APPLE BLIGHT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2129, 26 October 1885, Page 2

APPLE BLIGHT.

The following is Professor Kirk's method of curing apple blight The bark must be kept dear of moss, lichen, &c., all loose bark should be removed, and the central portion of the head should be kept open by judicious'pruning, so' as to allow the freest circulation of air, and afford the least amount of cover to the insect, The most efficient remedy is castor oil, containing about 2oz wood-soot to the gallon; this mixture should be applied to the affected parts with a paint-brush. In very bad cases it might be fqund advisable to make a second application, but I have never known it to fail when properly applied. Mixture of caustic potash, sulphur, and oil are excellent, The following has been generally circulated under the instructions of the Hon, the Minister of Lands: "Four pounds of sublimed Bulphur in an iron pot, with enough water to stir conveniently while boiling for twenty minutes; then add Ift of caustic : potash (Groenbank Company's is the best),: previously dissolved, and whilst still hot, and as much colza or other vegetable oil as will make it like a tliiclc paint,. Then, when warm, with a large paint brush, daub it for about the space of a foot round the butt of the stem of the tree. Rain will wash it into the roots, and the oil will tend to preserre its strength for years." Emulsion of kerosene and milk, or kerosene and soapsuds, are employed in America, cai'bpjjo acid emplpyed as a wash lias been highly recommended, Soft-soap, dissolved in boiling water, with the addition of caustic potash and sulphur, forms an excellent remedy. Sulphur and lime used as a witewash; fish-oil; soft-soap dissolved in boiling water with carbolic acid, Many other remedies fflay be Kiontjoned, but, so far jts my experience goes, nothing has proved superior to tl\e mixture of castor-oil and soot, mentioned at the outset. , Syringing with fiQipuds or Pther liquors has been often advised, but no amount of syringing would be sufficient to clean a badly infected tree, aq it would be impossible to force fluids into all the innumerably chinks f\iu| qreylges of the diseased outgrowth, Trees may.be protected from American blight and other aphides by planting the common tall nasturtium (Tropsolum majus) at the root, and allowing it to ascend the stem. I believe this to be a specific with regard to the root.