1903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
7o7 
PAINTING TREES FOR PROTECTION. 
Pure Kerosene for the Scale. 
Will Prof. W. B. Alwood give us further particulars 
as to the use of white load and linseed oil for the pre¬ 
vention of gnawing of apple trees (page 644)? What 
proportions does he mix them, and how heavily does he 
apply? We have about 6,000 young trees, and have had 
a good deal of trouble with rabbits. We are also having 
a hard fight against San Jo.s6 scale. What about the 
advisability of using an emulsion of kerosene with whale- 
oil soap? Something should be done before next Spring, 
as the scale has increased very rapidly this Summer. 
We have used crude petroleum in a 25 per cent mixture 
vith good results, but have had great trouble in. finding 
a pump that was entirely reliable for that kind of work. 
Do you know whether crude oil could bo satisfactorily 
substituted in the above emulsion instead of the refined? 
We have strongly considered the lime, sulphur and salt 
treatment, but the trouble of preparing is much against 
its general use. c. j. ttson. 
Pennsylvania. 
I buy the lead in kegs, then mix the same with pure 
linseed oil, making the paint of a consistency for 
good heavy outside coat work on a building, apply¬ 
ing so as to coat the trees quite heavily. My plan is 
to remove the earth from around the trees a day or 
£0 in advance, then when the trunks have become dry. 
1 brush them with a stiff brush and remove the par¬ 
ticles of dirt and also rough bark, and thus leave a 
fairly smooth surface on which to apply the paint. 
AVe make the application from two inches below the 
surface of the soil to 12 to 18 inches above; one may 
apply it as high up as desired. Before applying the 
paint, however, carefully search for borers, and 
wherever they are found cut them out, removing with 
a sharp knife all the injured tissue, then coat the 
wound over with the paint. With us we have not 
found it necessary to repaint apple trees oftener than 
once in two years. It works perfectly in protecting 
the trees from rabbits and mice. 
Referring to the San Jose scale, I have had the 
usual trouble in using emulsion pumps and have prac¬ 
tically abandoned them. We are in a slight way using 
kerosene emulsion especially on peach, and we find 
that the standard kerosene emulsion diluted only 
twice with water is quite safe on peach, and fairly ef¬ 
fective in destroying the scale, but we do not advise 
the large use of .erosene emulsion on orchards, be¬ 
cause it is not as effective as other remedies, and is 
very expensive. Crude oil can be substituted In the 
emulsion if you wish to do so, but we think that one 
might as well apply the crude oil direct to the trees, 
and if this is done late in the Spring, just before the 
buds push, there seems to be little danger attending 
the operation. However, in all my work I have had 
such excellent results with pure kerosene that I pre¬ 
fer it in the main over other oils for work, especially 
on apple trees. We find that it you will use a strong 
force pump equipped with a fine Vermorel nozzle, 
having an orifice of about one-twentieth of an inch, 
.vou can spray apple trees, pear trees, and if great 
caution is used, peach and plum trees with pure kero¬ 
sene, so as quite thoroughly to moisten the trees and 
yet not destroy them. In fact, with apple and pear 
trees there is almost no danger, but with peach and 
plum there is always danger. This spray is applied in 
a fine mist, and caution observed not to let the oil 
accumulate on the plants, so as to run down the 
trunks. It penetrates thoroughly and kills the in¬ 
sects with great certainty. We are now, however, hop¬ 
ing that the lime, sulphur and salt wash will super¬ 
sede the use of oils, which can never be considered 
quite satisfactory for general orchard work. In our 
experience we find that we can make an excellent 
lime, sulphur and salt wash by using 50 pounds of 
lime, 40 pounds of sulphur and 15 pounds of salt. 
The lime is slaked in hot water, and just as it is at 
the most violent point of ebullition the dry sulphur is 
poured upon it, and the mass worked together with a 
large hoe, just as a laborer prepares mortar. We 
liave a tank of hot water so situated that we can 
quickly turn hot water into the vat in which the lime 
is slaking so as to keep the same in a soft, mush.v 
condition; and in this manner of working the sulphur 
into the lime while it is slaking, constantly using hot 
water for keeping the mixture in a soft, mushy con¬ 
dition, we bring the sulphur into solution very rapid¬ 
ly, and form the sulphides of lime which, in our opin¬ 
ion, are the destructive agencies in this wash. When 
the lime is thoroughly slaked we then add say 50 gal¬ 
lons of boiling water and bring the whole mass to a 
boil for a few minutes, then add the salt, fill up the 
tank to the 100 gallons and the material is ready for 
the spray tank. The long boiling recommended by 
many people seems to be unnecessary, and this very 
much lightens the labor of making this wash. We 
think that one needs a steam outfit for furnishing hot 
water and for cooking this mixture. Where this wash 
m well made and applied hot as possible in the dor¬ 
mant season it is quite effective in killing the scale, 
but it is not as effective as the oil treatment. 
Virginia Experiment Station. wji. it. alwood. 
THE DAISY FLEA-BANE. 
The following statement apeared in a local paper 
in northern Pennsylvania some months ago. It is 
from the pen of an educated man who is one of the 
most successful dairymen in Bradford County: 
The season of 1902 was remarkable for a light growth 
of grasses and an abundant growth of white daisy, and 
a common plant growing from IVz to three feet high pro¬ 
fusely covered with small white flowers, in our meadows. 
This last-mentioned plant made the bulk of our hay crop. 
V^ery many acres of meadow were so completely covered 
with this plant that it was cut and left on the ground 
or left uncut. We had an abundance of barn room, so 
we cut and stored all of our weeds, expecting to use them 
principally for bedding after the cows had picked out 
the hay. We cut a very fine second crop of clover that 
was put away for Spring feeding. We fed the weedy 
hay in connection with silage. The rejected stalks and 
stems were relished by the horses, and we had to use 
straw for bedding. W. R. Sims stored all of his weedy 
hay in one mow. He put his second crop of clover hay 
on a mow of very fine one-year-old Timothy hay. While 
his cows were dr 5 ' ho fed them the weedy hay. When 
they freshened he fed the clover hay, and took at each 
I'.aul to the creamery 223 pounds of milk. When the 
clover was used up he b('gan feeding Timothy hay. His 
tirst haul from this ration was 213 pounds, the .second 
was 203 pounds, the third 192 pounds. He then changed 
the ration to the weedy hay. and at the next trip to th" 
creamery took 203 pounds of milk, and at the ocxt 213 
pounds, and at the next, 223 pounds, and thereafter con¬ 
tinued to produce as much as from the clover ration. 
We have concluded to save the weeds if they grow next 
season. 
The weed referred to in this article as constituting 
the bulk of the hay crop for 1902 is the Daisy flea- 
bane, illustrated in Fig. 267. Its unusual prevalence 
in that season was largely due to an unusual num¬ 
ber of grasshoppers in the preceding Autumn, which 
killed out very much of the new seeding and even 
'THE DAISY PLEA-BANE. Pig. 267. 
much of the grass in old meadows. The plant is one 
which is often distributed in grass seed. It is par¬ 
ticularly common in new seeding where there has 
not been a good catch of grass. As soon as the 
grass occupies the ground, this weed largely disap¬ 
pears, but is likely to reappear when the meadow 
begins to fail if the grass is killed out so that it 
becomes thin. The above statement indicates that 
the plant is not such a curse as it has often beeif 
thought to be. 
To learn something of its composition, a number 
of plants were cut on the College farm July 3 or 4, 
dried for one day in the sun, then dried further 
inside. When cured, they w'ere turned over to the 
chemist for analysis. The analysis showed 6.94 per 
cent of protein. The plants were cut close to the 
ground, so that this analysis included the coarse 
stems as well as the other parts. As these are re¬ 
jected by cattle, the parts consumed by them are 
quite likely to be still richer in protein than this 
analysis shows. The average of all analysis of Tim¬ 
othy hay as reported by the Experiment Station 
Hand-book of the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture is 5.9 per cent of protein. This plant, there¬ 
fore, shows one per cent more protein than Timothy 
hay. At the time the plants were cut, they were in 
full bloom and probably at their best. Probably 
none of us will grow flea-bane instead of Timothy 
hay, but it is well to know that if conditions are 
such that we get it, the plant is well worth saving. 
We have been accustomed to condemn weeds under 
all circumstances, but we may well ask whether they 
are not, after all, more of a blessing than a curse. 
I am always glad for an opportunity to turn under 
a good crop of weeds, thereby adding to the humus 
supply in the soil. It may also be true that thei*e are 
other weeds which wc are not accustomed to use 
that have feeding qualities worth considering. I sus¬ 
pect that we may often lej a good crop of forage on 
some neglected field go by uncut simply because it is 
self-sown and made up of weeds instead of being 
kinds of plants which we are accustomed to grow. 
FkEO W. CAUU. 
TOMATOES FOR SOUTHERN SHIPPERS. 
We market gardeners in this section grow our pro¬ 
duce for the northern markets, and always have to 
keep in mind that the produce has to be in transit 
for three to five days, and in selecting certain varie¬ 
ties of tomatoes we have to select for toughness and 
carrying qualities as well as for flavor and eating 
qualities. If your reader (page 673) expected to grow 
tomatoes for his own use, or for a nearby market, 
where it only took three to five hours to market his 
stuff, he would only have to select for fineness of 
flavor and table qualities. We never selected our own 
seed, but buy all the tomato seed that we use. My 
experience has been that the average gardener has so 
many duties to attend to that he cannot devote suffi¬ 
cient time to the selecting and curing of seeds, and 
that he gets better results by buying his seed from 
some man who makes a specialty of some certain 
vegetable or fruit, and who has studied it for several 
years. I buy tomato seed from Hivingston’s Sons Co., 
squash from J. J. H. Gregory, cabbage from Peter Hen¬ 
derson Co., watermelon from W. I. Branch, of Geor¬ 
gia, and so on. I buy from each the thing that he 
makes a specialty of growing. 
Now in regard to the tomato crop and varieties. I 
grow for market Livingston’s Stone tomato. iMy 
reason for growing this is that the flesh is of fairly 
good quality, the tomato is large, of fine appearance, 
and has a very tough skin, which makes it carry well 
when packed. The skin is thick and heavy, and does 
not peel from the pulp like a thin-skinned variety. 
If you tried to pull the skin from a ripe tomato of this 
variety you would find that the flesh or pulp would 
stick to the skin and pull out with it. This tough¬ 
ness of skin makes it an excellent shipper. Livingston 
Paragon tomato is a sport of the Stone, makes a large 
fruit of the same shape and quality, and has a little 
heavier foliage. The 'oest tomato grown is Livings¬ 
ton Beauty; it is very tender, thin-skinned, of very 
fine quality and, flavor, but will not bear shipment. 
This is the best tomato for home consumption, or to 
sell in the home market. wm. o. oeuaty. 
South Carolina. 
SALT IN THE LIME-SULPHUR WASH. 
On page 627 you give Prof. T.,owe’s method of preparing 
lime, sulphur and salt for spraying. In describing the 
manner in which the different ingredients are mixed no 
mention is made of salt as being used at all. Docs the 
potash or soda take its place? w-. h. g. 
Lyons Farms, X. J. 
A solution made by boiling lime and sulphur to¬ 
gether was used as a fungicide for mildews in France 
as early as 1851, and a lime-sulphur sheep dip is said 
to have been used in Australia nearly 50 years ago. 
It was a common sheep dip in California 20 years 
ago. By 1889 this sheep dip with the addition of salt 
and extra lime had come into common use as a w'ash 
for scale insects in California, but who first demon¬ 
strated its value against such insects is not known. 
Within the past three years this lime-salt-sulphur 
wash has been extensively used in South Africa, Can¬ 
ada and the eastern United States. Many tests have 
been made in these countries of different formulas for 
making the wash, and for determining the ingredient 
that has such scale-killing properties. It has been 
pretty well demonstrated that neither the lime, salt 
nor sulphur alone are effective against the scales, and 
practically all experimenters agree that the salt does 
not add to the killing qualities of the wash, nor does 
it materially increase its sticking properties as many 
have supposed. One of the Geneva Experiment Station 
chemists states that the insecticidal value of this wash 
is probably due to the various sulphur compound .3 
with the lime. This is borne out by practical experi¬ 
ence against the San Jose scale. The chemist further 
says: “There is no direct evidence that the salt and 
lime reach chemically, and it is safe to conclude that 
the most important function of the salt is to affect the 
physical characteristics of the mixture, by raising the 
boiling point and possibly effecting a more complete 
combination between the lime and sulphur. The salt 
has been omitted from the formula in Canada; the 
Canadian formula is 30 pounds lime, 15 pounds sul¬ 
phur, 30 gallons water, boil or cook with steam for 
two or more hours. The principal objection to this 
lime-salt-sulphur, or better, lime-sulphur wash, is the 
expense and inconvenience of boiling it in large quan¬ 
tities. To obviate this, the Geneva Experiment Sta¬ 
tion devised a way to make the wash without boiling 
by using Babbitt’s potash or caustic soda, with the 
lime and sulphur, as detailed in Tue R. N.-Y. on page 
627; the salt is omitted in this quickly-made wash, as 
it has been thoroughly demonstrated that the mix¬ 
ture is equally as effective and sticks on just as well 
without the salt. m. v. slixgerland. 
