PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUMMER MEETING. 123 



these together, keeping them well stirred, and then stir after they are 

 poured together. There was a question about the lime, and I will answer 

 that by saying that you should have about so much lime in the mixture. 

 It takes from four to six pounds. I have two or three tests which I use 

 to ascertain about the lime. One test is by what the chemists and drug- 

 gists call "yellow prussiate of potash." It is a chemical you can buy. A 

 piece as large as a hickory nut will be all you will need in a year. Place 

 this in a bottle holding three or four ounces of water. When you have put 

 your lime and copper sulphate in, in what you think are about the proper 

 proportions, drop in a little of this solution. If you haven't lime enough, 

 you will find that this light yellow liquid will make a very dark brown 

 spot — sort of mahogany brown — very distinct. That means there is not 

 lime enough, that there is some free copper. To remedy this, merely add 

 more lime. For safety, even if I found my test worked all right, I would 

 add a little more lime, to make sure there was no free copper there. 

 That is one test, and I think it is a good one. Another one is even more 

 simple. Take your pocket knife and dip one of the blades in; and of 

 course, if there is copper deposited on it, when you take it out, you will 

 want more lime; it will indicate free copper. Let it remain in the liquid 

 about a minute. Another test is to see if there is an excess of lime. You 

 can take clear lime-water and blow into it a little while. The carbonic 

 acid of your breath will make a cloud. You can take some of this Bor- 

 deaux mixture on a little plate and blow into it a few minutes, slowly; 

 the lime unites with the carbon dioxide, and forms a little film. If 

 there is any free lime a slight film will be formed, indicating that it is 

 all right. It shows that you will require no more lime. 



Q. Is there any danger of getting in too much lime? A. Not if the lime 

 is properly slaked and it doesn't bother the pump. 



Mr. Smith: Do you practice spraying the peach at the college? 



A. For curl-leaf, yes, sir. 



Q. What is the disease that produces curl-leaf — is it a fungus? A. 

 Yes, sir. 



Q. Has cold weather anything to do with it? 



A. Well, I thought so a year ago, but I am a little in doubt now. I 

 think anything that causes a check to the growth is likely to bring this 

 on, and a cold spell in the spring will check the tree; and in all cases 

 fungus will occur, if it is warm and moist afterward. So, in our experi- 

 ence if we have cold spells that would check the tree, and after that a 

 moist period and warm, we are likely to have the leaf-curl, which is 

 caused by a fungus. Of course, there is another curl that is entirely 

 distinct, but this fungus is almost the same as that of the plum-pockets 

 — forming a sort of sack several times as large as the healthy plums at 

 this time of year. They are hollow and generally of a whitish color. I 

 would say that we have had very good success, the last four years, where 

 we have sprayed for leaf-curl. This year our young trees were badly 

 affected, but with the sprayed trees I have seen verj^ little curl-leaf, 

 hardly one affected leaf to the tree. We had a few trees which we gen- 

 erally spray but which we neglected this year, and these were badly 

 affected, as are other trees, particularly young trees, in our section. 

 Spray early, for this, before the leaves come out. The fungus winters 

 on the old shoots, in the scales of the buds, and by spraying early and 



