The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1910-09-09
Lime-Sulphur Sprays.

There are now three lime-sulphur
preparations which have considerable
value as fungicides-home-b boiled
lime-sulphur wash factory-boiled
lime-sulphur solution, and self-boiled
lime-sulphur mixture.
The home-boiled lime-sulphur wash
is the regular wash for the San Jose
scale which has been used as an in
secticde and as a fungicide for
number of years. Various formulate
are used in it's preparation, but the
following seems to meet all require
ments Lime, twenty pounds; sui
phur, fifteen pounds; and water, fifty
| gallons. The lime, the sulphur, and
about half the water are boiled to-
gether for about forty-fve minutes in
a kettle over a fire or in a barrel or
other suitable tank with steam.
After straining and diluting to fifty
gallons the wash is ready for appli-
cation to the trees. Practically all of
the sulphur goes into solution and
combines with the lime in the form
of monosulphid, polysulphid, and
thiosulphate.
For spraying trees in the dormant
state this wash may be substituted
for Bordeaux mixture as a fungicide,
and it is a common practice in some
sections to use it for peach leaf-curl.
Being both an insecticide and a fungi
eide, it makes a good combination
treatment for the San Jose scale and
leaf-curl. 1t is injurious to foliage,
however, and cannot be safely used
as summer spray unless greatly d.
-4uted, and then not effectively on the
peach.
The factory-boiled lime-sulphur So
luton is a concentrated solution of
practically the same composition as
the homemade wash and is placed on
the market as a substitute for the lat
ter by several reputable firms. The
home-boiled wash is troublesome to
make and does not keep we'll owing
to crystallization of the sulphur, so
that the prepared wash, which keeps
indefinitely and is ready for use when
received, requiring only dilution with
water, is becoming popular. There
is some variation in the strength of
the solutions made by different firms,
but they usually contain two and a
half to three pounds of sulphur to
each gallon and register twenty-five
degrees to thirty-twO degrees on the
Baume hydrometer scale.
For insects and diseases on dor
ctr oth Of
of the solution to nine to eleven gal
Ions of water is the usual recommend
alton, and this strength appears to
give satisfactory results. For sum-
mer use, however, the solution re-
quires very much greater dilution
and it cannot be safely used at any
effective strength on peach trees in
foliage. According to our expert
ence during the last season a strength
of one to twenty-five can be used on
apples without any serious injury,
but stronger wash appears to be I'M
safe.
During the past two years COM
mercial lime-sulphur has been rather
extensively used as a summer spray
by Investigators and fruit growers in
different parts of the country, and the
results have been somewhat conflict
ing. A report of experiments con-
Quoted by Mr.. Kent Beattie, of the
Washington Agricultural Experiment
Station, shows that strength of one
gallon OF the solution to eleven gal
Ions Of water caused no injury to the
fruit or foliage Of Ben Davis and JON
athan apples trees and that it con-
trolled apple scab. In the expert
ments reported later in this paper
strength of one to twenty injured APP
pie foliage, and it would appear to be
entirely unsafe to use it stronger than
one to twenty-five. Even the latter
strength cannot be safely recon-
mended with full confdence.-W. M
Scott, U. S. Dept. Agriculture.