IOC. THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



"Scalecide" nothing is added, but the amount of mineral oil is 

 increased. "Kill-O-Scale has about 65 per cent, of actual 

 mineral oil; "Scalecide" between 70 and 75 per cent. Roughly 

 speaking, both of these are liquid petroleum soaps which dis- 

 solve readily and completely in water. 



"Target brand" is an emulsion or mechanical mixture of 

 about 65-70 per cent, of mineral oil with about 20 per cent, of 

 a heavy vegetable oil and the distillate is a white one more like 

 the ordinary fuel oil in appearance. 



In addition to the oils there is from 10 to 15 per cent, of 

 water and alkali in these coml)inations and this leads to a 

 chance for a little mild trickery. When a circular tells a 

 farmer or fruit grower that a given mixture contains 90 per 

 cent, oil, the farmer is apt to assume that he means petroleum 

 or mineral oil ; but what is really meant is that there is not over 

 10 per cent, of water in the combination and there may not be, 

 actually, more than 50-60 degrees of petroleum. 



Using "Scalecide" as an example, if the material is wliat it 

 (Hight to be, you can pour one ounce of it into 20 ounces of 

 water and it will immediately begin to dissolve and to turn the 

 water a milkv white. W'itl: a little stirring the material dis- 

 solves completely and leaves aljsolutely no sediment and no 

 scum. It is a perfectly homogenous mixture and every drop 

 of it is of equal value as an insecticide. Only about 3^2 de- 

 grees of the mixture is actual petroleum and not 5 per cent, is 

 oil of any kind, and yet this mixture thoroughly applied will 

 kill every scale it touches and has actually cleaned badly in- 

 fested trees so completely that not a living specimen could be 

 found the season following. But it required more than one 

 treatment to accomplish this result and we have found that 

 under ordinary orchard conditions and in ordinary hands the 

 1 to 20 dilution is not sufficiently reliable; but at the rate of 1 

 to 15, giving approximately 5 per cent, of actual mineral oil 

 the results are good in proportion to the care and thoroughness 

 with which the work is done. 



There are two reasons why the weaker mixture is not al- 

 ways nor entirely satisfactory. If it is put on sparingly there 

 is not oil enougli to penetrate a densely set mass of scales so as 

 to reach all in the lower layer and there are apt to be missed 



