HISTORICAL 7 



bushel lime rubbish from old buildings, one half bushel 

 wood ashes, one sixteenth bushel pit or river sand. The 

 last three are to be sifted fine before they are mixed. 

 Then work them well together with a spade, and afterward 

 with a wooden beater until the stuff is very smooth, hke 

 fine plaster used for the ceilings of rooms." Soapsuds or 

 urine was used to make the composition of the con- 

 sistency of plaster or paint. After being applied it was 

 covered with a sifting of powder made of " dry powder of 

 wood ashes, mixed with the sixth part of the same quan- 

 tity of the ashes of burnt bones." 



Among the early chaff, however, there were some grains 

 of wheat. Thus Robertson in 1821 said : " Sulphur is 

 the only specific remedy that can be named for the 

 treatment of mildew on peaches. It should be mixed 

 with soapsuds and then applied by dashing it violently 

 against the trees by means of a rose syringe ; " thus ad- 

 vocating a remedy which, modified, is still prominent for 

 this class of diseases. 



The aggressiveness of several plant diseases in Europe 

 between 1878 and 1882, particularly the downy mildew 

 upon the grape, which, about 1878, had invaded Europe 

 from America, stimulated a search in the former country 

 for effective spraying mixtures. Trials of many chemicals 

 were made, but it was left to accident to suggest and to 

 the genius of Millardet, of Bordeaux, France, to perfect 

 the happy combination of lime and bluestone that we 

 now know as the Bordeaux mixture. It was customary 

 in certain vineyards to sprinkle a few rows of grapevines 

 near the road with a mixture of milk of lime and bluestone 

 to give them a poisonous appearance to ward off depreda- 



