104 



the spray-tank or barrel thru a strainer, to take out particles that would 

 clog the nozzles. 



Commercial Solutions. — Solutions of lime-sulphur, which may be 

 purchased from retail dealers or from the manufacturers ready for use 

 after dilution with eight parts of water, may be substituted for the 

 home-made preparation described above. 



The commercial solutions cost about seven dollars a barrel. A 

 barrel contains about fifty gallons and when diluted will make four 

 hundred and fifty gallons of spray, making the cost about one and a 

 half cents per gallon. The concentrated solution is also put up in smal- 

 ler packages at somewhat higher cost; in gallon lots at fifty cents a 

 gallon. The materials for the home-made solution, when bought at 

 wholesale, cost about one cent a gallon for the dilute spray ready to 

 apply. 



The Miscible Oils 



The so-called miscible oils are made of crude petroleum so treated 

 as to remove some of the deleterious products and to cause it to mix 

 readily with water. They are very effective scale-destroyers ; some- 

 times, on account of their better penetrating qualities, a little more 

 effective than the lime-sulphur on trees that are heavily incrusted 

 with the scale. They have the further advantage that they are less 

 disagreeable to handle than the lime-sulphur solution. They are more 

 expensive, however, and if applied too freely, may cause serious injury 

 to the tree. They may be purchased in fifty-gallon-barrel lots, freight 

 prepaid, at $25 a barrel. In smaller lots they may come a little higher. 

 They should be diluted with fifteen parts of water. One barrel will 

 thus make eight hundred gallons of spray, costing about three cents a 

 gallon. They are applied the same way as the lime-sulphur. 



Apparatus and Equipment 



When the lime-sulphur wash is cooked by steam, no kettles are 

 necessary, as the cooking of the mixture may be done in fifty-gallon 

 barrels, or in tanks if large quantities are to be made. Portable steam- 

 cookers are now made for such purposes. Those used for cooking 

 stock-food will serve to cook the sulphur wash. Steam cookers are 

 not essential, however, and for ordinary orchard work the kettle and 

 the open fire are just as good, altho less convenient. 



The solution should be strained as it is poured into the spray- 

 tank. Strainers are made for the purpose from brass, to prevent cor- 

 rosion by the liquid. If such a strainer is not at hand, burlap may be 

 used instead. 



