388 INSECT AND FUNGOUS ENEMIES OF THE APPLE. 
few years there have been important improvements in the field of 
orchard spraying as regards the materials used and also in the 
character of machinery employed. At the present time orchardists, 
by careful attention to details, are able to obtain a much higher 
benefit from spraying operations than formerly, and while results 
vary, depending upon weather and other conditions, yet the suc- 
cessful orchardist now expects to harvest, as sound fruit, from 90 
to 95 per cent of his crop. Below are given the spray materials 
recommended in the present bulletin, with directions for their prep- 
aration. 5 
LIME-SULPHUR SOLUTION. 
Uses.—Fruit growers have now become quite familiar with lime- 
sulphur sprays as a remedy for the San Jose scale, peach leaf-curl, 
and blister mite, and other troubles requiring dormant tree treat- 
ment. The lime-sulphur wash, as used on dormant trees, has gone 
through a good deal of evolution since the California formula was 
first employed in the East. Whereas a few years ago it was the 
praetice to make the wash at home for immediate use, utilizing for 
this purpose in many cases very large cooking outfits, the tendency 
at the present time is toward the employment of the commercial lime- 
sulphur solution, a concentrate which is kept indefinitely and used as 
needed, or a similar homemade solution, both of which are pre- 
pared on a distinctly different formula from the wash as formerly 
used. 
A distinct advance was made in the control of fungous diseases 
when it was found that these commercial and homemade lme-sulphur 
concentrates, properly diluted, could be used with satisfactory results 
as fungicides on trees in folage, replacing Bordeaux mixtures, the 
use of which is attended with danger of russeting the fruit and in- 
juring the foliage, depending upon weather conditions. 
Home-boiled lime-sulphur solution Concentrated lime-sulphur solu- 
tion, to be diluted and used for the summer spraying of orchards, 
may be prepared by boiling together for about 50 minutes, 100 
pounds of sulphur, 50 pounds of lime, and water to make 50 gallons 
of concentrated solution. Any finely powdered sulphur of 98 to 99 
per cent purity may be used. The commercial ground sulphur is 
the cheapest form and is as good as the flowers or flour for that 
purpose. The best grade of fresh stone lime is required for the 
best results, although a good grade of hydrated lime may be used, 
provided proper allowance be made for the high percentage of mois- 
ture it contains. 
The boiling may be done in barrels or vats with steam or in kettles 
over a fire. An ordinary 75 to 100 gallon food cooker composed of 
492 
