554 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



Wood or coal may be used for fuel, but it will prove more economical in 

 the long run to put in an oil burner unless, as is sometimes the case, 

 your wood supply costs practically nothing. 



The quality and cost of the materials to be used are of the utmost 

 importance. Flowers of sulphur costing about $60 a ton may be used, 

 but the finely ground sulphur costing a third less will cook just as 

 quickly and make as good a solution. The lime should be the very best 

 obtainable — 90 to 100 per cent calcium oxide. Partially slacked lime 

 should be discarded and only the lumps used. The air slacked material 

 settles to the bottom and fills up the strainer, resulting in a poor solu- 

 tion and a large amount of sediment. 



After some experimentation with different formulas we decided that 

 the most satisfactory and economical is that given by the Pennsylvania 

 State Bulletin No. 115. This formula requires 50 pounds of fresh 

 unslaked lime, 100 pounds of sulphur, and 50 gallons of water. In 

 order to fit this formula to our cooking barrels we reduced it one-fifth, 

 thus bringing the amount of solution in the barrel to 40 gallons and 

 leaving room for boiling. This formula has given a solution that tests 

 from 29 to 30 degrees on the Baume scale and, used at 5 gallons to the 

 200 gallon spray tank on red spider, has given results as good as can be 

 obtained by the commercial solutions testing 34 degrees or higher. 



In starting the first batch the weigher, using the above formula, 

 weighs out 40 pounds of lime and 80 pounds of sulphur. The sulphur 



Fig. 112. — The lime-sulphur plant in operation. (Original.) 



is mixed to a thick paste in the sulphur box (Fig. 109). The man at 

 the cooking barrels runs about 15 gallons of water into barrel No. 1 

 and dumps in the lime. As soon as the lime is partially slacked the 



