Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-05-31
Spray Ring VIII
Improve Orchard
COOPERATIVE Plan Tried
Successfully in Several
Fruit States.


The cooperative spray ring, devel-
oped 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-
i ture. While the plan has been used
! 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 16 in 1921
to 81 in 1922. 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-
.gether at one of the extension meet
ings and decide to try cooperative
spraying. Usually 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, a 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 it 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-machine
last season, one furnishing team and
the other a gasoline engine. They
sprayed IA orchards, some 1,500 trees,
completing each spray in two days, the
members giving little or no attention to
the work. Students of Runnells Con-
solidated School in Polk county, Iowa,
sprayed practically all the orchards in
their community. Advice as to sprays
and time of applying is usually OBJ
! 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 is
employed or the work done by members
/ for themselves, the distance between
orchards the number of sprays put on,
and similar items. For one orchard In
Webster county, Iowa, where four
sprays were applied, the average cost
of material per tree was 81 cents, la
| Dor 33 cents, depreciation on machinery
5 cents, making a total cost of 70 cents
per tree for the four sprays. A Union
county (Iowa) ring spent $210 for
equipment, material and the labor of
two men and teams, and sprayed 1,500
trees four times. A 12-orchard ring or
ganized in Johnson county, Iowa, sew
eral years ago, spends about Is cents
per tree per spray. The results, ac-
cording to the owners more than justi-
fy the small expenditure In every
case where the spraying was done as
advised last season, the work accom-
plished its object and the members
had plenty of clean, sound homegrown
apples to store for winter use. The
Webster county orchard produced 90
per cent clean fruit. Fayette county,
Iowa, reports in the sprayed orchards
sound, and % per cent scabby and
wormy the unsprayed orchard showed
/ IS per cent sound. clean fruit and 80
per cent scabby and wornly. Walworth
county, Wisconsin, spray ring members
| figured in 1922 a return of 1892 for
each dollar spent in spraying. The
bearing trees were sprayed three times.
Results of spray ring work in Hardin
| county, Iowa, in fact, were so good In
| 1922 that the disposal of the surplus
fruit was a problem, as none of the
members had had any experience in
picking, packing or grading apples.
Twenty-Five men We're shown by extern
sion workers how to pick and pack
their apples, using homemade equip
ment, and the surplus apples were put
on the market in baskets and boxes
packed according to market grades.