INSECTICIDES 51 



remedy for the pear leaf blister-mite, and the oyster-shell 

 bark-louse. In addition to its insecticidal properties it is an 

 excellent fungicide, and the spring applications just before the 

 buds start are very effective in killing out the wintering spores 

 of various fungous diseases, while the diluted wash is being used as 

 a summer spray for fungous diseases in place of Bordeaux mixture. 



The usual formula is, unslaked stone lime, 20 pounds; flowers 

 (or flour) of sulfur, 15 pounds, water to make 50 gallons. Stir 

 up enough water with the sulfur to make a thick paste. Slake 

 the lime in the vessel in which it is to be cooked with a small 

 quantity of hot water. Then add the sulfur paste to the slaking 

 lime. Add 10 or 15 gallons of water and boil for forty-five min- 

 utes. The mixture may then be diluted to make a barrel of 45 or 

 50 gallons, straining it carefully into the spray barrel or tank. A 

 large iron kettle or hog-scalder may be used for boiling the wash, 

 or where steam can be made available a steam pipe may be 

 run into several barrels and the wash boiled in them. Such 

 barrels may well be placed upon a platform so that the wash 

 may be drawn from them directly into the spray-tank. The 

 materials for making the wash will cost 1^ to 1^ cents per gallon 

 and the labor practically as much more. The leading manufac- 

 turers and dealers in insecticides are now selling concentrated 

 lime-sulfur solution which is all ready for use by merely diluting 

 to the' desired strength, at a rate which will make the solution 

 to be used cost from 1\ to 3 cents per gallon, nearly as cheap 

 as it can be made at home and with the saving of time and a dis- 

 agreeable job. In many communities a central plant makes the 

 wash and can sell it with a fair profit at a low rate. 



8. Home-made Concentrated Lime-sulfur. During the last few 

 seasons many large growers have been making their own con- 

 centrated lime-sulfur solution, and where the quantity to be 

 used warrants, a considerable saving may be effected. The New 

 -York Agricultural Experiment Station has made very careful 

 studies* of the best methods of making and diluting the mixture 

 from which the following is quoted : 



*Bulletins 329 and 330, N. Y. (Geneva) Agricultural Experiment Station. 



