THE VARIOUS FORMS OF SULFUR 193 



barrel of water. It will dissolve much more quickly in this 

 way than if thrown into the barrel. In fact, it never will dis- 

 solve if merely thrown into the barrel, as the water immediately 

 surrounding the crystals soon becomes saturated and as this 

 solution is heavier than plain water it remains right in the bottom 

 of the barrel. The amounts mentioned give us one pound of 

 copper sulfate to each gallon of water. 



The "stock solution" of lime is prepared in the same general 

 way. Fifty pounds of lime is slacked in a barrel, taking care 

 to use enough water to prevent the lime from ' ' burning, " as it is 

 called, which makes it flaky so that it is likely to clog the nozzles. 

 After it is slacked enough water is added to make 50 gallons. 



With the stock solutions thus prepared the making of a cask 

 of Bordeaux mixture is a very simple matter. The ideal way 

 is to have two half barrels, into one of which we measure four 

 gallons of the copper sulfate solution and into the other four 

 gallons of the lime water. Then add to each enough water to 

 make 25 gallons. Next pour the diluted lime into the spray 

 cask, add the copper sulfate solution, agitate thoroughly and the 

 mixture is ready to apply. Or, better yet, the two solutions 

 may be allowed to run into the cask simultaneously. A man may 

 introduce several variations in the procedure and still be quite 

 successful, but the thing which must be avoided always is mixing 

 the lime and copper sulfate in concentrated solutions. This 

 invariably leads to trouble, a thick, cheesy precipitate being 

 formed which will clog the nozzles and will not stick to the 

 trees, and is unsatisfactory in various other ways. 



Now is there anything so complicated in this operation of 

 preparing Bordeaux mixture that a good, intelligent orchardist 

 cannot master it? The writer would vote most emphatically 

 "no" and has no patience with those who argue that ready-made 

 Bordeaux should be bought because the farmer cannot prepare it 

 properly. There may be something in the argument of saving 

 time and bother, but not in the argument of "lack of ability." 



The Various Forms of Sulfur. Just at the present time 

 there seems to be a very marked interest in sulfur sprays. New 

 forms are constantly being introduced by manufacturers and 

 13 



