320 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



excellent for spraying trees, and can be used with good success 

 even in spraying potato plants. 



The advantages of the water mixture are ease, safety, even 

 with the careless, and rapidity of application, and that, too, even 

 if the day is windy. Its disadvantages are waste of material, 

 as nearly one-third of the water does not touch the vines, and of 

 course is lost; danger of not stirring the mixture sufficiently 

 often, when the green, being only held in suspension, not dis- 

 solved, settles to the bottom, and the preparation becomes too 

 dilute ; ease with which the green when thus applied is washed 

 off by heavy rains, and the danger of not applying evenly, as 

 the powder suspended in the water is amassed wherever the 

 drops of water settle. Yet from its convenience, and the ease 

 with which the application may be made, this will quite likely 

 be the favorite method. 



After careful experimenting, I have found the flour mixture 

 preferable to all other preparations. The flour makes the green 

 adhere to the vines so that the heaviest rain is powerless to 

 remove it. No second application is needed till enlarged growth 

 of vines demands it. I make the mixture strong one of pow- 

 der to eight of flour so that in making the application we need 

 add only just enough of the mixture that we may be able to 

 see it on the vines. The danger of using the flour mixture 

 consists in the fact that unless used sparingly, the paste will 

 destroy the vines. But it is perfectly easy and entirely safe to 

 use it if the least possible amount be used. I repeat, add only 

 enough that it may be seen. 



I have thus been enabled to safely apply this mixture even 

 to our tender melon and cucumber vines. I would not apply it 

 when the dew is on, as the application will be more even if the 

 vines are dry, and with the strength recommended above will 

 always prove effectual. I think this is the most economical 

 method yet recommended. . By using the flour mixture I have 

 found that two applications are always sufficient for our early 

 varieties, and frequently for later ones; and three applications 

 are in any case all that are needed, even in seasons of heaviest 

 rains. Some prefer to use plaster instead of flour, using forty 



