56 
ounce to the quart of diluted soap. This was true of the Leggett brand 
of soap now on the market, which in the matter of solidifying in dilution 
has lost the characteristics of the old brands and seems no better than 
any other soap in this particular. 
The possibility of making soap with caustic soda suitable for spray- 
ing purposes as a winter wash by the addition of lime was now aban 
doned, and a number of formulas were tried for making soap with 
caustic potash (potassium hydrate). With this lye and fish oil we 
secured good soaps for spraying purposes, not very hard but behaving 
admirably in solution. Caustic potash and oil, as we have pointed out 
in former papers, yields ordinarily a soft soap, unless there has been a 
very considerable admixture of hard fats with the oils. We found that 
without considerable boiling a potash oil soap would ordinarily retain 
about 25 to 30 per cent water, as in Good’s No.3. This amount can be 
reduced by prolonged boiling to almost any extent, but the expense of 
boiling after two or three hours becomes a considerable item. The soap 
thus obtained agrees practically with Good’s No. 3, the composition of 
which was verified for us by a chemical analysis kindly made by the 
Department chemist, Dr. Wiley. Our examination of the soap question 
up to the present time seems to indicate that we will have to insist on 
a potash soap made with a fair quality of fish or menhadden oil, and 
that the water should be eliminated by boiling so as not to exceed at 
the outside 25 per cent of the weight of soap. Such soap can be used 
at the rate of 2 pounds to 24 pounds or more to the gallon of water as 
a winter wash without difficulty. In buying soap the manufacturer 
should be given to understand that unless the soap comes up to the 
requirements payment will not be made, and he should be required to 
deliver it subject to the test at his own risk. Without taking some 
positive stand like this, and making the manufacturer suffer when the 
character of his product warrants it, it seems impossible to teach them 
any lesson which remains very longin mind. The constant temptations 
on their part, from the standpoint of profit, is to use refuse oils and fats 
of all sorts and inferior grades of potash, if potash be used at all, 
which is very rare, and the result is a thorough uncertainty in the 
product. 
THE RESIN WASHES OR COMPOUNDS. 
The resin wash is distinctively a California insecticide, used there 
much more generally than kerosene emulsion and ordinarily employed 
in the important citrus districts extending from Los Angeles to Red- 
lands. It is often prepared, and the work of spraying is often done by 
contractors, who agree to clear orchards from scale at a given charge 
per gallon, usually 4 cents. For small trees, 5 years old and under, 1 
gallon is sufficient per tree. Trees of twenty or thirty years’ growth 
require from 6 to 8 gallons. | 
The formula for this wash varies in different sections. The summer wash usually 
contains 20 pounds of resin, 5 pounds of crude caustic soda (78 per cent) or 3} pounds 
Acar 
