4 LIME-SULPHUR MIXTURES FOR SUMMER SPRAYING. 
LIME-SULPHUR SPRAYS. 
There are now three lime-sulphur preparations which have con- 
siderable value as fungicides—home-boiled lime-sulphur wash, 
factory-boiled lime-sulphur solution, and_ self-boiled lime-sulphur 
mixture. 
HOME-BOILED LIME-SULPHUR WASH. 
The home-boiled lme-sulphur wash is. the regular wash for the 
San Jose scale which has been used as an insecticide and as a fungicide 
for a number of years. Various formule are used in its preparation, 
but the following seems to meet all requirements: Lime, 20 pounds; 
sulphur, 15 pounds; and water, 50 gallons. The lime, the sulphur, 
and about half of the water are boiled together for about forty-five 
minutes in a kettle over a fire or in a barrel or other suitable tank 
with steam. After straining and diluting to 50 gallons the wash is 
ready for application to the trees. Practically all of the sulphur 
goes into solution and combines with the lime in the form of mono- 
sulphid, polysulphid, and thiosulphate. 
For spraying trees in the dormant state this wash may be substi- 
tuted for Bordeaux mixture as a fungicide, and it is a common prac- 
tice in some sections to use it for the peach leaf-curl. Being both an 
insecticide and a fungicide, it makes a good combination treatment 
for the San Jose scale and leaf-curl. It is injurious to foliage, 
however, and can not be safely used as a summer spray unless greatly 
diluted, and then not effectively on the peach. 
FACTORY-BOILED OR COMMERCIAL LIME-SULPHUR SOLUTION. 
The factory-boiled lime-sulphur solution is a concentrated solution 
of practically the same composition as the homemade wash and is 
placed on the market as a substitute for the latter by several repu- 
table firms. The home-boiled wash is troublesome to make and does 
not keep well owing to crystallization of the sulphur, so that the pre- 
pared wash, which keeps indefinitely and is ready to use when received, 
requiring only dilution with water, is becoming popular. There is 
some variation in the strength of the solutions made by different 
firms, but they usually contain 24 to 3 pounds of sulphur to each 
gallon and register 25° to 32° on the Baumé hydrometer scale. 
For insects and diseases on dormant trees a strength of 1 gallon of 
the solution to 9 to 11 gallons of water is the usual recommendation, 
and this strength appears to give satisfactory results. For summer 
use, however, the solution requires a very much greater dilution and 
it can not be safely used at any effective strength on peach trees in 
foliage. According to our experience during last season a strength 
of 1 to 25 can be used on apples without any serious injury, but a 
stronger wash appears to be unsafe. 
[Cirs 271 
