SPRAYING 149 



some of the most serious plant diseases, such as fruit 

 rot and leaf curl. 



There are now on the market any number of com- 

 mercial mixtures of ready-made lime-sulphur. Some 

 of these are very good, others very poor. No one 

 should use these mixtures extensively without posi- 

 tive proof of their efficiency, which proof can hardly 

 be secured in any other way than by careful tests 

 in one's own orchard. Only reliable manufacturers 

 should be patronized, and new schemes held in 

 grave suspicion. Good home-made lime-sulphur is 

 better than the best commercial ready-made brands. 



SELF-BOILED LIME-SULPHUR 



For summer spraying the lime-sulphur is also 

 useful, but it is used in weaker forms and is usually 

 prepared by the self-boiling process. The most ex- 

 tensive experiments with this spray have been made 

 by Messrs. Scott and Quaintance of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. Their directions 

 for making it may well be quoted : 



"The standard self-boiled lime-sulphur mixture is 

 composed of eight pounds of fresh stone lime and 

 eight pounds of sulphur to 50 gallons of water. In 

 mild cases of brown rot and scab a weaker mixture 

 containing six pounds of each ingredient to 50 gal- 

 lons of water may be used with satisfactory results. 

 The materials cost so little, however, that one should 

 not economize in this direction where a valuable 

 fruit crop is at stake. Any finely powdered sulphur 

 (flowers, flour, or "commercial ground" sulphur) 

 may be used in the preparation of the mixture. 



"In order to secure the best action from the lime, 

 the mixture should be prepared in rather large quan- 

 tities, at least enough for 200 gallons of spray, using 



