in Hi
nOis report new spray rings in 1922.
Stark county, Illinois, which organized
two rings in 1921, has become SO inter
ested in the care Of the farm orchard
that six Power-machine rings and five
hand-machine rings were organized in
the summer Of 1922, serving more than
100 home orchards.
Simple Organization Plan.
The plan Of organization Of these
rings is kept as simple as possible. The
men interested in spraying get to-
ings and decide to try cooperative
spraying. Usually n written agree
ment covering the method Of manag-
ing business matters and the owner
ship Of equipment Of the ring is pre-
pared and signed. The kind Of equip
ment, hand or power, Is selected and
the cost is apportiOned, q schedule is
made out and the members decide
whether some one member will spray
all the orchards for an agreed labor
price, or whether an outside person
will be hired TO do the work. Each OF
the three plans has proved satisfac-
tory. In POweShiek county, Iowa, they
have found il most convenient TO do the
work individually; in Stark county,
Illinois, the same plan is followed. In
Union county, Iowa. the sons of two
farmers operated the power-machino
lbSN SNdSpll, ollN u llllNlllliS a NiAN
the other n gasoline engine. They
sprayed II orchards, some 100 trees
completing each spray In two days, the
members giving little or no attention &c
the work. Students of Runnells Con.
SOlidatCd School in Polk county, Iowa
sprayed practically all the orchards ir
their community. Advice as to sprays
ana time of applying is usually oh
tanned from the county agent.
Size of Ring Varies.
The size Of the ring varies, averag
ing from three or four members in the
smallest ones to twenty or more in The
larger. The cost of operation de
ponds, Of course on several factors, The
type Of equipment, whether labor i
employed or the work done by member
for themselves, the distance between
orchards, the number Of sprays put on
and similar items. For one orchard /;
Webster county, Iowa, where four
sprays were applied, the average cos
Of material per tree was 81 cents, Ia
Dor 33 cents. depreciation on %machiner!
> cents, making q total cost Of - cent.
per tree for the four sprays. A Union
county (IOwa) ring spent 500 fo
equipment, material and the labor o
two men and teams, and sprayed 1,50
trees four times. A 12-Orchard ring or
ganized in Johnson county, Iowa, sew
eral years ago, spends about - cent?
per tree per spray. The results, ac
.a,lt-- -, tJA ,,.pnpG ,,ntsn tlnn it,Cti
~ the small expenditure. I'm ever!
ease where the spraying was done n
advised last season. the work accom-
pliShed it's object and the member
had plenty Of clean. sound homegrown
apples to store for winter use. TIL,
per cent clean fruit. Fayette county
Iowa, reports in the sprayed orchard
* per cent Of the fruit as clean ant
sound, and Or per cent Scabby an
wormy the ~unsprayed orchard shovel
Is per cent sound, clean fruit and g
per cent scabby and wormy. Walwortl
county, Wisconsin, spray ring member
figured in 1929 q return Of 1882 70
each dollar spent in spraying. TIL
bearing trees were sprayed three times
Results of spray ring work in Hardil
county, Iowa. in fact, were so good IL
1922 that the disposal of the surplu
fruit was q problem, as none of III
members had had any experience il
picking, packing or grading apples
Twenty-Five men were shown by eXten
sion workers how to pick and pacI
their apples, using homemade equip
ment. and the surplus apples were pu
on the market in baskets and boXe
packed according to market grades.