144 THE AMERICAN APPLE ORCHARD 



SOLUBLE OILS 



At the present moment there is much interest in the 

 so-called soluble oils sold under proprietary names 

 such as "target brand," "kil-o-scale," "scalecide," 

 etc. These seem to be giving- especially good re- 

 sults on young and medium-sized apple trees in south- 

 ern and middle latitudes. They have not generally 

 been found successful in the northern states, and it 

 seems certain that they cannot be relied on anywhere 

 to give results equal to lime-sulphur mixture properly 

 made and thoroughly put on. They also cost from 50 

 to 100 per cent more than the lime-sulphur spray. 

 Their great advantage is the ease with which they are 

 made up. The oil is simply poured into the water 

 with which (under favorable conditions) it mixes 

 instantly, and the outfit starts immediately for the 

 orchard. All the tiresome and supremely disagreeable 

 work of making up the lime-sulphur is obviated. 



Anyone who has many acres of apple trees south of 

 Pennsylvania infected with San Jose scale ought to 

 experiment carefully with fall and winter applications 

 of soluble oil ; but as the case stands at this writing he 

 should make it a real experiment and be perfectly sure 

 that the scale is being radically suppressed before 

 committing himself to this form of insecticide. 



COMBINED INSECTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES 



In actual practice the custom is to combine an in- 

 secticide with a fungicide. Bordeaux mixture is the 

 fungicide in almost universal use, and the various in- 

 secticides are mixed with this. What really goes 

 through the spray pump, therefore, is bordeaux mix- 

 ture plus paris green, or bordeaux plus arsenate of 



