is STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



WHAT IS NEW IN SPRAYING. 



A SYMPOSIUM BY PROFESSORS PETTIT, WHITE AND EUSTACE. 



Introductory Remarks by Frofessor Pettit. 



Friends — I should like at this time to make a plea for the old home- 

 made lime and sulphur. Eight or ten years ago — yes, even five or six 

 years ago — a good strong spray of home-made lime and sulphur used 

 to take care of the bud moth, the pear psylla, and used to greatly re- 

 duce the numbers of plant lice. Today, with our present practice, using 

 the commercial lime and sulphur cold, the bud moth is affected little or 

 none at all and the plant lice appear in due time in spite of the spray. 



Voice— We do not use the commercial spray but do use the home- 

 made lime and sulphur put on cold. 



Professor Pettit — On parts of trees that we sprayed with the old 

 home-made preparation the eggs of plant lice hatched all right but 

 the young did not settle down. The coating of sludge seems to prevent 

 them from settling down and starting house-keeping. 



Professor Pettit — Are you familiar with the action of lime and sul- 

 phur on a scale insect? It takes the oxygen from under the scale and 

 then seals the scale down smothering the little insect that is hidden 

 under the scale. Now, I am speaking for home-made lime and sulphur 

 merely as a spray for scale and not as a fungicide. When lime and 

 sulphur is used as a fungicide the commercial article may be better than 

 the home-made for all I know. The advantage of the sludge in the home- 

 made spray is that it gives body to the mixture and makes more of it 

 slick around the edges of the scales. When you paint a house you 

 use oil and turpentine and then put in lead for the body. The oil and 

 turpentine would do some good but with the lead added it sticks much 

 better and more of it stays where you put it. Just so the sludge holds 

 more lime and sulphur solution in contact with the insects. It also 

 slays on better. 



A Member — How do you regard the old way of preparing lime sulphur 

 —15-20-50 — that makes a flaky whitewash? The last few years we have 

 used a concentrated article and we did not try to get rid of the sludge. 

 When I make up a batch of the stuff I run the whole thing through 

 the screen into the barrel, and when we wanted to use it then we shook 

 up the barrel. I have found this, that where an excessive amount of 

 lime was used as in the old-fashioned manner of preparing it, it makes 

 a flaky whitewash. The sludge as prepared under a concentrated 

 formula makes a sort of paint that sticks on to the tree and turns the 

 water off. In this respect it is better than the old whitewash. 



Question — Do you put it on cold? 



Answer — Yes, though that is not always expedient, it is at times more 

 convenient. The main fault that I have with it is that it does not spray 

 well when cold. There are little spots that it does not cover. 



Professor Pettit — In washing dishes, hot water is better than cold 



