The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXVIII 



FEBRUARY, 1915 



No. 



What Lime and Sulphur Has Done for the Fruit Grower 



Walter E. Biggar, Chief Inspector of Fruit Pests, Hamilton, Ont. 



¥ T 0\V do the fruits grown at the it will seldom live for more than three 

 I — I present time compare with those years. Orchards that have been kept 

 •!■ ■*■ .„ t.„<.„t„ „^o,-o orrrv? Thpv ^gjj gprayed , although known to have 



T 0\V do the fruits grown at the 

 present time compare with those 

 grown twenty years ago? They 

 are absolutely superior in size, color, and 

 in keeping quality. What has brought 

 about this change, and how have we suc- 

 ceeded in getting eighty or ninety per 

 cent, of the fruit No. i where formerly 

 only thirty or forty per cent, would grade 

 No. I.? By the application of scientific 

 methods in treatment, care, cultivation, 

 and spraying. 



By an intelligent system of pruning, 

 we have increased the size and added 

 to the color of our fruit. By knowing 

 the life history of the insect pests and 

 diseases which affect our trees, we know 

 what remedies to apply and the season 

 to apply them in order to effectually rid 

 our fruit from disease and pests. This 

 leaves the tree free to devote all its vigor 

 to growing the fruit to perfection. 



We can not expect a tree to grow as 

 perfect fruit when its leaves, which are 

 the lungs of the tree, are riddled and 

 half eaten away by shot-hole fungus, as 

 we would a tree with good healthy foli- 

 age. Neither can we expect pears or 

 apples, which are attacked by scab and 

 dwarfed and cracked by disease, to be 

 of much value. We have learned that the 

 remedy must be applied before the tree 

 has reached a certain stage in the sea- 

 son's growth, for if delayed a few days 

 or a week later, we need expect but little 

 benefit from the remedy used. We can 

 effectually control curl leaf in peaches 

 by applying lime and sulphur spray be- 

 fore the terminal buds swell, but if spray- 

 ing is delayed a week after the buds 

 swell, the remedy fails. 



The beneficial effects on fruit trees 

 derived from the use of lime and sulphur 

 are wonderful. By spraying with lime 

 and sulphur we not only rid our trees of 

 San Jose Scale, but also destroy tent cater- 

 pillar, canker worm, and oyster shell 

 scale, and also prevent fungus disease 

 from attacking the foliage for a while 

 after. One can easily distinguish from 

 the foliage alone, the sprayed from th«- 

 unsprayed orchard. The foliage on the 

 sprayed orchard will be dark green and 

 will remain on the trees later in the fall 

 ihan it will in the unsprayed orchard. 

 Once an orchard gets infested with San 

 Jose Scale, is neglected and not sprayed. 



been badly infested with scale fifteen 

 years ago, are good, healthy orchards 

 to-day, free from scale, and bearing 

 good crops of fruit. 



The kinds of lime and sulphur sprays 

 most extensively used are the concen- 

 trated or commercial lime and sulphur 

 and the home-boiled. The home-boiled 

 lime and sulphur is prepared by using 

 fifteen pounds of sulphur and twenty- 

 two to twenty-four pounds of fresh lime, 

 boiled for one hour or an hour and a 

 quarter. This quantity is sufficient with 

 hot water added to make forty gallons 

 ready to go on the trees, and is prefer- 

 ably used while hot. Orchards where 

 this mixture has been used for a number 

 of years have been found remarkably 

 free from San Jose Scale. The concen- 

 trated or commercial solution can be 



used for orchards badly infested with 

 scale by adding one gallon to six or 

 seven of water, and for orchards not in- 

 fested with scale one gallon to twelve 

 gallons of water. 



In order to obtain the full benefit from 

 lime and sulphur, the following rules 

 should be followed : Scrape off all loose 

 bark and thoroughly prune the trees. If 

 it is an old orchard and the trees are 

 tall, prune them to make them low- 

 headed trees. Then spray thoroughly, 

 covering every branch. If the orchard 

 is infested with scale and not thoroughly 

 sprayed, the scale will gradually increase 

 and finally destroy the orchard. In short, 

 work that is but half done is not done 

 at all. Where growers have neglected 

 to spray at the proper time or have not 

 sprayed at all, I have seen plum or- 

 chards almost entirely stripped of their 

 foliage by shot hole fungus, except per- 

 haps a few leaves on the tips of the 



Ah eaiiily operated, eaiiily moved tvprayiay iiia<;liinf^ useful fop small orchurds. 



Co., Rochester, N.Y. 

 2S 



The K. C. Brown 



