158 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



phate water, apply the test from time to time by adding a drop from the small 

 bottle. As long as you notice a change of color in the mixture, more lime must 

 be added. When further addition of the drug ceases to change the color, the 

 mixture contains lime enough. The necessity of straining can be avoided by 

 using only the clear milk of lime, not the settlings. Freshly slaked lime is 

 always to be preferred. It sticks better, and it does not take so much lime. 

 Its object is simply to neutralize the acid in the sulphate. The mixture must 

 be constantly stirred while being applied. For close work, there is no better 

 spraying nozzle than the Vermorel. A bamboo extension may be used with 

 which to get the nozzle into the tree. A weak mixture put on thoroughly is 

 better than a strong mixture applied in a haphazard way. 



For very high trees he commended the MacGowan nozzle, made at Ithaca, 

 N.Y. A stop cock in the hose near the ground would be found a most impor- 

 tant provision. Some people complain of the difficulty of dissolving the copper 

 sulphate ; this could be overcome by using boiling water. 



He begins spraying with the Bordeaux mixture when the buds first swell, 

 and at this time a smaller amount of the mixture per tree is required, because 

 there is no foliage to cover. In his thirty-five-year-old orchard he used about 

 three gallons per tree for the first application, but later on it was necessary to 

 use more than double the quantity. 



For black rot and mildew of the grape, Prof. Waite, of Washington, stated 

 that five or six applications of the Bordeaux mixture seem necessary to secure 

 certain results, but he had demonstrated that black rot was absolutely control- 

 lable. Of ten bunches of Concord grapes sprayed, 95% were perfect, but of ten 

 under the same conditions left unsprayed, 95% were worthless. He makes the 

 first application when the young shoots are six or eight inches long ; an earlier 

 application is useless. 



Anthracnose he found harder to deal with, but still largely preventable if 

 application is made every ten or fifteen days during the growing season. 



For gooseberry mildew, potassium sulphide was found to be more service- 

 able than was the Bordeaux mixture. 



Mr. S. D. Willard gave the following list of plums as, in his experience, the 

 best six market varieties : i, Bavay, Green Gage or Reine Claude ; 2, Hudson 

 River Purple Egg ; 3, French Damson ; 4, Fellemberg ; 5, Grand Duke ; 6, 

 Monarch. In extending the list to twelve, he would add : Field, Bradshaw, 

 Gueii, (xolden Drop, German Prune and Peter's Golden Egg. 



Relation of Phosphates to Fertilizers.— The fact that phosphorous 



compounds are absolutely necessary for the maturity of plants indicates that 

 phosphates are essential to complete fertilizers. Soils become deficient in phos- 

 phates more quickly, in general, than in other fertilizing ingredients, and, there- 

 fore, when the use of fertilizers is needed at all, phosphates are generally required, 

 whether with or without other fertilizing elements. 



