Agriculture for Beginners Part 35

Water 50 gal.

Dissolve the copper carbonate in the smallest possible amount of ammonia. This solution may be kept in stock and diluted to the proper strength as needed.

Use this instead of the Bordeaux mixture after the fruit has reached half or two thirds of the mature size. It leaves no spots as does the lime-sulphur wash or the Bordeaux mixture.

SPRAYS FOR BOTH FUNGOUS AND INSECT PESTS

HOME-MADE LIME-SULPHUR WASH

Lime 20 lb.

Sulphur 15 lb.

Water 50 gal.

The lime, the sulphur, and about half of the water required are boiled together for forty-five minutes in a kettle over a fire, or in a barrel or other suitable tank by steam, strained, and then diluted to 50 gallons. This is the wash regularly used against the San Jose scale. It may be subst.i.tuted for Bordeaux mixture when spraying trees in the dormant state. Commercial lime-sulphur may also be used in place of this homemade wash. Use one gallon of the commercial lime-sulphur to nine gallons of water in the dormant season.

SELF-BOILED LIME-SULPHUR WASH

The self-boiled lime-sulphur wash is a combination of lime and sulphur boiled only by the heat of the slaking lime, and is used chiefly for summer spraying on peaches, plums, cherries, etc. as a subst.i.tute for the Bordeaux mixture.

Lime 8 lb.

Sulphur 6 to 8 lb.

Water 50 gal.

The lime should be placed in a barrel and enough water poured on it to start it slaking and to keep the sulphur off the bottom of the barrel.

The sulphur, which should first be worked through a sieve to break up the lumps, may then be added, and, finally, enough water to slake the lime into a paste. Considerable stirring is necessary to prevent caking on the bottom. After the violent boiling which accompanies the slaking of the lime is over, the mixture should be diluted ready for use, or at least enough cold water added to stop the cooking. From five to fifteen minutes are required for the process. If the hot ma.s.s is permitted to stand undiluted as a thick paste, a liquid is produced that is injurious to peach foliage and, in some cases, to apple foliage.

The mixture should be strained through a sieve of twenty meshes to the inch in order to remove the coa.r.s.e particles of lime, but all the sulphur should be worked through the strainer.

GLOSSARY

To enable young readers to understand the technical words necessarily used in the text only popular definitions are given.

=Abdomen=: the part of an insect lying behind the thorax.

=Acid=: a chemical name given to many sour substances. Vinegar and lemon juice owe their sour taste to the acid in them.

=Adult=: a person, animal, or plant grown to full size and strength.

=Ammonia= (_ammonium_): a compound of nitrogen readily usable as a plant food. It is one of the products of decay.

=Annual=: a plant that bears seed during the first year of its existence and then dies.

=Anther=: the part of a stamen that bears the pollen.

=Atmospheric nitrogen=: nitrogen in the air. Great quant.i.ties of this valuable plant food are in the air; but, strange to say, most plants cannot use it directly from the air, but must take it in other forms, as nitrates, etc. The legumes are an exception, as they can use atmospheric nitrogen.

=Available plant food=: food in such condition that plants can use it.

=Bacteria=: a name applied to a number of kinds of very small living beings, some beneficial, some harmful, some disease-producing. They average about one twenty-thousandth of an inch in length.

=Balanced ration=: a ration made up of the proper amounts of carbohydrates, fats, and protein, as explained in text. Such a ration avoids all waste of food.

=Biennial=: a plant that produces seed during the second year of its existence and then dies.

=Blight=: a diseased condition in plants in which the whole or a part of a plant withers or dries up.

=Bluestone=: a chemical; copper sulphate. It is used to kill fungi, etc.

=Bordeaux Mixture=: a mixture invented in Bordeaux, France, to destroy disease-producing fungi.

=Bud= (noun): an undeveloped branch.

=Bud= (verb): to insert a bud from the scion upon the stock to insure better fruit.

=Bud variation=: occasionally one bud on a plant will produce a branch differing in some ways from the rest of the branches; this is bud variation. The shoot that is produced by bud variation is called a _sport_.

=Calyx=: the outermost row of leaves in a flower.

=Cambium=: the growing layer lying between the wood and the bark.

=Canon=: the shank bone above the fetlock in the fore and hind legs of a horse.

=Carbohydrates=: carbohydrates are foods free from nitrogen. They make up the largest part of all vegetables. Examples are sugar, starch, and cellulose.

=Carbolic acid=: a chemical often used to kill or prevent the growth of germs, bacteria, fungi, etc.

=Carbon=: a chemical element. Charcoal is nearly pure carbon.

=Carbon disulphide=: a chemical used to kill insects.

=Carbonic acid gas=: a gas consisting of carbon and oxygen. It is produced by breathing, and whenever carbon is burned. It is the source of the carbon in plants.

=Cereal=: the name given to gra.s.ses that are raised for the food contained in their seeds, such as corn, wheat, rice.

=Cobalt=: a poisonous chemical used to kill insects.

=Coc.o.o.n=: the case made by an insect to contain its larva or pupa.

=Commercial fertilizer=: an enriching plant food bought to improve soil.