166 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF VITICULTURE 



The continuance of the practice of applying dry sulphur to plants either 

 by hand or by means of various mechanical devices from the very beginning 

 of its use up to the present time speaks well of the efficiency and economy of 

 this method. The cost of material and application in this way are undoubt- 

 edly the cheapest. In vineyards located on very uneven land or on steep 

 slopes, this is the only way in which su'phuring can be done. There are 

 certain disadvantages in the use of dry sulphur. This method is the most 

 wasteful of material; the application is best made in the early forenoon 

 while the dew is still on the vines; rain and wind are apt to remove most of 

 the sulphur; in cool weather sulphur is inactive. From time to time the use 

 of liquid sprays have been advocated as a means of avoiding some of the 

 above difficulties. Various attempts have been made to make a spray of 

 sulphur and water or of Bordeaux mixture and sulphur. Dry sulphur, how- 

 ever, seems to have a peculiar aversion to water and when the two are 

 together the sulphur has a perverse way of rolling up in little balls, a part 

 floating on the surface and the remainder sinking to the bottom. As a 

 consequence it is a difficult matter to secure a uniform mixture of the two. 



Wettable Sulphur. Sulphur Pastes. 



Various ways have been suggested for the preparation of sulphur so that 

 it will be readily wetted by watter. Vermorel and Dantonyi reported that if 

 sulphur be mixed with 1 per cent, soap solution, it could be wetted by water. 

 It was found, however, that such a preparation could not be wetted with 

 certain salt solutions or acid copper fungicides. 



Use of Oleic Acid: The difficulty was overcome by mixing 100 kilograms 

 of sulphur with a solution of 200 c. c. of oleic acid in 2 liters of denatured 

 alcohol and evaporating the alcohol. 



Use of Glue: The speakers' attention has also been called to the fact 

 that a weak solution of glue has the property of wetting sulphur.2 The 

 following suggestions were offered for the preparation of a sulphur spray 

 with the aid of glue: 



"A. Make an open box without bottom, six or eight inches deep, of such 

 size that it will fit readily inside of manhole opening in top of spray tank and 

 fasten on outside of box, on opposite sides of same near the top, two pieces 

 of wood sufficiently long to support box in opening of spray tank and prevent 

 its slipping into same. Over the open bottom of box tack a piece of wire 

 cloth, preferably of brass, with 18 or 20 meshes to the linear inch, and over 

 this again tack a piece of ^ or % mesh galvanized wire cloth to support and 

 take the strain away from the light wire cloth. 



"B. Provide a cheap paint brush, round or flat, two or two and a half 

 inches long. 



"For every seven or eight pounds of dry sulphur to be used prepare 

 three gallons of glue solution containing one-half ounce of glue (preferably 

 ground) to the gallon. Place the sulphur in a pail or other convenient recep- 

 ticle and pour on about one gallon of the glue solution and stir vigorously 



1 Vermorel, V., and Dantony, E., Compt. rend., 153, 194. 



2 Communication from Mr. F. H. Pough, Manager Research Department 

 of the Union Sulphur Company, New York. 



