198 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



attendance upon exhibitions of horticultural products. And why not have a 

 public garden in every town in our land? — i\T. Y. Tribune. 



CARBOLIC ACID FOE INSECTS. 



The time has almost come again when "the little busy bugs" will open up 

 their summer campaign, and dispute with the "lords of creation" for posses- 

 sion of the " fruits of the earth." Allow me thus early to call attention to an 

 article, the merits of which everybody knows, but which many dare not use, — 

 I refer to carbolic acid. Prepared as indicated, it cannot, I think, hurt the 

 most delicate house plants, and it is sure to kill insect life. 



My plan of preparing is as follows : — I obtain crude carbolic acid ; I use it in 

 this form because it is stronger and better for the purpose, and costs but very 

 little (about twenty-five cents per gallon, I think). I pour a quantity of this 

 dark crude acid into a quantity of good strong domestic soft soap ; stir well 

 together, and allow to stand for a few hours. I then test the compound by 

 mixing a little of it with soft water. If too much acid has been added, oily 

 particles of carbolic acid will be observed floating on the surface. This shows 

 that more acid has been put in than the soap will incorporate or "cut," and more 

 soap should be added to balance the excess of acid.- No more definite rule can 

 be given, as so much depends on the strength of the soap. Two or three table- 

 spoonfuls of the acid to a quart of soap may be first tried. I prefer to make it 

 as strong with acid as the soap will perfectly cut. A very little practice will 

 enable any one to compound it correctly. The refined acid may be used when 

 the crude is not at hand. When prepared as above, make a moderately strong 

 suds, and apply with syringe or sponge. In using on very delicate plants, 

 should any fear be felt for the plants, they can be rinsed off after a few min- 

 utes. My first and eminently successful use of this compound was some years 

 since, on a block of young cherry trees, some fifty thousand in number. The 

 black aphis "came down like the wolf on the fold," only "they came not as 

 single spies, but in whole battalions." It soon became an interesting question 

 as to who was the proprietor of this particular block of trees, — myself or the 

 "bug Ethiopian." A disinterested observer of judicial turn of mind, judging 

 from the general appearance of things and the very "at home" air assumed 

 by the bugs, would have said they had the best case. He would, at least, have 

 been compelled to admit they had "nine points of the law" (possession) in 

 their favor. I never saw the like before. The trees were alive with aphis. 

 The only scarce things on the trees were leaves, there being hardly enough to 

 afford "standing room" for all the dusky guests. However, being a convert 

 to the doctrine of "squatter sovereignty," I declared war, and failing to de- 

 crease the numbers by ordinary means, I compounded soft soap and carbolic 

 acid, and with a single application exterminated the enemy. — Cor. Gardener's 

 Monthly . 



