THE SPRA YING OF FRUITS. 253 



ered by the water. Use an earthen or wooden vessel. When 

 dissolved, pour the solution into the spraying barrel and fill 

 the barrel half full of water. Slake the lime, dilute it to 

 10-15 gallons, and pour this .milk of lime into the barrel 

 through a wire strainer. Do not mix the copper sulphate and 

 lime when less dilute than this, or the resulting Bordeaux will 

 settle quickly. Add enough water to make forty to fifty gal- 

 lons. It is then ready for immediate use. If the mixture is 

 to be used on peach foliage, it is advisable to add two pounds 

 of lime in the above formula. When applied to glossy-leaved 

 plants, it will adhere better if about a pound of hard soap be 

 dissolved in hot water and added to the mixture. Instead of 

 weighing out the ingredients, the operator may simply add 

 lime to a sulphate of copper solution and add occasionally a 

 drop of a solution of ferrocyanide of potassium. When this 

 ferrocyanide ceases to give a red or red-brown color upon 

 being added to the mixture, the operator may know that suffi- 

 cient lime has been added. Five cents' worth of this ferro- 

 cyanide (or yellow prussiate of potash) may be dissolved in a 

 quart or two of water. 



The tendency now is to use a weaker strength of Bordeaux 

 than the 1.6 percent, mixture, especially on plants with tender 

 foliage, as peaches and plums. Three pounds of copper sul- 

 phate and four pounds of lime per barrel seems to give as 

 good results in many cases as the stronger mixture. 



Prepare stock solutions for the Bordeaux-mixture, rather 

 than to make each batch in the quantities called for by the 

 formula, if large quantities are needed. The sulphate of 

 copper may be put into solution and kept in this condition in- 

 definitely, ready for use. A simple method is to dissolve forty 

 or fifty pounds of the sulphate in as many gallons of water, 

 pulverizing the material and hanging it in a coffee-sack in the 

 top of the barrel. A gallon of water, therefore, means a pound 

 of sulphate. The lime may also be slaked and kept in readi- 

 ness for use. Slake it into the creamy condition familiar to 

 masons, cover lightly with water, and then close the box or 

 vessel to prevent the water from evaporating. When making 

 the Bordeaux-mixture, pour the requisite quantity of the stock 

 solution of sulphate of copper into the barrel, and then dilute 

 with four or five times the quantity of water. Now add the 



