528 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



latter case it still remains effective when considerably diluted -with flour — a fact 

 not neglected by unprincipled vendors. The liquid mixture — a tablespoonful 

 to two gallons of water — may be sprayed on to plants, or in stables and poultry 

 houses, or may be rubbed directly on to animals being pestered by lice or flies. 

 The powder may be dusted on to animals and plants by use of a bellows. In 

 the same way it may be used in rooms to kill flies and mosquitoes, or, if pre- 

 ferred, as the dust is obnoxious to the neat housewife, it may be placed on 

 papers in parts of the room. 



Of late it has been found to be a merciful provision to rid our domestic ani- 

 mals of flies which are often so very annoying. This use not only affords great 

 relief to the horses, but often nearly as much to the person who has to drive 

 them. To use this insecticide for such purpose, put a small tablespoonful into 

 a pint bottle of warm water, keep it tightly corked, and every two or three 

 hours, as the case requires, sponge the horses off thoroughly on the legs, under 

 the lower jaw, about the loins, and along the sides. 



Rot in Grapes. — The following is from editorial jottings in Michigan Farm- 

 er : We have had considerable grape rot in the vicinity of Detroit, so much in 

 fact as to destroy a number of the largest vineyards. Bagging has been recom- 

 mended, and it is generally successful in preserving this fruit from attacks of 

 rot. But a successful vineyardist near this city, Mr. C. W. Robinson, has kept 

 his vineyard free from rot, although others in his immediate neighborhood 

 have been greatly troubled with it, by pickiug off every affected grape as soon 

 as it shows it has been attacked, and burying them away from the vines. He 

 says it is contagious, and spreads in that way, a part of the vineward being 

 affected one year, a larger portion the next, until finally it is completely ruined. 

 This is the history of some of the vineyards in the vicinity of Mr. Robinson; 

 but so far his grapes are entirely healthy, and produce him a fine crop every 

 year. The remedy is a simple one at least. 



Scab on Apples and Pears. — E. S. Goff, horticulturist at New York 

 Experimental Station, writes concerning his experiments with scab as 

 follows : 



The results of three experiments indicate that hyposulphite of soda may 

 be used with advantage in some cases as a remedy for the black scabby spots 

 that frequently deface the skin of apples and pears. These spots are due to 

 a fungus growth, which often destroys the market value of th fruit. 



In the orchard of the station is a Siberian crab-apple tree that for several 

 years previous tolSSo had been so much affected with this fungus that the 

 fruit was entirely unfit for use. On the 5th of May, 1885, I syringed one 

 half of this tree with a solution of hyposulphite of soda at the rate of one 

 pound to ten gallons of water, and repeated the application at the same rate 

 on May 9 and May 15. 



This fungus injures the foliage of the tree as well as the fruit, and during 

 the summer the effect of the application was visible in the fresher appear- 

 ance of the leaves on the side of the tree treated. On September 19 a quan- 

 tity of the fruit was picked from the the syringed part of the tree and from 

 the part not syringed, and each lot was assorted into three qualities. In 

 the first quality was put only the fruits not attacked at all by the fungus ; 

 in the second those attacked in but one place, and there but slightly, and in 

 the third those much injured. The results are given in the following table, 



