Historic Hood River
Spray Time
11-21-2022
Notes
This Laraway plate is a good representation of the state of the art for fruit spraying in the early decades of the 20th century. While the apparatus is horse-drawn the sprayer is likely powered by a small gas engine. Based on the almost fluorescent look of the splatters I’ll venture a guess they were applying Corona Dry, a lead arsenate concoction used to control coddling moth in apples.
nels
Arsenic binds with iron and aluminum in the soil and that stops the dowwnward movement. Thus it remains for up to 9000 years. It can be a problem when orchard land is turned into housing. The only way to remove it is to 'wash' it by forcing water up thru it and the water carries off the compounds where it must then be removed.
kmb
Not exactly OSHA approved by today's standards, but it was a different time.