Fruits of the orchard : the family of Henry White & Elizabeth Raney

Fruits of the orchard : the family of Henry White & Elizabeth Raney, 150 years in Australia, 1849-1999 / compiled & edited by the White Family Tree Committee, 1993-1999 - Available from latimerfamily4@gmail.com  @ $75

Extracts:

Recollections by Lindsay White:

When tractors took over from the horse around 1950, the shafts were removed and a single tow bar to the tractor added and operated by one man using a 120 ft hose with a double nozzle. We had 52 acres of orchard and it took two weeks to spray the property using this method.

Next was a three cylinder, high pressure pump 20 gallons per minute @ 600 P.S.I.. P.T.O. drive from the tractor with a 300 gallon cylinder shaped wooden vat. A platform on the back where two men each held a three or four head boom and drove past while directing the spray to the trees. This method was costly with manpower. We then mounted an eight nozzle boom on one side of the outfit dispensed with two men and drove past with the boom set. This was very costly with spray material.

In 1954, we purchased an airblast sprayer driven by a Holden motor with a similar, 3 cylinder high pressure pump used at 400psi with the assistance of a 28 inch fan creating 33,000 cubic ft of air per minute or approx. 110 M.P.H. wind directed behind the nozzles creating a misting effect being double sided it used about the same amount of spray material as the single sided high pressure sprayer. So from 1950, taking 2 weeks to spray the orchard, by 1954 it took 18 hours to achieve a complete spray and was a more efficient job.