INSECT AND FUNGOUS ENEMIES OF THE APPLE. 39 
a kettle with jacket and fire box is perhaps the most convenient and 
economical outfit for small and medium sized orchards. 
Place about one-fourth of the required amount of water in the 
kettle, bring it to the boiling point, then put in the lime and imme- 
diately add the sulphur. Stir vigorously until the lime is slaked, 
then add sufficient water to finish with 50 gallons of the concen- 
trated solution and boil for 50 minutes. The total time of actual 
boiling should not exceed 1 hour, and, as a rule, a boiling period of 
only 50 minutes gives better results. After the sulphur has gone 
into the solution, combining with the lime to form sulphids, further 
boiling brings about a chemical change which finally results in 
throwing some of the sulphur out of the solution to form a sedi- 
ment. The sulphur should first be passed through a sieve to break 
up any lumps that it may contain, and there is perhaps some ad- 
vantage in working it into a thick paste with water before adding 
it, or the sulphur may be placed in the kettle first and worked into 
a paste before adding the lime. In order to finish with 50 gallons 
of solution the kettle should be filled to about 58 gallons, on account 
of evaporation. If the water evaporates to below 50 gallons more 
water should be added to make up the loss. A measuring stick with 
a 50-gallon mark, and other marks as desired, will be found useful 
in determining the amount of liquid in the kettle. When steam is 
used the process is about the same as above described. Owing to the 
condensation of the steam a somewhat smaller amount of water is 
required. When the boiling is finished the solution should be poured 
through a strainer of about 20 meshes to the inch, so as to remove 
the coarse particles of sediment. It may be used immediately or 
stored in barrels or other containers and kept indefinitely, provided 
the air is excluded. In practice the fruit growers, as a rule, have 
not been able to prepare the lime-sulphur solution without obtaining 
a large amount of sediment and this has tended to make the com- 
mercial product more popular. This sediment is due largely to im- 
purities in the lime and improper mixture and boiling. Straining 
will take out the coarser particles, and the remainder will not prove 
to be seriously objectionable. 
After the sediment has been settled, the clear liquid should test 
25° to 28° on the Baumé hydrometer. It takes about 2 gallons of 
the homemade preparation to equal in strength 13 gallons of the 
commercial product, and these amounts, respectively, are the amounts 
required for each 50 gallons of spray. For the summer spraying of 
apple trees, lime-sulphur solution, whether home-made or commercial, 
should be so diluted as to contain 34 to 4 pounds of sulphur in each 
50 gallons of spray. Prepared according to the above directions, 1 
gallon of the homemade product contains approximately 2 pounds 
of sulphur in solution, and therefore 2 gallons would give the 
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