Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-08-24
LATE SUMMER SPRAYING.
An I'D 10 Date Resume of Experience
With San Jose Scale.

An Up 10 Date Hesume OF experience
With San jose Scale
BY DIR. JOHN b. SMITH, New Jersey.
before State Horticultural society.
During last summer a series OF ex-
periments were made with combina-
tions OF lime and sulphur to note the
effect upon insects and upon foliage
The San Jose scales sometimes be
come SO abundant In the latter part of
the summer that 1t seems desirable TO
check them SO that the trees shall not
be too badly infected when they 90
into winter / did not myself use the
boiled mixture of lime and sulphur,
but / have been informed by several
who have used 1t that 1t was very
satisfactory. They used II at winter
strength, omitting the salt, and seemed
TO find that the lime and sulphur alone
may be used at nearly winter strength
without especial damage, except on
the more tender kinds of leaves. As
the result of all the work done l do
not feel that 1t is possible to recon-
mend either Of the lime and sulphur
combinations for summer use against
the developing scales.
Use of Soaps.
The practical result of all the expert
ments in which various kinds of soaps
were tested during the summer is that,
except for the straight whale oil soap,
with or without tobacco, nothing pro-
duced any satisfactory result at rea-
| sonable cost.
Crude OIL.
Kerosene and crude oil have both
| received rather a black eye in public
| estimation. There were too many peo-
| pie who had undoubtedly injured trees
| by using them. The successes that
1 were scored failed to count. And yet
| about the only really satisfactory re-
| suits that were obtained against the
| San Jose or pernicious scale on other
1 than peach or plum trees were OBJ
| tained by the use of crude oil Of the
proper specific gravity-that is, 43 de-
4 grees Beaume. 1t was emphasized
| again that ON the pear especially the
| Oil produced beneficial effect that
| seems to be equal to the beneficial ef-
feet produced by the lime and sulphur
| mixtures on the peach, and that there
| Is practically no danger where any
thing like reasonable care Is used In
making the application. For best re
suits the oil should be just a little
warm 1t then sprays much more
readily, the same amount will cover
larger area, and the effect upon the
insects seems to be greater. On pear
trees. where the Californian washes
seem to fail most completely, the crude
petroleum seems to be most effective.
Kerosene and Limoid Mixtures.
Kerosene has not been much used
during the past few years. 1t seems
to be coming into favor again, how
ever. since 1t has been found that 1t
might be combined with water me-
chanically, without the necessity OF
having a special pump, and without
the work of making chemical enul-
| sion. The emulsifying agent In this
case, IL the mixture can be called an
emulsion, Is a preparation Of magne.
| sium limestone called limoid. The
limold and kerosene mixtures are
worthy of a careful trial and offer q
fair prospect Of good results.
Prepared OIL to MIX with Water.
Heretofore in order to spray the oil
over a larger surface and thereby tC
prevent injury to the tree we have ell
| ther put on the material combined with
water in a mechanical mixture or we
have combined the oil with soap tC
form an emulsion. The combination
pumps unfortunately do not act even
ly and sometimes upset all calculations
by first spraying water, then oil. Chem
lists have been seeking for some meth
cd Of chemically treating the crude oil
so that 1t will mix directly with water
and that method has been found at the
present time / have on the way now
two lots Of oil treated by process thai
makes it perfectly miscible with water
One lot is high grade Pennsylvania oil
the other lot Is Texas heavy oil with
an asphaltum base and considerable
sulphur.