SPRAYING WITH THE NEW K. L. MIXTURES 



1 



^ HE San Jose scale made it appearance 

 on chestnuts and various shrubs in 

 the United States as well as on fruit trees, 

 said Mr. A. N. Brown, of Wyoming, Dela- 

 ware, in his talks before the Niagara Penin- 

 sula Fruit Growers' Association, last month, 

 but it has been fought successfully and it is 

 the duty of fruit growers to fight it persist- 

 ently and to gain control. The black rot 

 is another prevalent disease, but it has been 

 successfully com'batted. In the state of 

 Delaware spraying has been attended by 

 the most satisfactory results. The trees 

 have been inade almost inmiune from attack. 

 A healthy tree will resist attack. Trees can 

 be made healthy by spraying, which will 

 kill other pests as ■well as the scale. An ad- 

 dition to the wash will kill fungi. 



He would advise against the use of caus- 

 tic soda, but the lime, sulphur and salt wash 

 is good. Oil — 'Crude or refined petroleum 

 — 'will kill scale. There is a soluble oil in 

 use — 19 gallons of water to one of oil is the 

 proportion. The new K. L. mixtures which 

 are being experimented with, and which pro- 

 mise to be most effective, were described by 

 Mr. Brown. K. L. is made from kerosene 

 and limoid, the latter a high grade mag- 

 nesian lime, with 40 per cent, magnesia. 

 The proportion for the mixture is one quart 

 of oil to one pound of limoid. Crude oil 

 will not do. It is a question whether K. L. 

 can be used in Canada on account of the ex- 

 pense of refined oil. In the United States 

 they can buy it for seven and a half cents 

 per Wine gallon by the barrel, and at that 

 rate they can use it. 



A test was made at two or three of Mr. 

 Brown's demonstrations to see if ordinary 

 Canadian lime can be used instead of 

 limoid, and though only partially successful 



it appeared as if it niiglit. Bordeaux mix- 

 ture can be used instead of water, and the 

 wash K. L. B. then becomes a fungicide. 

 Hy adding a poison, such as Paris green, 

 London purple, or preferably arsenide of 

 soda, it becomes also an insecticide, K. L. 

 B. P., and will kill chewing insects, such as 

 codlin moth, etc. The lime is simply a 

 conveyor to carry the oil evenly to all parts 

 of the tree so as not to burn any part, which 

 oil is liable to do. 



The advantage of K. L. is that it is easily 

 made and will do for a summer wash and 

 has greater covering capacity than other 

 washes. When dry slaked or air slaked 

 lime is used the mixture must be agitated 

 violently for five minutes to emulsify it ; 

 when limoid is used the agitation need only 

 continue three minutes. When thoroughly 

 emulsified the kerosene is not likely to sepa- 

 rate from any of these forms of lime. 



It is important that the materials used 

 should be pure. Every part of the tree 

 should be thoroughly sprayed, otherwise 

 the scale will not be killed and will soon 

 spread. The wash should be in the form 

 of a spray, not a sprinkle. Large orchard- 

 ists should use power machines. 



If the Bordeaux mixture is properly 

 mixed, said Mr. Brown, one application is 

 enough. The bluestone may be seen all 

 season on his trees from one application. 

 He used arsenide of soda because it is solu- 

 ble in water, other poisons are not, but it is 

 a rank poison and has to be used very care- 

 fully. It is better than Paris green and 

 only costs half as much. 



The K. L. B. P. mixture, Mr. Brown 

 claimed, is a panacea for all the pests of the 

 orchard — sucking insects, biting insects and 

 funsfous diseases. 



I believe in thorough cultivation of the 

 peach orchard and heavy pruning. — (Adol- 

 phus Pettit, Grimsby, Ont. 



If left to itself the San Jose scale will de- 

 stroy an orchard in two to four years. 

 Spraying is the only remedy. 



This article, owing to crush of matter, was crowded out of the April issue. 



176 



