404 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



PROF. SURFACE: T would suspect you had the white auts boring 

 iu the wood. I have received a communication from a }>eutleman 

 in Philadelphia and samples that brouj^ht to my mind a subject 

 of great importance. He has a row of houses and the white ants 

 are working in them. If that is what it is I ought to know, so as 

 to give you the proper remedy. Please send me specimens if any 

 insects are to be found in them. Of course, if you inject pure kero- 

 sene into the holes, it will kill them. 



A Member: Did you ever have any experience with a citizen who 

 claimed he never took scale although it was on each side of his 

 house, in each yard? A gentleman claimed that Good's No. 3 

 Caustic Potash Whale Oil Soap would work all right. 



PROF. SURFACE: Yes; that will kill the insects in the winter, 

 because it makes the scales turn up and then when the rain, freezing 

 and wind come, they are washed off. 



A Member: Do ants on trees do good? 



PROF. SURFACE: This is an important question. The ants are 

 there because plant lice or scale insects are there, and not because 

 they are attacking the trees. When you see ants going up and down 

 trees it is a sure indication that these pests are there. It is the 

 sweet juices, secreted by plant lice and scale insects, that the ants 

 are after. 



A Member: 1 would like to ask a question in regard to plum 

 trees. I neglected to spray our trees before they bloomed last year, 

 but after they bloomed I sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, and about 

 10 days later I gave them a second spraying, but a number of the 

 plums are dropping off. Would a spraying before they came to 

 bloom have prevented this or will all these plums drop off? 



PROF. SURFACE : The most of them that are stung by curculio 

 will drop off". Destroy the fallen plums and that will lessen j'our 

 loss next year. You will still catch the plum curculio by jarring the 

 trees. There is nothing better than jarring for them. The p(5isons 

 do not kill all the curculios, though they do kill many of them; but 

 poisoning is not satisfactory. 



A Member: In regard to Paris green, what is the cost? 



PROF. SURFACE : About 17 cents a pound— 15 to 20. 



A Member: I asked our druggist what he sold Paris green at and 

 he said 40 cents. I asked the price on 8 or 10 pounds, and he said 

 he could not tell me, but would write to the wholesale druggists. 



A Member: I think in quantities you can buy it in cans, 14 It), cans, 

 for 14 cents. 



A Member: What would be the cost of London Purple? , 



