ORNAMENTAL AND PRACTICAL GARDLNING. 



281 



of sulphate of copper and 4 lbs, of lime we may now use 

 45 gallons of water, instead of 22 gallons as heretofore 

 recommended. This not only makes the mixture one- 

 half cheaper, but also much more convenient to apply. 

 Still, the lime is apt to give trouble by clogging the noz- 

 zles unless great care is taken in preparing the mixture. 

 Professor Galloway advises straining the lime-water into 

 the copper solution through a gunny-bag. Last year we 

 attempted to strain the ready-made mixture through the 

 strainer of the knapsack sprayer. This experiment did 

 not succeed ; but we found another quite convenient 

 way of getting over the difficulty. Stir the mixture thor- 

 oughly, then allow the coarse sediment of the lime to 



The greatest difficulty in the preparation of the latter 

 has been that of obtaining the ingredients at anything 

 like a reasonable cost. Not an ounce of carbonate of 

 copper could we find in Niagara Falls or Buffalo a year 

 or two ago, One of the drug-stores in Buffalo procured 

 some for us from New York at an outrageous price. Nor 

 will we always be able to get strong ammonia in country 

 drug-stores. They keep ammonia-water of 14° to 16° 

 strength, which is worthless for our purposes, but not 

 liquid ammonia of 22° to 26' strength, which we desire. 

 We found a small supply of ammonia 26° in strength the 

 other day in a Buffalo drug-store, but had to pay at the 

 rate of $2 a gallon for it, the druggist, however, agreeing 



A Wild Spot at "Woodbanks " transfor.vied i.nto a Pretty Glade. (From a photograph.) 



settle, and immediately pour or dip off the clear blue 

 liquid from above the lime. If you wait too long the 

 copper also will sink to the bottom, leaving a colorless 

 liquid on top, which is little more than lime-water. The 

 blue liquid, dipped off in proper time, can easily be 

 strained through the sieve of the knapsack sprayer, and 

 will give no further trouble. Stir the mixture just before 

 putting it into the sprayer. We shall not dread the job 

 of spraying with the Bordeaux mixture thus made, more 

 than spraying with the ammoniacal solution of carbonate 

 of copper, or with any other of the liquid fungicides in 

 ordiaary use. 



to furnish it at $1.25 a gallon in larger quantities. This 

 makes the spraying solution by far too expensive. For- 

 tunately we found a cheaper way of getting it last year 

 in buying the prepared mixture known as copperdine, 

 This is simply 3 ounces carbonate of copper dissolved 

 in I quart liquid ammonia. A gallon of this prepara- 

 tion is enough to make 100 gallons of spraying mixture, 

 when properly diluted with water. It is sold at Si- 50 a 

 gallon, and much cheaper in large quantities. If Pro- 

 fessor Van Slyke, who recently stated before the Western 

 New York Horticultural Society that "it costs three or 

 four times as much as it ought to," will tell us how we can 



