26 



SPRAYING CROPS 



g-allons it makes very effective insecticide and renders 

 the mixture more adhesive. 



Care should be taken not to use the Bordeaux 

 mixture on fruit crops too late in the season. Traces 

 of it remain for some tmie, notwithstanding nimierous 

 rains, and are liable to cause unnecessary suspicions 

 when on marketed fruit. When a fruit crop requires 

 treatment within a month of the time of picking, it is 

 better to substitute some fungicide like carbonate of 

 copper, but it is doubtful if even these combinations 

 should be applied so near the time of the fruit harvest. 

 \\^ith nearly, if not quite all our fruit diseases, the 

 treatment should begin early and not continue 

 too late. 



The experience of orchardists indicates that there 

 is danger in using Bordeaux mixture in which there 

 is not an excess of lime, as it causes a russeting of 

 apples somewhat similar to that caused by late frosts 

 in spring. 



It somietimes happens that traces of Bordeaux 

 mixture remain upon the fruit, even when a consid- 

 erable interval elapses between the last application 

 and the ripening of the fruit. Such traces may be 

 easily removed by dipping in a solution made by 

 adding 2 gallons cider vinegar to 10 gallons water. 

 A good way is to have three tubs, one holding the 

 vinegar mixture and the other two pure water. Then 

 place the grapes or other fruit in wire baskets holding 

 15 to 20 pounds, dip them in the vinegar tub for 

 five minutes and then rinse in the two tubs of clear 

 water, afterwards spreading the fruit on frames or 

 shelves, something like those used in the fruit evap- 

 orators. Grapes can be treated in this way on a 

 large scale for six cents a hundred pounds. 



Carbonate of Copper — This is commonly used in 

 the form of an ammoniacal solution made bv dis- 



