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Household and Garden Pests: Bordeaux

The barrel can now be filled with water, and the Bordeaux mixture is ready for use.

This is the most generally useful treatment for fungous diseases.

The strong solution (third recipe) may be used on most plants, but for cherry trees, peach trees, and watermelon vines, the weaker solution (fourth recipe) is to be preferred.

Kerosene Emulsion. -Experiments seem to indicate that all soft-bodied sucking insects are destroyed by contact with kerosene. Pure kerosene may be applied to the hardier trees in winter when they are not growing. For application to growing trees and foliage in summer, a mixture called kerosene emulsion is recommended, as follows: hard, soft, or whale-oil soap, pound; boiling soft water, 1 gallon; kerosene, 2 gallons.

The soap is first dissolved in the boiling water, then the kerosene is added and churned by the pump from five to ten minutes. Before using, this must be reduced with water from one fourth to one tenth its strength. A strong emulsion must be used for scale insects, as the San José scale.

For plant lice, thrips, red spiders, and mealy bugs, weaker solutions may be used. Soft-bodied insects and cabbage worms, currant worms, etc., can be destroyed by these. The emulsion should be made shortly before using.

Formula for San José Scale.-A special formula for San José scale is as follows: whale-oil soap, 1 pound; boiling soft water, 1 gallon; kerosene, 2 gallons. Mix, churn, and reduce with 6 times as much water as emulsion. Use this in summer to kill the young and tender scales.

Kerosene without Soap. - Kerosene and water, reduced as above, may be used instead of the emulsion with soap. This requires a pump with a kerosene attachment. Select for spraying a clear, windy day, so that the surplus mixture will evaporate rapidly.

Ammoniacal Copper Carbonate.- This mixture is cheap, but is not quite as good as the Bordeaux mixture. It is not much used except on fruit that is nearly ripe and on flowering plants, when it is preferred, because the Bordeaux mixture would stain them. This is a clear solution and leaves no stains. The formula is as follows: copper carbonate, 5 ounces; ammonia (26 per cent Beaumé), 3 pints; water, 45 gallons.

Mix the copper carbonate with a little water into a paste. Mix the ammonia with 7 or 8 times its amount of water. Put the paste into the diluted ammonia and stir until dissolved. Add enough water to make 45 gallons. When it has settled, use only the clear blue liquid. Copper Sulphate Solution. - The same chemicals are used here as in the Bordeaux mixture. The formula is: copper sulphate, 1 pound; water, 15 to 25 gallons.

For Dissolve the copper sulphate in the water and it is ready for use. peaches and nectarines, use the weaker solution. This must never be applied to foliage, but must be used in winter and spring before the buds open. A very much weaker solution -1 pound to 250 gallons of watercan be used for trees in leaf in place of the ammoniacal copper carbonate.

This solution may be combined with arsenical insecticides.

Potassium Sulphide. This is expensive and is chiefly used for treating seed grain for smut. The formula is: potassium sulphide, 1½ pounds; water, 25 gallons. For spraying, use 4 ounce to 1 gallon of water. This is a very powerful germ killer.

Corrosive Sublimate. - This is used on seed potatoes to prevent scab.

The proper formula is: corrosive sublimate, 1 ounce; water, 7 gallons.

This is also a disinfectant. It is very poisonous and corrodes metals.

Formalin or Formaldehyde. This is naturally a gas, but is sold commercially in the form of a 40 per cent solution in water. It is not a poison, but the fumes are irritating to breathe. It is the best fungicide for prevention of smut in grain and scab in potatoes. For seed potatoes the formula is: formalin, pint; water, 15 gallons. Immerse the potatoes for 2 hours in this solution. The formula for seed wheat or oats is: formalin, 1 pound; water, 50 gallons. Immerse the seed for the same length of time.

Sulphur. This is useful in preventing mildew on plants. Sprinkle dry powdered sulphur over the plants, or spray with the following solution: sulphur, 1 pound; water, 5 gallons.

The fumes of burning sulphur are powerful as a disinfectant, fungicide, and insecticide, but they kill the plants as well. Hence sulphur must not be burned in hotbeds or greenhouses.

Paris Green. -The active principle of this well-known insecticide is arsenic. It should be of a bright-green color, and should be bought of a reliable dealer, because it is often adulterated. The formula varies in strength according to the use intended. A general formula would be: Paris green, 1 pound; water, 100 to 250 gallons.

For fruit trees, add 1 pound of quicklime to prevent injury to the HOUSEHOLD AND GARDEN PESTS foliage. Paris green and Bordeaux mixture can be applied together with perfect safety, so as to spray for insects and fungous diseases at the same time. Add 4 to 12 ounces of Paris green to 50 gallons of Bordeaux mixture. This will kill all chewing insects.

Paris green may be dusted on foliage in a dry condition. The formula is: Paris green, 1 part; flour, dust, or ashes, 10 to 20 parts.

The proper solution for potato bugs is Paris green, 1 pound; water, 100 gallons.

For peaches and other tenderleaved plants, use Paris green, 1 pound; water, 200 gallons.

London Purple. This contains arsenite of lime and may be dusted on plants dry, the same as Paris green.

When used in solution, the proper formula is: London purple, 1 pound; water, 200 gallons.

This is more liable to cause injury than Paris green, and the latter is to be preferred. are Paragrene and Green Arsenoid.- These patented preparations, and when of good quality are perhaps as effective as Paris green. They are said to require less mixing.

Paris green, London purple, and other arsenites above mentioned destroy injurious insects without danger to the foliage, and there is no good reason for buying these or other patented preparations that cost more and do not do the work any better.

Whale-oil Soap. - For San José scale on dormant trees in winter use: whale-oil soap, 2 pounds; water, 1 gallon. - For scale or aphis in summer use: whale-oil soap, 1 pound; water, 5 to 7 gallons. This may be quickly dissolved by the use of hot water.

Kerosene Emulsion Milk Formula.

Kerosene, 2 gallons; sour milk, 1 gallon. Agitate from 3 to 5 minutes with a pump. Add 15 or 20 times its amount of water, according to the plants to be sprayed. Crude Petroleum. -This may be used in place of kerosene when it can be readily obtained. A crude petroleum emulsion is used on the Pacific Coast as follows: whale-oil soap, 1½ pounds; distillate petroleum, 5 gallons. Prepare as for kerosene emulsion, and add 12 to 15 times as much water.

Kerosene and crude petroleum in a mechanical mixture of about 25 per cent of the oil is about as effective as pure oil and much less injurious to foliage. Sometimes, however, injury results, and it is advisable to use the plain oil and water in winter, and the dilute kerosene emulsion in summer.