UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1217 
Washington, D. C. ▼ December 3, 1924 
MIXING EMULSIFIED MINERAL LUBRICATING OILS WITH DEEP-WELL 
WATERS AND LIME-SULPHUR SOLUTIONS. 
By W. W. Yothers, Entomologist, Fruit-Insect Investigations, Bureau of Ento- 
mology, and J. R. Winston, Pathologist, Fruit-Disease Investigations, Bureau 
of Plant Industry. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Suitability of water available for 
spray mixtures 1 
Methods of treating deep-well water _ 1 
Value of combination, sprays 2 
Stabilized oil emulsions 2 
Page. 
Methods of applying colloidal sub- 
stances 
Experimental results and their com- 
mercial application 5 
Literature cited 5 
SUITABILITY OF WATER AVAILABLE FOR SPRAY MIXTURES. 
More than half of the citrus groves of Florida are located in 
artesian-well districts. A large proportion of the finer grades of 
fruit are grown in groves that are dependent wholly or in part upon 
water from deep wells for spraying purposes. The water from these 
wells is known as hard water, containing compounds of calcium, 
magnesium, sulphur, and other minerals (#, 5, 6) x in such propor- 
tions that the ordinary or unstabilized oil emulsions will not mix 
with it unless the water has been previously treated. 
METHODS OF TREATING DEEP-WELL WATER. 
For several years the citrus growers treated the water with caustic- 
potash fishoil soap before the emulsion was added to it (9). This 
method consisted simply of adding soap to the water until no free 
oil or greasy scum formed when the emulsion was poured in. The 
quantity of soap necessary to accomplish this varied for the dif- 
ferent wells, and each grower had to determine this by trial, A. small 
but measured quantity of soap was dissolved in a barrel of water 
and left standing a few minutes before the emulsion was added. If 
a greasy scum formed, the quantity of soap was insufficient. For 
the next trial a larger proportion of soap was used and the emulsion 
added as before. This was a rather expensive method, since the 
1 Serial numbers (italic) in parentheses refer to "Literature cited.*' at the end of 
this bulletin. 
68005°— 24 
