PARK AND CEMETERY. 
229 
cial firms and has generally proved en- 
tirely satisfactory. 
As the business firms putting up this ma- 
terial have, or should have, all the ap- 
paratus necessary for good work, under or- 
dinary conditions it would not pay the av- 
erage man to spend time and labor in the 
disagreeable task of making it. It may be. 
however, that a large fruit grower has the 
facilities for making the wash or perhaps 
the commercial companies have formed a 
combine and raised the price. To prevent 
an undue rise in price, therefore, it is 
necessary that the ordinary fruit grower 
should know just how this material is 
made. The formula is as follows : 
fifty pounds fresh unslaked lime. 
One hundred pounds sulphur thoroughly 
and finely pulverized. 
Water to make fifty gallons. 
The lime must be as pure as can be ob- 
tained— at least 90 per cent oxide; 95 per 
cent is better. Hydrated or the slaked 
form of lime may be used. It takes one- 
third more hydrated, and the heat of slak- 
ing is lost. Under no conditions, however, 
should air-slaked lime be used. In making 
this material, ten gallons of water are 
placed in a large iron kettle. The fire is 
started and then the lime is added. As 
soon as the slaking starts, add the sulphur 
and mix thoroughly. Great care should be 
taken not to burn the sulphur and not to 
drown the lime. A happy medium is nec- 
essary for the best results. When the lime 
is thoroughly slaked and in the condition 
of thin paste, the rest of the water is add- 
ed. It is best to give an excess of water 
and boil down to the correct volume. Thor- 
ough stirring is absolutely necessary. (One 
should wear goggles and always keep to 
the windward.) Boil until the granules are 
all dissolved. To determine this, dip out 
a quantity and examine the pouring closely. 
Sometimes forty minutes will suffice for 
the boiling. At other times, it will take 
two hours, depending upon the material 
The principal insect pest that we have to 
contend with here in Buffalo is the tus- 
sock moth. This caterpillar has caused a 
vast amount of injury to the foliage of 
Buffalo, but we have it practically under 
control at the present time. 
Our method of elimination has been to 
spray with arsenate of lead, at the rate of 
one pound to ten gallons of water. This 
solution is applied approximately from the 
25th day of May until the 1st of July, de- 
pending largely on weather conditions. We 
have always found this to be quite effective, 
one application doing the work. We have 
been greatly handicapped in our work 
owing to the carelessness of the property 
owners in not having the trees on private 
property taken care of. 
After the spraying campaign is finished 
and the caterpillars have gone into cocoon, 
used. From fifty to sixty minutes are gen- 
erally necessary. If boiled too little, the 
sediment increases. The same may be said 
of too much boiling, but, of the two, too 
much is better than too little. The ma- 
terial is then strained immediately into the 
barrel or spray tank. The sludge may then 
be thrown away, although it does no harm. 
The S. G. of the boiled material should be 
about 1.24 or 28.5 Baume. The material 
should always be tested before diluting for 
use. In the commercial products, greater 
densities are obtained, usually about 1.30 
S. G. or 33.5 Baume Scale. In such cases 
there should be a guarantee that the ma- 
terial contains no extra, unnecessary in- 
gredients. Otherwise the S. G. reading will 
be of no use. 
i 
As stated before, there is no important 
advantage in the home preparation of this 
material. The knowledge of how to make 
it guards against extortion. 
Properly protected, this lime-sulphur can 
be preserved indefinitely. It must not, how- 
ever, be left exposed to the air or allowed 
to evaporate. The material should not be 
stored in vinegar barrels nor should certain 
arsenicals be mixed with the material. In 
storing in an open vessel, it should be 
covered with any heavy oil. Freezing does 
not hurt the material, except that it may 
burst the containers. 
In getting the correct amount of dilution 
for spraying, the decimal of the S. G. of 
the concentrate is divided by the decimal 
of the spray desired. This will give the 
total dilution necessary. For instance, for 
scale insects, a S. G. of 1.03 is necessary; 
for apple scab, a S. G. of 1.01. If the S. G. 
of the material in hand is 1.30, then the 
amount of dilution for the scale spray is 
10 ; for the scab it is 30. In almost all bul- 
letins or discussions on the subject of lime- 
sulphur there are tables giving the correct 
dilution for every S. G. If one remembers 
the principle, however, the dilution can 
readily be worked out. 
we send our men throughout the streets 
to collect and destroy all cocoons that can 
be found. This is quite an expensive op- 
eration, yet it is almost necessary to work 
the two in conjunction with each other — 
that is, the spraying and the destroying of 
the cocoons — in order to meet with any 
great degree of success. 
We have had a few minor pests to deal 
with, such as the web worm, tent caterpil- 
lar and some of the scale insects, and at 
certain seasons we have found it necessary 
to spray the aphis. 
We have seventeen power sprayers and 
several hand sprayers, which enable us to 
take care of practically every tree in the 
city of Buffalo. The spraying, however, is 
but a small part of our tree work. 
During the past five years we have pruned 
and otherwise treated practically every tree 
In using lime-sulphur, copper in all its 
forms is to be avoided. Iron or brass parts 
of spray pumps are preferable. In any 
case, however, the spray machinery should 
be thoroughly washed out with clear water 
after each and every spraying. 
In our investigations at the experiment 
station we have found that iron sulphate, 
three pounds to fifty gallons, adds very 
much to the sticking qualities and possibly 
adds somewhat to its stomach insecticidal 
value. This is a point we are working out 
at the present time. 
For red spiders on trees often the lime- 
sulphur does not seem to spread very 
evenly over the smooth leaves. It is found 
that soap, which ordinarily is used as a 
spreader for other insecticides, is not only 
useless, but harmful with this material. Re- 
cently it has been found that flour paste 
acts as an excellent spreader with lime- 
sulphur; in the preparation of the paste 
one pound of flour is used in each gallon 
of water. The material is cooked until a 
paste is formed. Eight gallons of this paste 
is required for 100 gallons of the spray 
mixture. 
Although we have found that lime-sul- 
phur is a good all-around spray, it would 
not be wise to depend upon it for all leaf- 
eating insects. Hence, some stomach in- 
secticide is usually added. The only arsen- 
ical insecticide that can be used in combi- 
nation with lime-sulphur is arsenate of lead. 
Never use any other form. 
The poor results from spraying that one 
so often hears about are due, nine times 
out of ten, to poor spraying, poor in its 
application and poor in the amount spread 
over the individual tree. Ordinarily, spray- 
ing should stop just before the material be- 
gins to run off in large drops. Thorough- 
ness with all sprays is essential, and this 
holds just as true fot* the lime-sulphur as 
with the others. Every leaf and branch of 
the tree must be well covered, and the 
stronger the pressure behind the nozzle, the 
better. 
IN BUFFALO 
on every street in the city. We have an 
annual appropriation of $75,000, which en- 
ables us to maintain quite a large working 
force. 
Each fall and spring we plant new trees 
on thoroughfares that are more or less 
barren, using one variety on a street and 
planting them at equal distances apart, 
thereby assuring uniformity for all time. 
We have planted over 25,000 young trees 
ranging from 3 to 5 inches in diameter 
during the past five years. These trees are 
making rapid progress and will undoubt- 
edly add much to the beauty of the city, 
which is famed far and wide for the lux- 
uriousness of its tree growth. 
The city of Buffalo is doing more work 
each year in the care and preservation of 
the street trees than any other city in the 
United States. 
FIGHTING THE TUSSOCK MOTH 
By FI. B. Filer, City Forester, Buffalo, N. Y. 
