26 The Spraying of Plants. 



replaced, from reasons of economy, by a mixture of the milk 

 of lime and some salt of copper, the sulphate being commonly 

 used, on account of its cheapness. This mixture was of the 

 consistency of cream, and was of a light blue color. It was 

 applied to the vines by means of brooms, or whisks of heath. 

 The design was to apply enough of the mixture to each vine 

 to give it the appearance of having been well poisoned, the 

 operation, of course, being delayed until the period of ripening 

 approached. 



The vines thus treated were the ones which had retained 

 their foliage through the fall of 1882, while others growing 

 further from the road lost their leaves. The cause of the 

 beneficial action of the mixture was soon ascribed to the 

 copper, for lime used alone had proved unsatisfactory as a 

 remedy for mildew. Prillieux and Millardet were among the 

 first to note the effect of the mixture and to ascribe its action 

 to the proper cause ; but Millardet is the one who did the most 

 towards perfecting the mixture and testing its action upon 

 foliage, and upon the mildew. (See frontispiece.) He was 

 materially assisted by U. Gayon, professor of chemistry in the 

 Faculty of Sciences, of Bordeaux. These two may justly be 

 considered the leaders in the study and use of the preparation 

 which was destined to prove superior to all fungicides that 

 have been used to the present day, and which is now so well 

 known, in a modified form, under the name of the Bordeaux 

 mixture . 



Although these men were the most energetic in conducting 

 the work, and the first to publish results, they apparently were 

 not the only ones working in this field. Prillieux asserted 1 

 that the treatments of Jouet and of E. Ferrand were made 

 simultaneously with those of Millardet, and independently of the 

 latter, and that they did not even know of Millardet's investiga- 

 tions. Their work, however, does not appear to have been 

 carried on systematically, nor were results published which go 

 to show that the experiments began so early as did those of 

 Millardet and Gayon. It is consequently to these two men that 

 the honor of having first experimented with the "bouillie 

 bordelaise," as it then began to be called, may be granted, and 

 to Millardet in particular may be given the credit of being the 



1 8ociet4 Rationale d' Agriculture de France, session of Nov. 4, 1885, 590. 



