The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1906-01-15

cream 1t was sprayed on the vines
with bunch of brush. The copperas
was used not as fungicide, but to pre-
vent passersby from stealing the fruit
by giving the impression that the
grapes were poisoned. Mildart, the
French agricultural chemist, conclud-
ed that the copperas was the active
fungicide as lime had entirely failed to
control this mildew He now COM
menced a series of experiments, the re-
suit of which was the Bordeau Mixture,
a modified form of which is today our
standard fungicide. The name Dor
deau mixture" is taken from the noted
French city Bordeau, which is near
the famous grape wine growing dis
trict of France and at which place
the Downey mildew first made it's ap-
pearance in Europe.
The standard fungicide of today is
found in the following proportions
Bluestone, pounds; good lime,
pounds, and water, so gallons. It's
mixture and preparation should be
made according to the following plan:
Dissolve bluestone by suspending it
in coarse sack, near the surface of
the water in a wooden or earthenware
vessel containing % gallons of water;
slack the lime in another vessel, adj
alng water slowly, yet taking care
not to let it burn, till it makes a
smooth PASTE Next, thin sufficiently
to strain so as to remove all sediment
which might clog the nozzle of the
spray pump, then add water to make
up rs gallons. This is known as milk
OF lime. Pour these into another YES
sci or barrel, preferably by two per-
sons, SO that the streams will unite as
they enter the barrel. Stir well and
use no iron in the preparation of this
mixture except to prove it. To be
sure that there is no free copper in
the mixture (Which would burn the
foliage) take a clean pocket knife
blade and hold it in the mixture
for a few minutes. If there is any
free copper it will coat the blade
and make it appear copper plated
This mixture should be kept well
stirred as both lime and copper set
tie rapidly. If free copper is found
add more lime.
For tender foliage such as that of
the rose, peach and potato, use a
double quantity of milk of lime, which
would make rs gallons of the mixture
instead of fifty.
The question now is when the Bor-
deau mixture should be applied. A
fungicide is always used as pre-
tentative When once the mycelium
or body of the fungus has entered the
fleshy part of the plant, it is protected
by the skin or bark and may run from
cell to cell, destroying the entire It's
sue, therefore it is necessary to ap-
ply the fungicide before the fungus
has taken hold How does this fun
gicide protect our crop? Most of the
fungi destructive to plant life are dis
tributed by spores. They are to the
fungi what seeds are to the higher
order of plants, and terminate in about
the same manner. They are carried
by the winds or other agents and,
falling on their hosts, throw out their
spore tubes, which pierce the bark
and enter the cells. The Bordeau
mixture makes the plant immune from
this form of attack by destroying the
spores as they fall. On plants af-
fected we spray not to remove the
injury, but to kill the spores, which
are often the first evidence we have
of it's presence. BY this means the
unaffected part of the plant is pro-
tected. The copper sulphate (blue-
stone) is the active fungicide, but we
use lime in the Bordeau mixture to
prevent burning and also to prevent
it washing off so readily.
We use Bordeau mixture, double
strength, in the fall on the young bark
of apple trees to prevent anthracnose
(black-spot canker). In the spring
it is used just before the buds swell,
in order to kill what free spores there
are on the trees and just after the
blossoms have fallen, to protect the
fruit md alSa To dQctcOx the