Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1898-01-01

Ihs ED E&w England practice OF
whazew ashGzE fruit trees seems likely
% e1aE EnFB Eagze again The Mis-
ssarl experiment. station In a recent
nAz4AeSla sags< EEen though the pro-
psrrlonal difference between the tenn
Derzxarez recorded under the Different
enlars Is not uniform, il Is evident that
the darker colorx absorb much more
heat thaH the lighter ones. When tue
SUI was not shining the various Their
nzome1srB registered alike AT one
time during bright sunshine, differ
enee Of Il degrees was recorded be-
tween tine white covered and the purple
covered Thermometers. A difference
Of 10 70 Is degrees was frequently not
ed between these two. This Is suf1i-
Gent to indicate that we might expect
considerable difference in the growth
and time Of towering Of whitened ard
uuwhitened peach trees.
The expense of whitening Is not
great. A common lime whitewash was
at first used, but IL washed of badly
during rainy weather. Finally white
wash Of lime with one-ffth skimmilk
added to the water, was tried with
much more satisfactory results. About
one pound Of salt was also dissolved
In each buckeffuI OF the whitewash.
Four applications Of this wash, applied
during the winter and spring. are suf-
fcient to keep the peach trees thor
| oughIy whitened The first whitening
should be done early In winter, short
& FwT hn
be sprayed on with almost any kind
Of q spray pump. We found the Bor-
deaux nozzle to be satisfactory, as a
solid stream could readily be turned
| on IL the lime clogged the nozzle. The
whitening should be repeated as often
as the lime is washed on by rains A
good wash, however, viii adhere well
for weeks The trees need two spray
ings TO begin with, just as wood needs
two coats Of paint in order to cover it
we'll Two subsequent sprayings are
sufficient. The whitewash should be
made as thick as can be sprayed
through a Bordeaux nozzle. We used
a small bucket spray pump and applied
about cne-haIf bucketfuly to tree,
at each spraying. The time required to
apply the whitewash will vary from
five TO ten minutes, according to the
kind OF pump and TO the size OF the
trees. The more trees that are spray
ed, the cheaper it can be done per tree.
Altogether, the cost need not exceed
ten cents per tree for the winter. As
fungicides are more safely applied TO
peaches when they are dormant than
when they are in leaf, we tried adding
copper sulphate to the whitewash. The
copper suIphate was dissolved in the
liquid used TO thin the lime, at the rate
of one pound to ten gallons This dis
coIored the whitewash somewhat. and
another spraying of the wash without
copper suIphate was given to cover it.
We are not yet ready to report on the
efficacy OF the winter application 81
fuugicides for the diseases of the
peach. It should not be believed that
the winter whitening Of the peach will
be found q reliable prevention of all
classes Of injuries caused by cold
weather; yet, from the results already
given, it is clear that IT tends to check
swelling Of the buds on warm days OF
winter, and to retard poisoning In
spring. We have not been able to de-
tect any injury to the trees by this
practice Wherever peach buds are
subject to winter killing by fuctuating
temperatures and where their flowers
are frequently killed by the late spring
frosts, we suggest that whitening be
tried on a small scale at least.