1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
9i i 
STILL STICKS TO LIME AND SULPHUR. 
Experience of ? New Jersey Fruit Man. 
The most serious obstacles which confront the fruit 
grower to-day are the insect pests in general and the 
San Jose scale in particular; it is indeed a hard prob¬ 
lem to solve, and solved it must be, or the fruit growers 
will be put out of business, as many have been already. 
This pernicious insect has increased and spread to an 
alarming extent during the present year, owing to the 
dry weather, which is always favorable to insect 
growth. Many remedies have been originated and 
recommended by our experiment stations, but so 
far none of them seems to have proven satisfac¬ 
tory under all conditions and circumstances; for, 
notwithstanding the many remedies and the hard 
and earnest efforts made, the scale still continues 
its ravages to such an extent as to have extermi¬ 
nated fruit growing in many localities, and 
threatens to annihilate fruit growing generally; 
hedge fence, yard shrubbery and even forest 
trees are infested, and the end is not yet. I am 
not a calamity howler, but know the above facts 
are true, and feel it best for us to look the 
matter squarely in the face, and not attempt to 
fool ourselves by a deceptive view of the evil. 
There is an idea afloat that the scale will run 
its course, and become extinct from its natural 
enemies, cold weather, etc.; but this is entirely 
wrong. The scale is here to stay; its marvelous 
productive powers are such as to overcome any 
injury it may sustain from natural causes. There 
are very few non-infected orchards to-day, and if 
there are such, no matter how isolated, they soon 
will be infected, for the scale spreads with almost 
miraculous rapidity. It is carried for miles by 
birds and insects; I also believe the larvae are 
carried by the wind, but be that as it may, no 
orchards will long be free of this pest. A glance 
around us will show the many dead and dying 
orchards from the effects of this dreadful pest. 
Many fruit growers have gone out of the busi¬ 
ness ; even the old veterans have become dis¬ 
couraged, and feel that the outlook is, indeed, 
dark. 
Well might the question be asked whether 
anything can be done to stay the progress of this 
scourge, which leaves only ruin in its wake. Yes, our 
scientific men and others have given us many remedies 
(so-called) which, when given to a confiding public, arc 
hailed as the panacea for our troubles, but often the 
theories worked out with wonderful results upon ex¬ 
perimental grounds do not bring satisfactory results 
when put in general practice, and used when conditions 
are different. 
The writer used many barrels of crude oil under in¬ 
structions of a scientific man, who said he had experi¬ 
mented with it, and claimed that 
crude oil of proper gravity would 
rid us of the scale. I have no 
doubt but the results he said he 
reached were exactly correct, but 
the conditions under which I used 
it may have been different. Sure¬ 
ly the results were not the same 
from some cause, for with me the 
oil proved very disastrous; it 
killed a large per cent of the trees, 
and lowered the vitality of the rest 
so as to destroy their usefulness. 
After killing and injuring several 
thousands of valuable trees, I 
thought it best to drop the crude 
oil remedy. I tried refined oils, 
in different ways, always by the 
advice of our scientific brothers, 
with about the same results as 
came from the crude oil. My 
last trial with oil was the K.-L. 
mixture. Being personally ac¬ 
quainted with the originator. I 
knew him to be a very careful, 
conservative and thoroughly hon¬ 
est man. I thought it possible he 
was the Moses to lead us out of 
the wilderness of destruction. This 
mixture was made with great care 
to secure a complete combination, 
and thorough application made of 
it. The result was not satisfac¬ 
tory; it killed some scale (I think 
they were drowned), but not 
enough were killed to call it a success. I am told 
that Kill-o-Scale and Scalecide are effective, but when 
T figure out the cost, I find that they would be expensive 
if used to spray 15,000 trees, and feel I must use some¬ 
thing less costly 
I have used for several years the lime, sulphur and 
salt solution, and find that by hard work the scale can 
be kept in check with it. The mixture is made as fol¬ 
lows: 40 pounds stone lime; 30 pounds of sulphur. 
and 20 pounds of salt to 100 gallons of water; the very 
best of materials should be used, the mixture boiled 
until a thorough combination is formed, then applied 
at once. This solution, if properly made and thoroughly 
applied, will kill the scale, no matter what kind of a 
tree it is on. The idea that the scale is harder to kill 
when on one kind of a tree than another is an absurdity, 
provided the scale is hit with the mixture. All oil 
remedies used by me have killed the trees much quicker 
than the scale would have done. I know full well the 
“THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME.’ 
Second Prize Picture. 
Fig. 419. 
lime-sulphur-salt mixture is not a perfect remedy, and 
we need and probably will have something better; but 
until that is discovered and thoroughly proven, I 
earnestly advise the fruit growers to apply the sulphur, 
lime and salt, which I assure them will check the scale 
if properly made and applied. w. h. skillman. 
SECOND CROP APPLES. 
I send some second growth apples that were gathered 
from a tree nearby to-day (October 23). The tree has 
“HOME FROM HIS JOURNEY.” Fig. 420. First Prize Picture 
already had one crop of apples, variety Smokehouse. Have 
you often seen two crops of apples in one year on the 
same tree? s. guerrant. 
Franklin Co., Va. 
R. N.-Y.—The apples are shown, exact size, at Fig. 
417. We have never seen a case exactly like this. We 
have known trees where the crop was destroyed early 
by hail to start a new crop, but not after producing a 
full crop in the usual way. The following comments 
are made by men of wide observation in apple culture. 
We shall be glad to hear from anyone else who has ob¬ 
served a case of this sort. 
I have never met an instance where fruit was formed 
from blossoms that set after the first crop had matured. 
This certainly is a most interesting fact, and I think 
very few have ever known it. geo. t. powell. 
We have seen late blooms on apple and pear trees in 
Delaware, but have never seen fruit mature in this 
State, but have seen it in New York State. Usually 
the fact of a second crop is caused by some disease of 
the tree, and the death of the tree will follow in 
3 year, or in the course of two years. 
Delaware. sam’l h. derby. 
Where trees are defoliated or injured in some 
other way so as to check growth early in the 
season, a more or less abundant second bloom 
quite frequently occurs, sometimes early enough 
in the season to permit of fair maturity of the 
fruit. I have seen Red June reach edible ma¬ 
turity in this way. The phenomenon, of course, 
is of no commercial importance, except as it 
indicates an abnormal condition of the tree, or 
of the particular branch which bears the fruit. 
WM. A. TAYLOR. 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
I have several times seen small apples set as a 
second crop. In visiting Prof. Bailey’s orchard 
near Ithaca, N. Y., this Summer, I saw a large 
number of apples formed from a second crop of 
blossoms. These were especially abundant on the 
Chenango trees. Many of these apples were as 
large as a goose egg, and were otherwise normal, 
except that they were usually seedless. 
Mass. Ag’l College. f. a. vvaugh. 
PITCH FOR A LEAKY TANK. 
We have been having a very disagreeable ex¬ 
perience with a leaky tank. It is located in the 
peak of the barn and holds 2,000 quarts. The 
water dropping constantly down on the floor was 
of course extremely annoying. Our first effort 
to stop the leak was the placing of a thick coat 
of Portland cement over the bottom. This ap¬ 
parently made bad matters worse. Removing the 
cement and being unable to procure any thicker 
lumber we put in a floor over the old one of 
seven-eighths matched pine, the tongues and 
grooving being painted with a roofing paint. Oakum 
was driven as hard as possible around the sides between 
the new floor and the chines, and two coats of the same 
paint applied over the oakum and the floor. This paint 
we were told would dry perfectly hard and would not 
affect the water. Still the tank leaked, the trouble ap¬ 
parently being the lack of body of the paint over the 
oakum. It also made the water taste and smell abom¬ 
inably. Then I did what I should have done at first; 
sent for a barrel of southern pine black pitch. This 
is used on decks of wooden ves¬ 
sels to fill in the deck seams after 
they are calked with oakum. The 
wat;r in the tank, which could 
not be drawn through the outlet, 
was absorbed by using a few pails 
of perfectly dry soil. Then the 
pitch was heated in small kettles 
out in the yard, taken directly to 
the tank in the kettles and applied 
with a pint dipper. It can be done 
with a brush, but to do a perfect 
job, it must be very hot, and the 
dipper will place it very much 
quicker just where it is wanted 
and if hot enough it will stay 
there. Two coats over the oak¬ 
um, and one good coating over the 
bottom, then another about the 
edges and the work was finished. 
After one kettle was used it was 
hard enough to walk upon before 
the next kettle could be brought 
in, and the water was turned into 
the tank immediately, and our 
troubles w r ere over. The pitch is 
very inflammable and a low fire 
is much better than a hot one. and 
it becomes hot about the sides of 
the kettle at first, leaving a lump 
of undissolved pitch in the center, 
which must be all liquid before 
using. If it showed a tendency to 
boil up, we covered the kettle with 
a spider to smother it. The water 
is -not affected in the slightest degree, and the quantity 
used was about 70 pounds; the tank being six feet in 
diameter. If we had bought the pitch at first the use 
of the oakum would have been unnecessary, as it is 
thin when very hot and will fill every seam. 
F. C. CURTIS. 
I have an inducement for a man who is so rich in worldly 
possession as to have a crop of boys and girls; the scarcity 
of that God-abiding crop is the ruination of this country. 
Elyria, O. mbs. a. P, 
