Self-Boiled Lime-Sulphur 133 



"The lime should be placed in a barrel and enough 

 water poured on to almost cover it. As soon as the lime 

 begins to slake the sulphur should be added after first 

 running it through a sieve to break up the lumps. The 

 mixture should be constantly stirred and more water added 

 as needed to form a thick paste at first and then gradually 

 a thin paste. The lime will supply enough heat to boil the 

 mixture several minutes. As soon as it is well slaked, 

 water should be added to cool the mixture and prevent 

 further cooking. It is then ready to be strained into the 

 spray tank, diluted and applied. 



"The stage at which the cold water should be poured in 

 varies with different limes. Some limes are so sluggish 

 in slaking that it is difficult to obtain enough heat from 

 them to cook the mixture at all, while other limes become 

 intensely hot on slaking and care must be taken not to 

 allow the boiling to proceed too far. If the mixture is 

 allowed to remain hot fifteen or twenty minutes after the 

 slaking is completed, the sulphur gradually goes into solu- 

 tion, combining with the lime to form sulphids, which are 

 injurious to peach foliage. It is therefore very important, 

 especially with hot limes, to cool the mixture quickly by 

 adding a few buckets of water as soon as the lumps of 

 lime have slaked down. The intense heat, violent boiling 

 and constant stirring result in a uniform mixture of finely 

 divided sulphur and lime, with only a very small percentage 

 of the sulphur in solution. The mixture should be strained 

 to take out the coarse particles of lime, but the sulphur 

 should be carefully worked through the strainer." 



