64 GENERAL ADVICE 



or injured by sun, wind or frost. The plants 

 should be raised while the wood and buds are 

 still hard and dormant. 



Inasmuch as dark colors absorb heat, and light 

 colors reflect it, Whitten, of the Missouri Experi- 

 ment Station (Bulletin 38), was led to try the 

 effects of whitewashing peach trees for the pur- 

 pose of preventing the premature swelling of the 

 buds. The results were marked and satisfactory. 

 The following quotations explain the method and 

 results: "The expense of whitening is not great. 

 A common lime whitewash was at first used, but 

 it washed off badly during rainy weather. Finally 

 a whitewash of lime, with one -fifth skim milk 

 added to the water, was tried with much more 

 satisfactory results. .About one pound of salt was 

 also dissolved in each bucketful of the whitewash. 

 Four applications of this wash, applied during the 

 winter and spring, are sufficient to keep the peach 

 trees thoroughly whitened. The first whitening 

 should be done early in winter, shortly before 

 Christmas. The wash may be sprayed on with 

 almost any kind of a spray pump. We found the 

 Bordeaux nozzle to be satisfactory, as a solid 

 stream could readily be turned on if the lime 

 clogged the nozzle. The whitening should be 

 repeated as often as the lime is washed off by 

 rains. A good wash, however, will adhere well 

 for weeks. The trees need two sprayings to begin 

 with, just as wood needs two coats of paint in 



