84 SPRAYING PEACHES, 
The schedule of applications (pp. 38-40) takes account of the ripening 
period of the principal commercial varieties of peaches. Applications 
made later than a month or six weeks before picking time are likely 
to result in the fruit being more or less spotted with the spray when 
harvested, somewhat marring its appearance for market purposes. 
This danger can be largely avoided by using nozzles which throw a 
mistlike spray, coating the fruit with very fine dots rather than with 
large blotches. 
DIRECTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF SELF-BOILED LIME- 
SULPHUR WASH. 
The standard self-boiled lime-sulphur mixture is composed of 8 
pounds of fresh stone lime and 8 pounds of sulphur to 50 gallons of 
water. In mild cases of brown-rot and scab a weaker mixture con- 
taining 6 pounds of each ingredient to 50 gallons of water may be 
used with satisfactory results. The materials cost so little, how- 
ever, that one should not economize in this direction where a valu- 
able fruit crop is at stake. Any finely powdered sulphur (flowers, 
flour, or ‘“‘commercial ground”’ sulphur) may be used in the prepa- 
ration of the mixture. 
In order to secure the best action from the lime, the mixture should 
be prepared in rather large quantities, at least enough for 200 gal- 
lons of spray, using 32 pounds of lime and 32 pounds of sulphur. 
The lime should be placed in a barrel and enough water (about 6 
gallons) poured on to almost cover it. As soon as the lime begins 
to slake the sulphur should be added, after first running it through 
a sieve to break up the lumps, if any are present. The mixture 
should be constantly stirred and more water (3 or 4 gallons) added 
as needed to form at first a thick paste and then gradually a thin 
paste. The lime will supply enough heat to boil the mixture sey- 
eral minutes. As soon as it is well slaked water should be added to 
cool the mixture and prevent further cooking. It is then ready to 
be strained into the spray tank, diluted, and applied. 
The stage at which cold water should be poured on to stop the 
cooking varies with different limes. Some limes are so sluggish in 
slaking that it is difficult to obtain enough heat from them to cook 
the mixture at all, while other limes become intensely hot on slaking, 
and care must be taken not to allow the boiling to proceed too far. 
If the mixture is allowed to remain hot for 15 or 20 minutes after 
the slaking is completed, the sulphur gradually goes into solution, 
combining with the lime to form sulphids, which are injurious to 
peach foliage. It is therefore very important, especially with hot 
lime, to cool the mixture quickly by adding a few buckets of water 
as soon as the lumps of lime have slaked down. The intense heat, 
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