Vol. LXXI. No. 4159. 
NEW YORK, JULY 13, 1912. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
PREPARATION OF BORDEAUX MIXTURE 
No Water Lifting Here. 
Results obtained by practical farmers and by ex¬ 
periment stations from a thorough application of Bor¬ 
deaux mixture to the potato crop leave no good rea¬ 
son why this fungicide should not be used on every 
acre of potatoes in the land. Careful experiments 
carried on at our Vermont Station through a period 
t>f 20 years show an average increase of over 100 
bushels per acre on thd sprayed plots over the un¬ 
sprayed through this long time. These experiments 
also show that even in years when almost no diseases 
were present Bordeaux mixture increased the crop 30 
to 70 bushels per acre, or more than the cost of ap¬ 
plication. In the face of these facts it is time that 
spraying with Bordeaux mixture should take rank 
with the other important operations of potato grow¬ 
ing, such as fitting the 
land, planting the seed, 
and cultivation. The 
question should not be 
whether to spray or not 
to spray, but how to pre¬ 
pare the mixture and 
how to apply it to best 
advantage. 
Bordeaux mixture for 
use on potatoes is usually 
made after the formula 
5-5-50; that is five 
pounds of lime, five 
pounds of copper sul¬ 
phate or blue vitriol, and 
50 gallons of water. In 
order to get a mixture 
which will have a fine 
precipitate and which 
will work freely through 
the spray nozzles it is 
necessary that the cop-> 
per sulphate and lime so¬ 
lutions be made up and 
diluted properly before 
being brought together. 
For economy of time 
and labor this requires 
at least four barrels for 
the stock and dilute so¬ 
lutions, which should be 
placed on a platform 
high enough so that the 
mixture will run into the 
sprayer tank. For a 
thorough spraying when the vines are large it will re¬ 
quire about 100 gallons of mixture per acre. For a 
large acreage an abundant supply of water is there¬ 
fore a necessity. On a farm which is fortunate enough 
to have running water with a good head it will not 
be difficult to erect, above the mixing platform, a 
storage tank of sufficient capacity to stand the draft 
of a day’s spraying, but in our own case, having to 
depend upon wells, which will not furnish a large 
amount of water in droughty years, we have had to 
devise the portable outfit shown in Fig. 306, a descrip¬ 
tion of which and our method of use I shall give. 
On the bed of an ordinary farm wagon a frame 
was constructed by laying down two pieces of 3 x 4 
inch x 10 feet spruce as far apart as the stakes will 
permit. These pieces are held apart by cross pieces 
of 2 x 4 inch material spaced so that they give re¬ 
quisite strength, and at the same time furnish a bed 
on which is fastened the pumping machinery. Near 
the front and to one side of this frame is fastened a 
one and one-half horse-power gasoline engine. Far 
enough back so that a reasonable length of belt is 
given is placed a rotary force pump so that the pulleys 
are in alignment. The pump is connected with a piece 
of suction hose having a strainer of brass wire cloth 
on the end of it. The hose shown in the picture is 
10 feet long, but we have another 30 feet long to use 
where we cannot get near the well or brook. 
Above this lower frame is erected a platform raised 
high enough so that the Bordeaux mixture when made 
will run from the strainer box into the sprayer tank. 
The uprights supporting the platform are 3 x 4 inch 
material and are mortised into both the upper and 
lower sills. The method of bracing shows plainly in 
the cut. A piece of galvanized iron pipe screws over 
the discharge pipe of the pump and extends above 
the upper platform. A piece of hose long enough so 
that it will deliver water into any of the barrels on 
the platform is coupled to this extension pipe. 
On the platform are four barrels. Those in front 
are called the stock barrels and those at the rear are 
called the dilution barrels. The stock barrels are 
graduated to 10 gallons by driving copper nails in the 
sides at the required heights. The six dilution barrels 
are graduated in the same way to 25 gallons. The 
stock barrels are provided with covers to prevent rain 
getting in or to prevent evaporation. A few hours 
before we intend to begin spraying we suspend near 
the top of the stock barrel which we use for a copper 
sulphate solution 50 pounds of copper sulphate crystals 
in a burlap bag. Then we fill the barrel to the 50 
gallon mark. In a few hours the crystals will have 
dissolved. In the other stock barrel we slake 50 
pounds of lime and fill this barrel up to the 50 gallon 
mark. We have then made our stock solutions, so 
that one gallon of liquid represents one pound of ma¬ 
terial. That is, one gallon of the stock in our copper 
sulphate barrel represents one pound of copper sul¬ 
phate, and the same is true in case of the lime. 
When ready for spraying we can locate our outfit 
at a well or brook near the field. We now take 10 
gallons of stock solution from our copper sulphate 
stock barrel after stirring thoroughly and put it into 
our copper sulphate dilution barrel. In the same way 
we take 10 gallons of lime stock and strain it through 
burlap into our lime dilution barrel. Then start the 
pump and fill these barrels to the 50 gallon marks. 
We have, then, the solutions diluted so that when 
they are put together they are in the right proportion 
to make Bordeaux mixture. We drive the sprayer 
alongside the mixing wagon near enough so that the 
large hose which may be seen on the strainer box 
will deliver into the tank. One man stands on the 
platform and stirs the solutions constantly while an¬ 
other operates the fau¬ 
cets and keeeps watch of 
the strainers. The fau¬ 
cets should be opened so 
that about the same sized 
stream will run through 
each. The solutions com¬ 
ing together in this way 
in the dilute form, and 
mixing in the strainer 
box and in the spout, a 
mixture is made which 
has a fine precipitate and 
works perfectly in the 
sprayer. While one man 
goes to the field to spray 
out a load the other pre¬ 
pares the next batch. 
The pumping outfit 
shown here will lift 100 
gallons of w’ater in about 
six minutes. The strainer 
shown is called the Stew¬ 
art strainer and is de¬ 
scribed in circular No. 
34 of the Indiana Ex¬ 
periment Station. It is 
shown at Fig. 308, page 
774. It is made so that 
the mixture runs through 
the strainer from the un¬ 
der side, the sediment 
settling below the scre'en 
instead of upon it. When 
spraying continuously 
another stock barrel 
should be placed on the platform so that some copper 
sulphate crystals could be dissolving while the stock in 
the other barrel is being used. By the use of this outfit 
we save all lifting of water by hand, and it enables 
us to make use of any water supply where the water 
is within 20 feet of the surface. The expense of the 
outfit is small compared with the work it does, and 
of course the engine may be used for other purposes 
on the farm when the spraying season is over. 
E. s. BRIGHAM. 
SPRAYING AND ASPARAGUS. 
I do not know what sort of arsenate of lead your 
correspondents use, but the kind used in this vicinity 
is poison, and if animals eat it they die. One year the 
chickens were poisoned by eating the falling apple 
blossoms, and now we do not spray until they have 
dropped, but in spite of our care some chickens were 
AN OUTFIT FOR BORDEAUX MIXTURE ON WHEELS. Fig. 306. 
