THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 131 



they are lodged. The principal one of these mixtures, 

 which is known as Bordeaux (pronounced bordo), is made 

 as follows : 



EXERCISE 37 



Object. — To learn how to make Bordeaux mixture. 



Procedure. — Dissolve four ounces of blue vitriol in a 

 stone jar or wooden bucket — a tin one will be destroyed 

 by the vitriol — containing three and one eighth gallons 

 of water. 



Place four ounces of fresh unslacked, or stone lime in 

 another bucket or jar containing the same amount of 

 water. 



When the hme is thoroughly mixed with the water, pour 

 the contents of both buckets or jars into a third jar or 

 wooden bucket large enough to contain all of it. 

 . You have now made the standard Bordeaux mixture at 

 the rate of four pounds of hme and four pounds of blue 

 vitriol to fifty gallons of water. 



If you place a clean, bright knife blade in the blue 

 vitriol solution before adding it to the lime mixture, a 

 coating of copper will form over its surface. This should 

 not occur in the Bordeaux mixture. If even a slight 

 copper coating appears when the knife blade is placed in 

 it, you should add more lime, as otherwise the mixture 

 will " burn " the leaves of your potatoes or apple trees 

 when it is applied. 



Conclusion. — By applying this mixture when the buds 

 of the apple are just showing pink, the destructive apple 

 scab may be controlled. 



If this mixture is applied to potatoes when they are 

 about six inches high, and every two weeks thereafter, the 

 dry rot, or late blight, will be held in check. In the year 

 of 1905, this disease caused a loss of fifty million dollars 

 in the state of New York alone. 



