This late 1940s film (probably 1949) from Cornell University shows the innovations of methods of spraying insecticide and fungicide onto crops and plants for commercial use. (Modern viewers will note the lack of safety gear and respirators). Chemicals which had already been used as insecticides such as cyanide or arsenic were diverted for use in the First World War which left a shortage in agriculture. The First World War became known as the “chemists war” because it saw the first real use of chemical warfare. Progress continued with insecticides after the war ended and on and into the second. In 1945 a newspaper featured the bombing of Hiroshima and a story about the release of DDT for unrestricted use for civilians on the same page. The film displays the field work of the research and development conducted in the lab. It is presented by the Department of Entomology of Cornell University (:22). Standard spraying equipment is seen moving over orchards (1:07). The Liqui-Duster shoots the chemical spray in a high velocity stream down an orchard (1:37). The hooded boom type sprayer is shown in use in Chautauqua County, New York which confined high pressure water sprays around the vines (2:39). A rainbow is captured in the mist of chemicals (3:01). A large chemical cloud is emitted from the back of the red sprayer (3:40). Two men drag a sprayer using gas aerosol (6:37). Another angle is provided from behind the machine as it moves away from camera (7:02). The spray is released from a narrow gold nozzle (7:38). Fog application procedures are looked to next (7:58) as a large plume of fog spills from the side of the tractor. Fog application is seen in use in an orange grove (9:32). An early Army R-4B helicopter #455 is tested for use in the application of pesticides (10:35). (Interestingly, according to the Wikipedia this same helicopter, U.S. Coast Guard Sikorsky HNS-1 Hoverfly helicopter (BuNo 46445) was used to evaluate spray nozzles in 1944. At that time it was piloted by LT(jg) W. “Red” Bolton.). The Sikorsky R-4B moves over an orange orchard (11:21). A second angle shows the helicopter moving away from the camera (12:05). The speed sprayer was developed first in Florida for citrus fruits as a large red chemical sprayer moves down the line (12:39). The Vaporfumer is shown in use with a covering draped over (13:39). The tractor pulls the tarp over the field (14:10). Men climb atop the row crop atomizer and prepare it for use (15:26). The sprayer moves down groves (15:37). The chemical insecticide DDT was to be used over shade tree pests (16:20).

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