1910. 
THE LIME-SULPHUR MIXTURE AS A SUMMER 
SPRAY. 
There is no doubt in my mind that lime-sulphur in 
some form is the Summer spray of the present time. 
There are some things that are very essential, however, 
if we would have success with this spray, one of the 
most vital of which is the preparation of the mixture. 
SPRAYED WITH BORDEAUX-RUSSETED FRUIT 
ON RIGHT. Fig. 470. 
With the self-boiled (which I will not go into at 
length at this time) all who have used it seem to agree 
that not only the efficacy of the mixture, but also the 
amount of burning, is governed almost entirely by the 
amount of actual boiling that takes place during the 
making, as boiling makes the sulphur soluble, and it 
is the soluble sulphur that does the burning in this 
mixture, while it is the diffused sulphur that is the 
beneficial agent, so that the whole thing simmers down 
to the greatest diffusion with minimum amount of 
boiling. 
This mixture is being used by some growers with 
good effect for rot on the peach and plum. This I be¬ 
lieve will be largely done away with when the making 
and applying of the concentrated lime-sulphur is better 
understood. I say making and application, for appar¬ 
ently this is the essential point in this form of lime- 
sulphur spray at the present time. I believe we must 
either make our own concentrate or otherwise have 
some way of determining what ingredients are used 
in the various commercial concentrates, before we can 
have the best success with this spray for Summer use. 
All the reports I have been able to gather, and also my 
own use and observation of the two forms of concen¬ 
trate (i. e., the homemade and the commercial), point 
clearly to the fact that the homemade is always re¬ 
liable, while the commercial is oftener not to be de¬ 
pended on. 
I have used the lime-sulphur spray (homemade con¬ 
centrate) in comparison with Bordeaux Mixture to 
note its effect in russeting the fruit on the following 
varieties: Yellow Transparent, Oldenburg, Wealthy, 
McIntosh, Grimes Golden and Baldwin. The Bor¬ 
deaux was the (now considered) standard mixture 
of 3-3-50, three pounds vitriol, three pounds lime, to 
50 gallons water. The lime-sulphur mixture was used 
jone to 30 (based on a 33° Beaume test), one gallon 
mixture to 30 gallons water; in each case three pounds 
of arsenate of lead was added for every 50 gallons of 
mixture. All were applied with a hand pump at good 
pressure; a fine nozzle and drifting spray and about 
the same amount of mixture used in each case. The 
fruit on the comparative trees was all carefully looked 
over and counted at time of gathering, and in this 
CHECK TREE—WORMY FRUIT ON RIGHT. 
Fig. 477. 
case no rusted fruit considered except it was rusted 
badly enough to be quite noticeable; that is, slight 
traces were not taken in account. Where sprayed with 
Bordeaux, the Yellow Transparent showed 34 per cent 
of russeted fruit, Oldenburg 49 per cent, Wealthy 28 
per cent, McIntosh 50 per cent, Grimes 38 per cent, and 
Baldwin 48 per cent, while where the lime-sulphur was 
used no trace of russeting could be found. Beside the 
fruit actually rusted, most of the remainder had a thick 
muddy color where the Bordeaux was used, while 
THti RURAb NEW-YORKER 
those sprayed with lime-sulphur had a clear waxy 
finish, the kind we have been looking for. 
In addition to this I used the same homemade con¬ 
centrate on potatoes, one to 25, with good results and 
no burning. On peaches, Triumph and Champion, (the 
Triumph being very susceptible to rot, and the Cham¬ 
pion somewhat) at one to 150. The rot was controlled 
perfectly, and there was no burning. The rot was not 
bad with us this year, yet there was some in both varie¬ 
ties where not sprayed for check. And then just to 
see how far we could safely go, some Alexander 
peaches wer.e sprayed with one to 30. There was con¬ 
siderable burning, but the tree quickly recovered, 
ripened a good crop of fruit and is looking as well now 
as any of the others. 
Another experiment was carried on at Stephentown 
for the Department of Agriculture. In this case noth¬ 
ing but Baldwins were sprayed, and the commercial 
concentrated lime-sulphur was used instead of home¬ 
made. The experiment was carried on, first as an 
educational feature in a community where no spraying 
had ever been done for Codling moth; second, to de¬ 
termine for the Department of Agriculture (by actual 
work in the field ) which was the most practical and 
beneficial spray mixture for use and recommendation, 
and third, to illustrate if possible the benefit of spray¬ 
ing for Codling moth to the community in which the 
spraying was made, and also to the general public, done 
under ordinary farm conditions. 
The writer went to Stephentown on May 24, which 
was Grange night, gave an informal talk on the bene¬ 
fits of spraying, and outlined the work we expected to 
do the next day. All were invited to come to the 
orchard next day, bring their families and a basket 
lunch along, visit, and watch operations. There was a 
fair gathering present next day, and all seemed to be 
well satisfied. The day was not perfect, there being a 
high wind and at times a light mist. The equipment 
also was somewhat inadequate, as we could get no 
extension rods. We got around this, however, by 
SPRAYED WITH LIME-SULPHUR—WORMY FRUIT 
ON RIGHT. Fig. 478. 
tying the nozzles to poles. These, while somewhat 
clumsy, did the work all right and also showed those 
present what could be done in such a case. 
We wanted to find out if possible the comparative 
results of the lime-sulphur and Bordeaux as regards 
russeting of fruit, also comparative value when used 
with an insecticide for Codling moth, and the benefits 
of both or either over no spraying at all. With that 
end in view part of the orchard was sprayed with the 
one to 30 lime-sulphur mixture, and three pounds 
arsenate of lead to 50 gallons of mixture. Two rows 
in the center of the orchard were left as a check un¬ 
sprayed, and the remainder sprayed with the Bordeaux 
3-3-50 with three pounds arsenate to 50 gallons of mix¬ 
ture. There was about as much burning of the foliage 
with one mixture as with the other. The trees were 
about 20 years old, not large for their age, nor were 
they as well loaded as they might have been; still a 
fairly satisfactory plot was picked out for the test. All 
fruit was counted, carefully inspected for rust and 
worms, and where in doubt cut open to see whether 
there was or had been a worm inside. The first plot was 
sprayed with Bordeaux and arsenate of lead. This plot 
had 1364 apples, of which 60 per cent were russeted 
and 40 per cent were clear. (See Fig. 476, russeted 
fruit on right.) 
The second plot was sprayed with lime-sulphur and 
arsenate of lead. This plot had 1169 apples, of which 
only 11 per cent was russeted, while 89 per cent was 
clear, an advantage readily seen by the greater per¬ 
centage of clear fruit over the Bordeaux Mixture. 
(See Fig. 479, russeted fruit on right.) Next came 
the test for efficacy against Codling moth. The plot 
sprayed with Bordeaux and arsenate, containing 1364 
apples, gave 89.03 per cent sound fruit and 10.07 per 
cent wormy fruit. (See Fig. 480, wormy fruit on 
right.) Plot No. 2, sprayed with the lime-sulphur and 
arsenate of lead, containing 1169 apples, gave 88.07 per 
cent fair fruit and 11.03 per cent wormy fruit. (See 
Fig. 478, wormy fruit on right.) Plot No. 3 was left 
as a check, not being sprayed at all, but all the trees 
1116 
on each side were sprayed. This plot gave 1021 apples, 
of which 47 per cent were fair and 53 per cent wormy. 
(See Fig. 477, wormy fruit on right.) This simply 
means that if a man were selling his sound fruit from 
an orchard that was not sprayed he could sell 47 
barrels out of every 100 that was borne, while from 
one that was sprayed even with only one application 
done well and at the proper time he could sell about 
SPRAYED WITH LIME-SULPHUR—RUSSETED FRUIT 
ON RIGHT. Fig. 470. 
89 barrels out of every 100, or an advantage in favor 
of spraying of about 42 barrels more to sell out of 
every 100. In this case, as in the other, the fruit on 
the trees and on the heap where the lime-sulphur was 
used was not only practically free from rust, but of 
better color and of very much finer finish than where 
the Bordeaux Mixture was used. Our conclusion is 
that it pays to spray for Codling moth, and pays well; 
that the arsenate is just as effective for this purpose 
when used in connection with lime-sulphur as used in 
any other way, and that the lime-sulphur wash is as 
effective, is cheaper, and very much safer to use than 
Bordeaux Mixture, provided you have a good quality 
of concentrate, which you can be sure of when you 
make your own, or have some way of telling what the 
brand you buy is composed of. wm. hotaung. 
New York. 
THE FARMER’S SHARE OF CELERY. 
Note enclosed account of sales, part of which are 
express shipment and part car lot. We have noted 
the price to the consumer on each, where the price was 
known to us. We have put on the market this sea¬ 
son approximately 120,000 dozen celery, of which about 
6,000 was sold to local houses at 25 cents per dozen 
stalks. The consumer paid 60 cents per dozen for 
the local sales. For the express and car lot shipments 
the account of sales tell their own story. The expense 
of growing, this crop was close on the $2,000 mark, 
and may run a little over that sum, as all returns are 
not in, nor are all expenses paid. w. l. ekstrom. 
Pueblo Co., Colorado. 
R. N.-Y.—Mr, Ekstrom’s figures show that one ship¬ 
ment of 21 dozen went to Oklahoma City. This celery 
sold for $12.60, while cartage and commission came to 
$8. Thus the net returns were $4.60, or 22 cents a 
dozen while the celery retailed at an average of one 
dollar per dozen! Another shipment went to Colorado 
Springs. This contained approximately 2448 stalks. 
B brought $66.75. The charges were $15.03 freight 
and $6.67 commission or net returns of $45.05. The 
celery sold at five cents a stalk or $122.40. Still an¬ 
other shipment went to New Orleans. There were 
152 crates—12 reported “wilted and rotten.” They all 
SPRAYED WITH BORDEAUX—WORMY FRUIT 
ON RIGHT. Fig. 480. 
brought $333.70—the price running from 50 cents to 
$2.75 per crate. The charges were freight, $174.20; 
car service, $5; ice, $12; commission, $23.38, or a total 
of $214.58. This leaves $119.12 net. We do not 
know what celery retailed for in New Orleans, but 
assume that it brought five cents a stalk. Throwing 
out the 12 “rotten” cases we have 140 averaging 6*4 
dozen, or 10,920 stalks, or $546. And out of his pit¬ 
tance of $119.12 the grower must pay all expenses of 
production and cost of crates and packing. 
