so STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



increase the efficiency and at the same time effect a saving in the 

 amount of labor and material required, it is advisable to prune the 

 trees thoroughly. All surplus branches should be removed and the 

 ends of the others headed back. Experience has shown that it is a 

 difficult task to spray the trees to the tips of the branches, especially 

 if they are irregular and straggling. 



No discoveries have been made regarding remedies, and dependence 

 should still be placed upon the sulphur and lime mixture. The same 

 formula, fifteen pounds of sulphur and twenty-five pounds of lime, is 

 used as in previous years. The addition of eight pounds of salt seems 

 to be beneficial in places where heavy rains occur soon after applica- 

 tion. While the lime is slaking the sulphur should be added and the 

 two thoroughly mixed so that they can form a chemical combination. 

 To bring this about it is advisable to add a gallon of water for each 

 pound of sulphur and to boil the mixture for at least forty-five minutes. 

 It should then be diluted to fifty gallons. Although it is not necessary 

 that the mixture be hot when applied there will be less trouble in 

 applying it if it is at least as warm as 120 degrees. When but a small 

 quantity is required it can be prepared in an iron kettle, but for spray- 

 ing large orchards a steam boiler will be desirable. Fairly good results 

 can be secured in the preparation of a small quantity where a large 

 kettle is not available, if the sulphur and lime are placed in a barrel 

 and the lime is slaked by the application of boiling water. The two 

 should be thoroughly mixed and as soon as the lime is slaked the barrel 

 should be covered for an hour or two to hold in the heat. 



The use of the above mixture is recommended not only on account 

 of its efficacy in destroying the scale but because it has excellent fungi- 

 cidal qualities. As a preventive of leaf-curl and for the control of 

 apple scab and similar diseases it has no equal. When fruit trees are 

 sprayed with sulphur and lime mixture there is no occasion for 

 Bordeaux mixture or copper sulphate solution previous to the blossom- 

 ing period. During the year the testing of various patent scale ex- 

 terminators has been continued but none of them have been found equal 

 to the sulphur and lime for this purpose and besides this they lack its 

 fungicidal qualities. Most of these remedies contain a soluble oil and 

 on this account possess a slight advantage over the sulphur and lime 

 mixture when it is not thoroughly used, owing to its tendency to spread 

 along the branches and thus correct at least in part any imperfect work. 



Where sulphur and lime has been used on infested trees and the 

 applications have been thoroughly made, excellent results have been 

 secured. It can be safely said, however, that not one person in ten 

 sprays sufficiently thorough to secure the best results. In many cases 

 the trees would not be considered more than half sprayed. The folly 

 of this imperfect work can be seen from the fact that where a single 

 female scale remains alive upon the trees, the reproduction is so rapid 

 that at the end of one season the number of progeny may have reached 

 three-quarters of a million, provided all of them lived and reproduced. 

 While thoroughness is essential in spraying for other insects and the 

 fungous diseases, it is especially so against the San Jose scale. 



The best results can be secured if the trees are sprayed while they 

 are dormant. This is particularly the case because at that time it is 



