FOUR IMPORTANT INSECTICIDES. 135 



cases where the habits of the insects will insure their eating the poison, and 

 when we run no risk in the use of the poison, then no other insecticide so far 

 as I have examined is so efficient as these arsenites. 



• Let me indicate where you can all use these poisons at an enormous advan- 

 tage. That is in your apple orchards just after the blossoms fall, the last of 

 May. This use, as I have repeatedly shown, is almost a perfect remedy against 

 the codling moth, and at the same time will put to rout the canker worm 

 should it be present in the orchard, will prove certain death to the s^jecies of 

 leaf rollers which are becoming so destructive in our State, but which are often 

 hardly noticed ; and will also prove the death knell to the familiar old tent 

 •caterpillar should it choose to pitch its tents in peparation for a siege. In this 

 work I would use a pound of the poison — both the London purple and the 

 Paris green are equally efficient if pure — to fifty gallons of water. As the 

 minerals are only held in suspension and not in solution, it is necessary to 

 frequently stir the mixture to prevent the minerals settling to the bottom of 

 the vessel. To use it we have only to put the barrels containing it in a wagon, 

 ■drive along between the rows of trees, and by aid of a force pump and hose 

 with a spraying nozzle, we can quickly, easily, and cheaply make the applica- 

 tion. Li case we have only a few trees Whitman's fountain pump is excellent, 

 and this pump is very desirable for many purposes about a house, especially in 

 case of fire. The cyclone nozzle is perhaps the best, and certainly leaves 

 nothing to be desired in way of economy. In western New York they attach 

 the pump handle to the wagon wheel in such a way that the pumping goes on 

 without hand labor. Close fitting floats in the barrel prevent .wasting of the 

 liquid mixture, while a hole through this float receives the pipe from the pump. 

 Another hole allows the handle of a stirrer to pass from tlie barrel. A trial 

 •of this remedy now for six successive years makes me very confident that it is 

 not only the best remedy for this worst pest of the apple grower, but is almost 

 ■Sill that could be desired. I have almost banished this pest from my fruit. As 

 this remedy will save its cost in the destruction of the other insects named, 

 we may at most say that the codling moth is exterminated without expense. 



But what of the danger of such use ? True, some of the poison will fall on 

 the grass beneath the trees, but it will be very little and will soon be blown 

 and washed off, so that we have only to keep the stock from the orchard for a 

 few days, and there will be no possible danger in this direction. 



Again, how about the fruit? It will be remembered that we applied the 

 poison the last of May. We use none of the fruit till late in August, and long 

 before this the wind has carried off the very last vestige, as I have proved 

 by repeated examinations with the microscope and the chemist's analyses. But 

 how is it that a May application of the poison kills the July brood oi larvae if 

 the last trace of the poison is blown away soon after its use ? I can only say 

 that it does, and probably because if the first brood is destroyed the seed for the 

 ■second brood is absent. In case trees near by are not treated then, of course in 

 case a second application was not made about July 4th, we could not expect 

 such satisfactory results. I must say that I have been surprised and at a loss 

 to explain the wonderful virtue of a single treatment as given above. 



The arsenites are also just the thing to fight leaf rollers, slugs, etc., that 

 attack the foliage and threaten with destruction our shade and ornamental 

 trees. But I would never think to use them to repel the currant slug, which 

 is feeding on the foliage just as we are picking and eating the green fruit, nor 

 upon cabbages, especially to protect against the second brood of caterpillars. 

 Here the very conformation of the cabbage makes it easy for the rain to wash 



