Historical 5 



ment of mildew on peaches. It should be mixed with soap- 

 suds and then applied by dashing it violently against the 

 trees by means of a rose syringe;" thus advocating a rem- 

 edy which, modified, is still prominent for this class of 



The aggressiveness of several plant diseases in Europe 

 between 1878 and 1882, particularly the downy-mildew 

 upon the grape, which, al)out 1878, had invaded Europe 



Fig. 2. — Millardet, 183S-1902, father of the 

 Bordeaux mixture. Professor at the Univer- 

 sity of Bordeaux. 



from America, stimulated a search in the former country 

 for effective spraying mixtiu-es. 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 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 



