No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 259 



ing: "That while he was not engaged in fruit growing and made no 

 pretense in discussing a question of that character, he had heard 

 practical fruit growers discuss it and had read somewhat of the ex- 

 periments that had been made in this particular field, and the consen- 

 sus of opinion with these people was that the proper use of the lime, 

 sulphur and salt wash was- the most practical method of combat- 

 ing this pest." 



Immediately some one in the audience arose and made the state- 

 ment that lime, sulphur and salt was absolutely without effect and 

 that the only thing to do was to cut the trees down and burn them — ■ 

 a pretty expensive and discouraging course to pursue. The question 

 immediately drifted into a discussion or rather statements pro and 

 con and the effect that "So and So has used it and it will do the 

 work," and on the other hand, "I know from my own experience it 

 will not." 



Those who are using the lime, sulphur and salt spray take pains in 

 its preparation, use the best possible means of applying the spray 

 and use it at a time and on trees where it has a fair chance to ac- 

 complish results. According to my understanding, if it is improperly 

 made, improperly applied or used on trees which have become so 

 effected that they are already practically dead, satisfactory results 

 can not be expected. 



The physician is very often able, through proper treatment, to save 

 the lives of those who are dangerously ill, but beyond a certain 

 point the physician can not go. If his remedies are carelessly and 

 improperly prepared and administered or applied in the same way, 

 little can be accomplished, nor can the physician revive one already 

 dead or dying. The same principle applies with equal force to the 

 vegetable kingdom. If all these things can be made plain it may 

 enable those who have failed to see why they have done so. It is 

 by bringing out these facts that the institute can accomplish the 

 greatest amount of good. It is desirable to avoid misleading state- 

 ments. There is probably no one subject upou which there is a 

 greater divergence of opinion than upon the question of lime. We 

 know too that those who advocate either the one side or the other 

 of this question are perfectly sincere and probably right for their 

 own conditions. A statement to the effect that "lime is good to 

 whitewash with," does not necessarily mean that those of us who 

 make that statement intend to imply that we do not believe in the 

 use of lime in some cases but we mean that in our particular case 

 it is not needed. However, such a statement without further ex- 

 planation would give the impression that the individual working it 

 did not believe in liming at all and were he to go into some other 

 part of the State where the use of lime was proving beneficial and 

 helpful and make such a statement, his usefulness would be ma- 

 terially weakened. 



