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LIME-SULPHUR AS A SUBSTITUTE 

 FOR BORDEAUX MIXTURE IN 

 SUMMER SPRAYING. 

 Most every fruit familiar 



with lime-sulphur spray used as a 

 winter spray fur t lie destruction of the 

 San Jose Scale bul verj tew know or 

 have heard Of if being used as a sum- 

 mer spray both as a combined insecti- 

 cide and fungii de. While bordeaux 

 mixture had proved such a friend when 

 we hrsi commenced using it. in the 

 last few seasons it had proved so 

 treacherous and wrought such dam- 

 age at times, that one was never sure 

 when using it what the result would 

 be. It creates such an uneasy feeling 

 among grow-ers, than consequently we 

 are ready and willing to try anything 

 that has possibilities. We had hearu 

 that the growers of California were 

 using a prepared lime-sulphur mixture 

 known under the name of Rex very 

 successfully and also that away up in 

 the northwest they were using the 

 same spray, and also another brand of 

 the same thing under the name of 

 Niagara. As the climatic conditions 

 in both these sections were so different 

 from our own the only way to prove 

 whether we could use it here as suc- 

 cessfully or not was to get it and try 

 it So 100 gallons of Niagara and a lit- 

 tle later 250 gallons of Rex were order- 

 ed. Then the question was how much 

 to dilute it. Could get no word from 

 California but the northwest had re- 

 duced it 1 to 15— that is, one gallon 

 of the mixture to fiftten gallons of 

 water for apples and 1 to 20 for the 

 peach, without injury. So taking in- 

 to account the difference between our 

 two climates, decided to reduce it still 

 further— making it 1 to 25— but after 

 corresponding with Prof. W. M. Scott 

 of Washington, D. C. on his recom- 

 mendation reduced it 1 to 40. The first 

 spraying, before the blossoms, had al- 

 ready been done with the bordeaux 

 mixture 1-4-50 — before the lime-sul- 

 phur mixture had been received. It 

 was the first intention to use simply 

 the arsenate of lead spray just after 

 the blossoms fell, putting it on very 

 heavy. That is, using about 4 or 5 lbs. 

 of arsenate of lead to the 150 gal. tank, 

 but putting the spray on very heavy, 

 so there would be no doubt about get- 

 ting a little of it into the blossom end 

 of the little apple, and then following 

 it right up with the Rex spray 1 to 40. 

 But owing to excessive wet weather 

 delaying the first spraying, this plan 

 had to be abandoned and the Rex and 

 arsenate of lead had to be combined. 

 The Rex lime-suphur was used in the 

 main part of the orchard and the Ni- 

 agara in the part set aside to testing 

 the different makes of arsenate of lead. 

 A Mysterious Burning. 

 After a little over half of this orchard 

 had been sprayed, noticed a slight 

 burn where we had used the Rex but 

 none where we had used the Niagara. 

 Thinking that there was a little too 

 much burn and the scab showing up 

 very plainly al 1 over the orchard, 

 changed the spray for the bordeaux 

 but only used the 2-4-50 mixture, with 

 a result of the worst burn we ever 

 experienced, or ever saw in any other 

 orchard. Now this burn proved con- 

 siderable of a mystery. Thorough inves- 

 tigation failed to find a thing wrong in 

 any of the materials of which that 

 spray was composed and every hand 

 on the job was ready to swear that 



HORTICULTURE 



the righl quantities were used. It is 

 true that for those same two days, 

 the atmosphere had that peculiar con 

 dition when everything burns. Neigh- 

 boring orchards showed burn also Cor 

 those am< two days but not nearly 

 so bad and tie \ were using o lbs. cop- 

 per sulphate. This burn was so bad. 

 that for a time, it was questioned 

 whether those trees would pull 

 through or not, but being strong and 

 vigorous, having been well cared for 

 in previous years, they soon com- 

 menced to put forth a new set of 

 foliage but made very little wood 

 growth. After the new leaves had 

 pretty well developed the trees were 

 covered with wooly aphis, but a spray 

 of Kex 1 to 40 soon wiped them out. 

 Prepared Mixtures Preferable to 



Homemade. 

 This spray also showed a slight burn. 

 Arsenate of lead was also added to 

 this spray. Now it is claimed by 

 good authorities that you cannot com- 

 bine arsenate of lead with lime-sul- 

 phur mixture — that one neutralizes 

 the other. If this is a fact how much 

 of this injury was due to this cause? 

 It will take higher authority to ans- 

 wer this question as it is work for 

 the chemist. The home prepared lime- 

 sulphur mixture will never become 

 popular with the masses on account 

 of the trouble of making it. Then 

 again it is difficult to spray on account 

 of clogging the nozzle at times. If 

 the Rex or Niagara or any other pre- 

 pared mixture of the same materials 

 can compete successfully in price with 

 the home made and be just as strong 

 there is no question but what they are 

 the best and if they only prove suc- 

 cessful will be the easiest spray made, 

 for you do not need even an extra bar- 

 rel, for you can dump your quantity 

 right into your tank of water and go 

 to spraying. They are in the form of 

 a clear amber liquid with no sediment. 

 The home made keeps an extra hand 

 all the time watching the "pot" while 

 the prepared would do away with the 

 mixer entirely. Then again it is such 

 an easily prepared and convenient 

 spray to use on things planted around 

 the house and garden. All you have 

 to do is to put about a pint of this 

 prepared liquid into a 3-gallon knap- 

 sack or Auto Pop sprayer filled with 

 water and go to work. We have a 

 very choice grape — name unknown — 

 but suppose it must be one of Rogers' 

 Hybrids as we bought quite a lot by 

 number years ago. It was almost im- 

 possible to get it through any season 

 without losing its foliage followed, of 

 course, by the fruit. But this spray 

 just carried it through in perfection. 

 Some Interesting Conclusions. 

 The same thing with the roses and 

 strawberries: it does not leave a spot- 

 ted leaf. Also found it fine for rust 

 or blight on celery. In fact it was an 

 ideal spray on everything in the gar- 

 den line, but it couldn't get away with 

 the old fashioned blister potato bugs. 

 There was one thing about it, though; 

 don't know whether it was owing to 

 the season or the spray; you couldn't 

 go over ten days or two weeks with- 

 out spraying. Now if this spray will 

 kill San Jose and other scale by con- 

 tact, how strong will it have to be 

 to kill the coddling moth and other 

 insect eggs; and will a tree in full 

 foliage stand it at that strength? This 

 is a question that I should think could 

 be worked out this winter in the la- 



December 26, 1908 



boratory by some enterprising student. 

 Another dream; even if we cannot 

 make the spray strong enough to kilt 

 the eggs, if we could gauge the main 

 hatch and time one of our sprayings 

 rdingly we would make some of 

 those little insects think that a small 

 chunk of "hereafter" had struck them 

 sure. 



Now, while these prepared sprays 

 have not proved much of a success, 

 this season, where is there one that 

 has? Old and tried sprays that we 

 thought we knew all about, have gone 

 back on us. Even arsenate of lead, if 

 we had been trying it for the first 

 time, we would have pronounced a 

 failure. .This has been a very peculiar 

 season, the like of which we have 

 never experienced before. There was 

 so much damaged foliage, and it was 

 so susceptible to everything that 

 touched it, that no matter what spray 

 you used, or how much reduced, there 

 would be some injury. There is no- 

 thing that we are sure of or can verify 

 this season, so the only thing we can 

 do, is, in the vernacular of the race 

 track, when under certain conditions 

 they declare "all bets off,' to declare 

 all sprays off. 



H. E. ALDRICH, Neoga, 111. 



FLORICULTURAL EDUCATION AT 

 AMHERST, MASS. 



The short course in floriculture at 

 Massachusetts Agriculture College 

 promises to be a great success. Al- 

 ready applications have been accepted 

 to about the capacity of the teaching 

 equipment. It has been decided, how- 

 ever, to accept twenty for this course, 

 instead of fifteen as originally planned. 

 It is regretted that the new instruction 

 building and the greenhouses will not 

 be finished before Feb. 15th, or all 

 who desired the course would be ac- 

 commodated. The practical men are 

 giving the course their most hearty 

 support and the talks by experts prom- 

 ise to be especially valuable. The fol- 

 lowing have consented to assist in this 

 course: W. H. Elliott, Brighton, Mass., 

 "Rose Growing as a Business"; Eber 

 Holmes, Montrose, "Roses"; M. A. 

 Patten, Tewksbury, Peter Fisher, 

 Ellis, "Carnations"; E. O. Orpet, South 

 Lancaster, "Orchids"; William Sim, 

 Cliftondale, "Sweet Fea Culture Under 

 Glass"; Wm. .T. Stewart, Boston, 

 "Wholesale Marketing"; George Sin- 

 clair. Holyoke. "Chrysanthemums"; 

 E. J. Canning, Northampton, Mass., 

 "The Work of the Private Gardener." 

 It is expected that Mr. Sykes of Lord 

 & Burnham Co. will speak on "Green- 

 house Design and Construction"; also 

 Mr. Andrew Rider of the same firm 

 on "Greenhouse Heating." Several 

 other experts in various lines hope to 

 assist but definite arrangements have 

 not yet been made. In addition to these 

 talks the daily lectures and laboratory 

 exercises in floriculture, soils, fertili- 

 zers, insects, and diseases promise to 

 make a busy ten weeks. Professor 

 White is planning Saturday morning 

 observation trips to various greenhouse 

 establishments. These will include 

 oramercial ranges of Field, North- 

 on; Beach. South Hadley; Sin- 

 Holyoke; Beals and others, 

 ingfield, Pierson, Cromwell, Conn., 

 and many more, and to the conserva- 

 tories at Smith College, and Mt Holy- 

 1 ' College. 



