763 
parts of the West. In one case in particular a city 
has grown as if by magic. Two 3 'oars ago there 
was onl.v an old freight car unloaded by the railroad 
tracks to mark the spot for a “station.” Now there 
is a city of over d.OtX) people with electric lights, 
pavements and all modern conveniences. All of this 
is built around the simple business of pumping bitter 
water out of a pond hole and evaporating it to 
secure potash I 
Malting the Bordeaux Mixture 
W E do not have man.v requests in these days 
for methods of making the Bordeaux mix¬ 
ture. A few years ago eveiy mail contained such a 
question. Either there is not so much of the Bor¬ 
deaux used as formerly, or the commercialiy pre¬ 
parations are being used. The Michigan State Board 
of .Vgriculture in its last report prints the two pic¬ 
tures shown herewith, and they make the process 
clear. At Fig. ”77 is shown a plan for making small 
(luantlties of the Bordeaux. An ordinary 50-gallon 
barrel is sawed in two. so as to make two 25-gallon 
tubs. In one tub two pounds of blue vitriol or sul¬ 
phate of copper are put in a cloth sack and hung 
over night in 12i/4 gallons of water. The sack is 
hung just under the surface of the water and the 
vitriol slowly dissolves. For the other tub make a 
paste by slaking two pounds of fresh stone lime in 
one-haL' pail of Avater. Fill the tub half full of 
Avater, and then stir in this lime paste, keeping it 
thoroughl.v agitated. The two together Avill make 
25 gallons of Bordeaux. To make it, dip equal parts 
of the mixture in each tub into the bucket and thor- 
Vhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
great Avar, the Boston Wool Trade Association, con¬ 
trolling the bulk of American avooI, tendered the 
OoA'ernment its holdings at the then prevailing 
prices (around 42 cents per pound). This offer 
AAas rejected. Animated by iike patriotic impulse 
our little DelaAvare County Association had adopted 
resolutions in the same line. We sold our avooI late 
in June for Gl ^/2 cents per pound. On .July 30 the 
Boston .\s.sociation again tendered its avooI at the 
price then preA'ailing, and the Government accept- 
Dtp equal parts from I 
Fine nwsh screen 
and funnel tO 
t>ordcou« 
lhi5tmiirufeat once in 
Mailing Bordeaux for Small Acreages. 
Fig. 377 
ing took over some 0,500.000 pounds of avooI at an 
average price to the dealer of 02 cents per pound. 
Later, and in the middle of December, the Gov¬ 
ernment gave notice that it retained a lO-day option 
to take from importei’s of South American avooI the 
same at the prices i)revailing June 30, iOlT, less fiA’e 
per cent. Then in INIarch came Avoi’d that the Goa'- 
ernment would exercise that option upon the im¬ 
portations suitable for Government uniform.s. There¬ 
upon the Boston Association inquired of Quarter- 
April 5, 1918, and on April 9 the Boston As.sociation 
b.v a resolution tied up the wool trade. A fortnight 
later came AA'ord that the GoA'ernment’s position “is 
to commandeer at prices as of July 30. net, unle.ss 
the wool trade voluntarily offers these avooIs at those 
prunes.” q'hereupon the Wool Association offered a 
counter proi)osition Avhich, together Avith suggestions 
propo.sed by a committee from the National Wool 
Grower.s’ Association. Avas carefully considered by 
the Washington authorities. In setting forth the 
resulting program, permit me to (piote at length 
from the report of the National Association’s com¬ 
mittee. as folloAvs: 
The fixed price is the price prevailing in Boston .Inly 
30. 1917, so therefore, the grower must pay the fi'cight 
on his Avool to the Atlantic seaboard, if the wool is 
ultimately sent to that place. 
Ihie groAver may send his avooI to any dealer or ware¬ 
house he selects in any of the recognized avooI nuir- 
kets. On receipt of the avooI the dealer will grade it 
and Avhen it is graded Government appraisers Avill ai)- 
praise it. After it is appraised the Government re- 
.serves the right to buy such portions of the clip at the 
appraised price as may be suitable for military needs. 
The remaining avooI is distributed at the appraised 
price by the GoA'ernment to the different mills. 
As soon as the avooI is appraised the dealer Avill remit 
to the groAver the appraised price of the avooI, less the 
freight. 
The groAver may draAV in advance from the firm han¬ 
dling the Avool an amount equal to 75 per cent of its 
estimated value at six per cent interest. But as the 
dealer is acting as agent for the Government the groAA'er 
Avill be liable for a return of moneys advanced in exce.s.s 
of that appraised value of the wool. It may yet lx* ar¬ 
ranged so the groAver Avill only pay interest on his ad¬ 
vance until the avooI is received at the Avarehouse. 
Each wool house Avill be limited in the amount of 
Avool it may handle and Avhen its quota is fdled excess 
AA'Ools Avill be assigned to some other hou.se. 
'Fhe groAver does not i)ay an.v charges for handling 
his wool after it is received by the avooI house to whicli 
Loading Hag in the Field. Fig. 37S 
oiig'-il.v stir it up. To make l.irgcr quantities of 
Bordeaux get four 5()-gallon barrels and arrange 
them as shoAvn in the i)icture. Fill barrel No. 1 half 
full, and hang a bag containing 25 pounds of blue- 
stone just under the surface of the AA'ater. This 
means one pound to each gallon of AA’ater, and is 
called the stock solution. Then fill barrel No. 4 half 
full, and stir thoroughl.v in 25 pounds of freshl.v 
slaked stone lime, or about 30 pounds of h.vdrated 
lime. This meaius one pound of lime to the gallon 
of AA’ater. and is called the lime stock solution. These 
two together Avill make 300 gallons of the Bordeaux 
mixture, and they should all be kept coA’ored. To 
m.ike the Bordeaux, take eight gallons of the stock 
from barrel No. 1 and add 42 gallons of AA’ater to 
barrel No. 2. That means, fill the barrel, d’hon 
take eight .gallons of the stock lime from barrel No. 
4, put that in barrel No. 3 and fill the barrel Avith 
AA’ater. When you run the tAvo solutions tog(4her 
into the sprayer tank you luiA’e Bordeaux mixture 
Avhich .should be applied at once in order to be most 
effective. This is a simple and easy Avay of making 
the mixture. In order to make sure that it is ri.ght, 
you can test it by dipping bine litmus paper into the 
Ihluid after the tAvo .solutions have run together. If 
this blue litmus paper turns red add more lime. 
The Wool Price Situation 
H ebe is m.v understanding about the seeming 
mix-up in the GoA’ernment’s position on the 
Avool question and its probable effect upon our avooI 
men. Let us recall th.it late in April. ]917, imme¬ 
diately after the entiy of the United States into the 
mast«*r General Goethals as to the attitude of the 
War Department toAvard the 191S clip. Back came 
the ollicial aiisAver: “It is not the intention of the 
department to interfere in the marketin.g of this 
j’ear's domestic clip.” To (piote from the organ of 
the range sheep men, “for an.v person Avho is Avilling 
to be convinced that should settle the matter.” 
ADO 8 cAU Of ^'TOCh A0n86ALb.OF aTOCK LIME 
FROM No 1 To 42 fROMfm r«f4T0 42 
6Alft.or WATER 0AL^^0F WATER. 
Mal;ing Bordraii.r in lOO-Gallon Amounts. Fig. 379 
But Avhen a peace nation enters into AA’ar, and 
aspeciallj’ Avhen noAV demands are made upon it for 
immense numbers of troops, today's honest inten¬ 
tion may be at A’ariance Avith toniorroAv’s acts. So, 
hard on the heels of the communication to the Bos¬ 
ton Association came a suggestion that the avooI 
stocks be again offered the Government. This Avas 
promptly acceded to on the basis of pru-es current 
it i.s a.ssignod. These chargi's .are addc'd to the appr:d.S('d 
price of the avooI and Avill linall.v lx* paid b.v the mill. 
This plan aiiplies to all 1918 avooI and all 1917 avooI 
not yet marketed. 
The details of the plan are being worked out in Wa^h- 
ington and Avill be announced later. Some of tin* minor 
details here given may be modified as time goes on, but 
this Avill not affect the price the groAver n’ceives. 
Tlie arrangennmts for t.aking OA’er small clips in the 
farm section are not definitely Avorked out. 
After the 1917 excellent prices our aa’ooI .groAvers 
Avere anticipating from 70 cents to $1 for this year’.s 
clip. Accordingly they fed liberally dollar oats and 
paid high Avages for help, looking for commensurate 
returns. The bald result Avill be a (h'cided slump 
from the net of 1917. Of course Ave Avill gulp it down 
Avith a smile, glad at last to have a stable Avorking 
figure before us, onl.v Avonderin.g Avhy might Ave not 
haA’e knoAvn this earlierV q’he sitimtiou comes to 
this: Our farmer of average sized ])laut cannot 
afford to run full capacity for he receives but a frac¬ 
tion of the ultimate price i)aid for his products; 
fretpientl.v secures no transportation or at best pro- 
A’okingly slow freight to convey them to market, and 
jet has iiicrea.sed taxes to meet and faces iucrea.st>d 
prices for his feeds, fertilizers and his machinery, 
and is called upon to bid for help against contractors 
able to off('r sednetiA’e figures. Our school lads can 
command 8-9 per Aveek in some of the big Avorks, and 
Ave hear of that being received per day in some piece¬ 
work. 
Becaiise of the.se conditions some of our dair.y 
people are selling out. Sheep are in demand, for 
tb.ey re(piire less help, but I Avould not noAv recom¬ 
mend 50 and 200 head flocks. Bersonallj’ I am hav¬ 
ing a mill erected in one of my pastures to handle 
