A HINT ON PJ? EPA RING BORDEAUX MIXTURE. 



179 



inent, and adorned with the coat-of-arms of 

 the province, as shown at b, b. In the in- 

 terior of the space Mr. Bunting- proposes to 

 erect a trophy which will be a centre of at- 

 traction, surmounted by flags, and laden 

 with bottled fruit, plants and other objects 

 of interest. 



Now upon the directors of our Associa- 

 tion and the officials of our affiliated Horti- 

 cultural Societies and other members, to 

 a large extent depends the success of this 

 work. Every Horticultural Society should 

 make up a special exhibit to be shown un- 

 der its own name, and secure a diploma and 

 a medal. This is quite within the reach of 

 every one of our Societies, for the awards 



are not competitive as in the case of smaller 

 fairs, but instead, an award is to be given 

 for each exhibit that is up to a certain stand- 

 ard of merit. 



We would advise all our Societies to place 

 themselves in correspondence with Mr. W. 

 H. Bunting-, St. Catharines, the Superin- 

 tendent of Horticulture, and give him notice 

 of the kind and quality of the exhibit they 

 propose to make, and the probable date of 

 shipment. The same precaution should be 

 taken by all our directors and experiment- 

 ers, for the greater the number of different 

 awards to Societies and individuals gained 

 for Ontario the greater the sum of the hon- 

 ors for our province. 



A HINT ON PREPARING BORDEAUX MIXTURE. 



|OM PLAINTS are frequently heard of 



w" the lack of results from the use of 

 \ Bordeaux mixture. 



One man stated at a Farmers' Institute 

 meeting last winter that he had used it for 

 apple scab for four years without results, and 

 was ready to sell his outfit. His orchard 

 was no freer from scab than his neighbors' 

 orchards which were unsprayed. This is 

 only one case out of many met with. 



On enquiring closely into the way the 

 work was done to discover a probable cause 

 of failure it was found, in almost every in- 

 stance, that it was due to the improper 

 method of compounding the Bordeaux mix- 

 ture. 



Many people dissolve the copper sulphate, 

 slack the lime, pour them into the barrel and 

 then drive to the pump, fill the barrel with 

 w'ater and imagine they have Bordeaux mix- 

 ture, but they are mistaken. The solutions 

 of copper sulphate and lime being brought 

 tog-ether without being sufficiently diluted 

 with water have caused a chemical reaction 

 which has entirely changed the composition 

 of the mixture. 



The orig-inal substances were soluble in 



water and beneficial, the resulting- sub- 

 stances were unsoluble in water and useless 

 for the purpose. 



Where spraying- is done in a small way 

 the mixture is usually prepared as needed. 

 The copper sulphate is dissolved in hot water 

 and of course the newly slacked lime is also 

 hot. As heat hastens chemical action the 

 change in this case would be very rapid. 

 Bordeaux mixture made in this way has a 

 " curdy " appearance as if filled with small 

 unsoluble particles. 



The man referred to above as having 

 sprayed without results, said that sometimes 

 his mixture was so " curdy " that he could 

 scarcely get the pump to work. 



To make Bordeaux mixture properly the 

 solutions should be cool and the barrel al- 

 most filled \vith water before they are 

 brought together. When properly prepared 

 it should have a smooth creamy appearance. 

 Bordeaux mixture made in this way and 

 properly applied at the right season will not 

 fail to give satisfactory results. 



J. E. Orr. 



Fruitland, April 20th, 1901. 



