CONTROLLING INSECT PESTS 415 



For fighting such insects as cut-worms and grasshoppers 

 a bran mash poisoned with Paris green is often very effective. 

 This may be made as follows: thoroughly mix one pound of 

 Paris green with twenty-five pounds of bran or middlings 

 and moisten with about a gallon of water which has been sweet- 

 ened by adding one or two quarts of cheap molasses. This will 

 make a stiff mash that may be placed in the affected field, a 

 tablespoonful or so in a place. 



For most purposes arsenate of lead is now used instead of 

 Paris green. It is less injurious to the foliage, remains in 

 suspension longer, and in many other ways is better than Paris 

 green. It may be manufactured at home, but it is usually 

 safer to buy some of the reliable brands that are on the market. 

 It comes in two forms, as paste and powder. Four to ten 

 pounds of the paste, or two to five pounds of the powder, 

 are used with every 100 gallons of water. The spraying should 

 be so thoroughly done that all the foliage and fruit is covered 

 with a thin film of the poison. Some fungicide, such as Bor- 

 deaux mixture or sulphur -lime, is of ten used in connection with 

 this insecticide, and the trees are thus freed from their insect 

 pests and fungus diseases with one spraying. A gallon of mo- 

 lasses or twenty-five pounds of glucose is often added to every 

 100 gallons of the spray when arsenate of lead is used for flea- 

 beetles and other leaf-feeding insects on cabbages, turnips, etc. 



White hellebore is often used instead of arsenic, especially 

 in the garden. It may be applied dry, diluted with five or ten 

 parts of flour, or it may be used as a spray, one ounce to a 

 gallon of water. 



Contact Insecticides. Of the many contact insecticides 

 used, the sulphur-lime solution is, in many respects, the best. 

 It acts quickly on the scaly covering of such insects as 

 the San Jose scale and soon kills the insect. It has the addi- 

 tional advantage of being an excellent fungicide as well as an 

 insecticide. There are many brands of concentrated sulphur- 

 lime solution on the market, and most orchardists now prefer 

 to buy some of these rather than prepare the mixture them- 

 selves. In using these all that is necessary is to add water and 

 apply thoroughly with the spray pump. The strength of the 



