278' 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 2 
Ihe bag at the surface of the water in a keg or half 
barrel. Let all the bluestone dissolve that will. It 
is so important that the bag of bluestone should hang 
at the surface of the water that I had a couple of pic¬ 
tures made to show the reason clearly. You will see 
in Fig. 117 that as soon as the particle of water has 
BLUESTONE SUSPENDED IN BARREL. Flo. 116. 
taken a bit of bluestone it becomes heavy and goes 
tumbling to the bottom. Fig. 116 represents the water 
loaded with all the bluestone it will float. If the blue- 
stone is put to soak in the afternoon, the water will 
have its full load—full saturation the chemist would 
say _by the next morning. This full saturation is 
ready for use at any time during the Summer when 
Bordeaux Mixture may be required. Like the lime, 
it should be given protection from the dust and chaff 
by being covered in some way. 
TEST DROPS—“The next step is to get five cents 
worth of ferrocyanide of potassium—when our moth¬ 
ers and grandmothers dyed carpet rags they called it 
yellow prussiate of potash. Dissolve the cyanide in a 
pint bottle of water. Through the cork put a quill so 
that the solution may be shaken out by drops. After 
decorating ihe bottle with skull and cross-bones, and 
the word POISON, set the bottle high out of reach of 
the careless. A few drops of this solution will show 
when enough lime has been added to the bluestone. 
With these preparations, a good pump and an ample 
supply of water, all is ready for making Bordeaux 
Mixture at the drop of the hat. 
PREPARING AND USING BORDEAUX MIXTURE. 
—“At the time of the first run of maple sap I think 
about spraying peach trees to prevent Peach leaf-curl. 
Let me say once more that we must spray to prevent 
fungus diseases. We cannot cure these troubles after 
they have taken root. For several Springs I sprayed 
to prevent Peach leaf-curl, but I did it too late. The 
fungus causing the trouble is altogether different from 
the Apple-scab fungus, consequently has different 
spores or seeds. They too float through the air and 
are ready to take root and begin their growth as soon 
as the peach buds are open, although one may see no 
indication of the blistered leaf until June. I shall 
spray my peach trees at about the time of sugar mak¬ 
ing even though the severe Winter shall have killed 
the fruit buds. I must have good foliage if I would 
have good growth of wood for a possible crop of 
peaches the following year. 
“As an experiment, when I spray my peaches, I 
shall spray the naked limbs of my plum orchard also. 
Fungus caused the rot of some of my plums last year. 
At that time I was so busy telling others how to do 
things that I did not get time to pick and burn the 
rotted fruit. The ‘mummy plums’ should have been 
destroyed then, for on the first warm days of Spring 
countless invisible spores will be floating out from 
them ready to take root, although the rot caused by 
these spores may not appear before next September. 
“The foliage of the peach and the plum is very sen¬ 
sitive to injury from Bordeaux Mixture, and because 
of this fact, the chances for Summer treatment for rot 
are very small. My best opportunity will be this 
Spring before the buds start. I shall make the Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture unusually strong for this first spraying 
of the peaches and plums, using about six pounds of 
bluestone to 60 gallons of water. I shall weigh that 
amount of bluestone with a gallon measure. I shall 
put two gallons of that saturated solution of bluestone 
into the spray barrel. I shall then have six pounds 
of bluestone for you know, Billy, two times three are 
six. 
“What do you mean by that. Uncle John?” 
“As, ha! Billy Boy, I caught you napping. Didn’t 
I say that when a gallon of this solution goes into the 
spray barrel three pounds of bluestone go with it? So, 
if two gallons go in, do not twice three pounds go in¬ 
to the spray barrel too?” 
“I see, Uncle John; go ahead.” 
“Next add enough water to half fill the barrel. When 
it is in this state of dilution, but not before, proceed 
to kill the foliage-burning property in the bluestone 
by adding lime. Go to the barrel of stock-slaked lime, 
add water, stir slightly so that a pail of lime water 
can be readily dipped out without stirring up lumps 
that might clog the spray nozzle. 'The contents of the 
pail will look like milk. After adding the second pail 
of milk of lime, stir the contents of the spray barrel 
most thoroughly. By this time the color will have 
changed greatly, and you will be approaching the 
point where you will have Bordeaux Mixture. To test 
whether you have added enough lime to destroy the 
leaf-burning property, shake a few drops from the 
ferrocyanide bottle into the mixture. See Fig. 118. If 
the drops turn brown as they reach the liquid in the 
spray barrel you may know that more milk of lime is 
to be added. Put in another pailful. Try the test 
again. When the drops give no color to the liquid as 
they touch the surface, you may know that you have 
Bordeaux Mixture for sure. To make it seem even 
more certain, add another pailful of milk of lime. The 
extra lime does no harm and gives one the feeling of 
having a stake and rider on safety. Nothing remains 
to be done but to finish filling the spray barrel with 
water, then you are ready to go to the orchard. 
“For reasons given above, I have described mixing 
a barrel of Bordeaux Mixture unusually strong in 
bluestone. Three or four pounds of bluestone per a 
50-gallon barrel is enough for spraying apples and 
pears immediately after the blossoms fall. I add 
poison to the Bordeaux Mixture when spraying apples 
and pears at this time. I use at least eight ounces of 
Paris-green or four pounds of arsenite of lead per 50 
gallons of Bordeaux. I am aware that this is double 
the amount that experiment stations recommend. A 
few cents’ worth of the poison is but little added ex¬ 
pense, and makes assurance doubly strong. Paris- 
green, being a fine powder, should be first mixed into 
a paste, as flour is mixed before making milk gravy. 
Arsenite of lead is in a putty form. This should be 
made thin by water until it flows like cream. Both 
poisons should be well stirred before you begin to 
HOW THE BLUESTONE DISSOLVES. Fig. 117. 
work the spray pump, and several times during the 
pumping. Paris-green needs more stirring than does 
arsenite of lead. 
“Yes, Billy Boy, it pays to spray. To be of any use, 
however, it must be done at the moment conditions 
require it, regardless of the pressing nature of other 
work, of visiting or of fishing even. It Is a case where 
the three rights must act in conjunction: The right 
thing, at the right time, done the right way. 
“Uncle John, what do you mean by ‘conjunction?’ ” 
“I mean that all three rights must drop on the same 
spot at the same time.” 
“Say, Uncle John, what does the boy do who puts 
‘scallops’ into pie?” 
“He drives the team among the fruit trees while, 
one man pumps and two others hold the nozzles. Do 
you want that job when next I spray, Billy Boy?” 
“Well, Uncle John, what wages do you pay, and fur¬ 
nish all the pie a fellow like me can eat?” 
_JOHN W. SPENCER. 
BRIEF FERTILIZER TALKS. 
Coal Ashes or Potatoes on Thin Soil. 
T have light sandy soil, 40 acres, 30 in fruit, apples, 
plum, quince, pear, peaches, berries, currants, etc. I 
cannot buy manure and do not have enough; soil lacks 
potash and nitrogen. I can get ashes for hauling (hard 
coal), have less than half a mile to haul, good road. 
Are they of any value? I have been advised they are 
harmful to fruit trees. I can get frozen and small pota¬ 
toes thrown out of storehouse. Will it pay me to haul 
them one-quarter of a mile to mix In my manure pile or 
spread as I haul them? c. A. b. 
Mears, Mich. 
You will find about the following in one ton of each: 
Nitrogen. Phos. acid. Potash. 
Coal ashes . 2 2 
Potatoes . 6 2 10 
Thus the coal ashes have little fertilizing value. 
You could buy all the actual plant food one ton con¬ 
tains for about 25 cents. We would haul them if we 
could get them to use as a mulch around young fruit 
trees and currants. They q,re good for this purpose. 
and will not hurt the trees. We would mix the frozen 
potatoes with the manure or spread and plow under 
as seems most convenient. Do not leave them on top 
of the ground, and do not use them where potatoes 
are to be grown this year. 
Nitrate for Oafs; Fertilizer. 
I have a piece of land that grew a good crop of com 
last season; for several years previous had been meadow. 
It was plowed last Fall and is now having a light top¬ 
dressing of horse and cow manure, probably from six 
to eight tons per acre. I intend to sow oats and seed to 
Timothy and clover. I also thought of putting on from 
300 to 500 pounds of fertilizer per acre, having phos¬ 
phoric acid 11 per cent, and potash two per cent. Would 
you consider it a good investment to put on 75 to 100 
pounds per acre of nitrate of soda, after the oats were 
up about two inches? Also, what would you think of 
the phosphoric acid and potash? The soil is clay, and 
last season grew the best crop of com grown in this 
locality. c - H - B- 
Ticonderoga, N. Y. 
We believe 100 pounds of nitrate of soda on an acre 
of such land in oats would pay, especially since grass 
and clover seed will be used with the oats. That com¬ 
bination of potash and phosphoric acid ought to suit 
a heavy clay, but what does the potash cost in such 
fertilizer? Figure what 220 pounds of phosphoric acid 
will cost you in acid phosphate, and what 40 pounds 
of potash will cost as muriate. Add these figures to¬ 
gether and see how they compare with the price of a 
ton of that fertilizer. If we are to buy the mixed 
goods at all we should buy the highest grade. The 
low-grade mixtures are always most expensive. 
Tankage Nitrogen; Bone Phosphate. 
Will the nitrogen in tankage take the place of blood, 
or is it too slow? Does 20 per cent bone phosphate of 
lime mean 20 per cent phosphoric acid? J. v. b. 
lHast Setauket, N. Y. 
The nitrogen in ordinary tankage Is slower than 
that in dried blood. The tankage will not prove sat¬ 
isfactory for very early crops, but for corn or crops 
that do their best growing in late Summer it will an¬ 
swer. We might explain the difference in these differ¬ 
ent forms of nitrogen by an illustration. Suppose a 
man were cast away upon a desert island with only 
a small supply of food. Among the wreckage he finds 
a package of corn seed, which he plants at once. It 
will make a great difference to him whether the corn 
is of a very late or a very early variety. If It requires 
130 days to ripen he may starve. If it will give him 
roasting ears in 60 days he will live. The best thing 
for his purpose would be a collection of different varie¬ 
ties—say Cory or Sheffield sweet corn for early—run¬ 
ning through to the very latest dent variety. That 
would give him a succession of soft ears. We should 
regard our crops as like that man. Nitrate and blood 
represent forms of nitrogen like the earlier varieties 
of corn—available in time to satisfy the early crop. 
Tankage is like the late varieties. It will be useful 
when it is “ripe,” but the crop may starve while wait¬ 
ing for it. “Bone phosphate” is a name given by fer¬ 
tilizer makers to that combination of lime and phos¬ 
phoric acid which is found in bone. This means that 
54 parts of lime are combined with 46 parts of phos¬ 
phoric acid. Therefore, if your tankage contains 20 
per cent of “bone phosphate” only 46 per cent, or a 
little over nine per cent of all is actual phosphoric 
acid. We must be careful that we understand these, 
names before we buy. 
MORE CROPS FOR PASTURE. 
“Notes on Rye and Clover,” by John M. Jamison, 
page 133, should prove valuable to many of your read¬ 
ers, especially those who are land-poor and must make 
labor go far. Rye is of easy culture, and much advan¬ 
tage is taken of that fact. Probably with a deeper 
and finer seed bed the rye mentioned by Mr. Jamison 
APPLYING THE FERROCYANIDE TEST. Fig. 118. 
would have withstood the drought much better. We 
are liable to take advantage of opportunity, and often 
suffer therefor. Still, “half a loaf is better than no 
bread,” and many fields now doing little or nothing 
could be made to pay a nice profit and come into 
good condition by the methods Mr. Jamison employs. 
