SPRAYING FOR INSECTS AND FUNGI. 153 



arsenic solution is used early it is safe, and it destroys 

 about all other leaf -eating insects of these fruits. 



The strawberry worm is checked in its work by spray- 

 ing with a very weak solution of arsenic and lime if the 

 work is done when the first scattering holes appear in the 

 leaves. If neglected until the fruit is half grown it will 

 not answer to spray with poison, but its work may be 

 prevented the next season by mowing, and when dry, 

 burning over the patch, which usually requires a sprinkling 

 of straw. The strawberry-leaf roller is difficult to reach 

 with poisons before the crop ripens. But spraying in 

 August will kill the second brood and their career for the 

 next season will be stopped. In applying the different 

 classes of remedies the use of a standard work on spraying 

 will prove an aid to the close-observing cultivators; such 

 a work includes insects that only become numerous in 

 localities over the Union. 



The flat-headed and round-headed borers of fruit trees 

 (130) have been treated in times past with sprays and 

 washes to keep the insects from the trees, but all have been 

 failures in whole or in .part. The sure treatment is to 

 crush them in their burrows with a flexible wire as stated 

 and use the soap wash as a repellent. 



162. Spraying for Fungous Diseases The Bordeaux 

 Mixture. It is an interesting fact pertaining to the now 

 general use of the sulphate of copper for controlling the 

 fungous diseases of cultivated plants that its value for such 

 use was discovered by chance (155). In south France 

 near the city of Bordeaux, grape-vines near the highway 

 suffered loss by stealing of the ripe fruit. The practice 

 soon became quite general of sprinkling the foliage near 

 the highway with a solution of milk of lime and sulphate 

 of copper. This colored the leaves and gave rise to the 

 belief that the fruit was poisoned. It was soon noticed 



