206 



horticulture: 



August 19, 1905 



ST. LOUIS FLOWER SHOW 

 Under Auspices St. Louis Florist Club 



We wish to call attention to the 

 Shaw medal, which is offered in con- 

 nection with the Shaw premiums each 

 year when a flower show is held in St. 

 Louis. The Shaw medal is a gold 

 medal of $25 value and is offered by 

 permission of the trustees of the Mis- 

 souri Botanical Garden, under provis- 

 ion of the will of the late Henry 

 Shaw, and under the following require- 

 ments: "Best plant of decided merit 

 for cultivation, not previously an arti- 

 cle of North America commerce, and 

 jntroduced to such commerce by the 

 exhibitor during the year in which 

 said award is made." 



Haven't you a plant which you could 

 show in competition for this valuable 

 prize? Otto G. Koenig, Manager. 



BUFFALO FLORI&rS- CLUB. 

 The Buffalo Florists' Club held its 

 meeting on Wednesday last. William 

 F. Kasting in the chair. It was de- 

 cided to have the picnic the latter part 

 -of the month, and Rowland Cloudsley 

 ■was appointed chairman of the com- 

 mittee having the matter in charge. 

 As Mr. Cloudsley has had considerable 

 experience in that line a good time i= 

 •expected. 



NORTH SHORE HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



The North Shore Horticultural So- 

 ciety *ill hold its Summer flower 

 show on August 23 and 24. on the 

 grounds of the Essex County Club. 



EARLY HISTORY OF INSECTI 

 CIDES. 



In order to show that the raising of 

 good fruits and flowers by our ances- 

 tors was carried on under difficulties 

 and successfully accomplished largely 

 through the persistent use of insecti- 

 cides, I herewith give a short list of 

 remedies used in olden times, some of 

 which are in use today as standard in- 

 secticides. 



In 1629, John Parkinson recommend- 

 ed for the canker to cut it out and 

 then apply vinegar and cow manure. 



In 1711, a spray of water with Ruta 

 was used in France for Cantharides 

 (fly). 



In 176.3, a preparation was put up in 

 Marseilles as a remedy for plant lice, 

 consisting of bad tobacco and water- 

 slaked lime. Directions for use: First 

 wet the trees infested with lice, then 

 rub flowers of sulphur upon the in- 

 sects, and it will cause them all to 

 burst." 



In 1791, "Forsyth's Composition": 

 1 bushel fresh cow dung, 1-2 bushel 

 lime rubbish, 1-2 bushel wood ashes. 

 and 1-16 bushel sand, and soap suds to 

 make it bind. After applying sift dry 

 powder of wood ashes and 1-6 part 

 ashes of burnt bones. This composi- 

 tion was recommended to cure disease, 

 defects, and injuries to plants, was held 

 particularly valuable in promoting the 

 healing of wounds, and was commonly 

 used to fill cavities in trees. 



In 1797, an article appeared in the 

 "New England Farmer or Georgical 

 Dictionary," where Sam Dean. D. D.. 

 Vice-President of Bowdoin College, 

 says: "There are several experiments 



I could wish to have tried for subduing 

 these insects, such as burning brim- 

 stone under the trees in a calm time; 

 or piling dry ashes or dry, loose sand 

 round the roots of trees in the spring; 

 or throwing powdered quicklime or 

 soot over the trees when they are wet; 

 or sprinkling them about the begin- 

 ning of June with sea water or water 

 in which worm-wood or walnut leaves 

 have been boiled. The liquid may be 

 safely applied to all parts of a tree by 

 a large wooden syringe or squirt. I 

 should suppose that the best time for 

 making trial of these methods would 

 be soon after the worms are hatched, 

 for at that stage of their existence 

 they are tender and the more easily 

 killed. Sometimes a frost happening 

 at this season has destroyed them. 

 This, I am told, was the case in some 

 places in the year 1799." 



In "A Treatise on the Culture and 

 Management of Fruit Trees" (Am. edi- 

 tion, edited by William Cobbett, 1802), 

 Forsyth recommended the following 

 mixture for the destruction of aphis: 

 one-half peck unslaked lime, 32 gal- 

 lons water. Allow this to stand 3 or 4 

 days, stirring 2 or 3 times per day. He 

 recommended the same mixture for the 

 destruction of red spider, but said that 

 pure water would also answer the 

 purpose. It is also stated that several 

 English nurserymen used train oil 

 (whale oil) against coccus, or scale 

 insects on plants. 



J. Thatcher, M. D., "Am. Orchard- 

 ist." 1S22, gives a list of the following 

 articles to be used against the apple 

 tree borer, an insect that is designated 

 as a "pernicious reptile" by the author. 

 After digging out the borer fill the 

 cavity about the base of the tree with 

 "flax rubbish, sea-weed, ashes, lime, 

 sea-shells, sea-sand, mortar, rubbish, 

 clay, tanner's bark, leather scrapings, 

 etc." 



In a Massachusetts agricultural re- 

 port is stated that Josiah Knapp of 

 Boston in 1814 used air-slaked lime 

 with success against the canker worm. 

 Later experiences have shown it to be 

 of little benefit for the canker worm, 

 but recommended it for the slug on 

 the leaves of fruit trees. Mr. Yates of 

 Albany, N. Y., recommends the follow- 

 ing solution for caterpillars: One 

 handful wormwood, one handful Rue, 

 two handsful of Virginia tobacco, and 

 two pailsful of water. In 1822 E. 

 Perley recommended for scale insects 

 on trees to wash them with lye or 

 brine. On account of cheapness and 

 ease of preparation clay paint was used 

 very extensively. The "Caledonian 

 Horticultural Society" of Scotland, 

 recommended that paint in 1825. 



The following solution commonly 

 used for bed-bugs was also recom- 

 mended for canker by the "Practical 

 American Gardener," Baltimore, in 

 1822: Corrosive sublimate, spirits and 

 soft water. 



On Nov. 20, 1821, John Robertson 

 read a paper before the London Horti- 

 cultural Society, saying: "Sulphur is 

 the only specific remedy for mildew- 

 on peaches." William Cobbett, in the 

 "English Gardener," 1829, recom- 

 mended for the cotton blight (wooly 

 aphis) a wash of something strong, 

 such as tobacco juice, or water in 

 which potatoes have been boiled, or 

 rubbing the part with mercurial oint- 

 ment. 



In "The New American Gardener," 

 1832, Thomas Fessenden gives a list of 

 solutions supposed to be strong enough 



to overcome the organism against 

 which they were applied, as follows: 

 simple water, soap-suds, tobacco 

 water, decoctions of elder, walnut 

 le^es, bitter herbs, pepper, lye of 

 wood-ashes, solutions of pot and pearl 

 ashes, water impregnated with salt, 

 tar, turpentine, etc.; or they may be 

 dusted with sulphur, quick-lime, or 

 other acrid substances. 



Lindley's "Guide to the Orchard and 

 Kitchen Garden," 1831, recommends 

 vinegar for destroying insects. 



In "New American Gardener," 1832, 

 Fessenden quotes Loudon as saying: 

 "Saline substances mixed with water 

 are injurious to most insects with ten- 

 der skins, and hot water is equally if 

 not more powerfully injurious. Water 

 heated to 120 or 130 degrees will not 

 ihjure plants whose leaves are ex- 

 panded and in some degree hardened; 

 water at 200 degrees or upward may be 

 poured over leafless plants." 



Loudon's "Encyclopedia of Garden- 

 ing," 1878, quotes Mr. Swainson as 

 saying that hot water will destroy 

 more aphis than by the use of tobacco 

 water. 



In "The New Am. Orchard," 1833, 

 Dr. W. Kenrick speaks of aloe and 

 cayenne pepper for the aphis, and 

 quicklime, flowers of sulphur, and 

 lampblack for a white, mealy insect 

 and mildew on grapes. 



In 1835, John Hearns recommended: 

 strongest farm-yard drainage, soft 

 soap, and flowers of brimstone for the 

 destruction of insects. 



White hellebore was used as early 

 as 1842. particularly in destroying 

 worms on gooseberry plants. In Amer- 

 ica it was not until 1858, the time 

 when the currant worm was first 

 noticed, that J. Harris 

 hellebore. 



(To be Continued.) 



Visitors in Buffalo the past week: 

 Mr. Richard Ludwig. representing A. 

 N. Pierson: Mr. Arthur Bool of Ithaca; 

 G. M. Kellogg, Pleasant Hill, Mo. 



m7h7wal.sh 



Rose Specialist 



-WOODS HOLE.. MASS. 



Hardy Roses, the best new and old va- 

 rieties; Strong Flowering Plants; Hy- 

 brid Tea Roses, the best and hardiest va- 

 rieties: New Rambler Roses, Lady (Jay, 

 Debutante, Wedding Bells, Sweet- 

 heart, La Fiamma and Minnehaha. 

 Strong, field grown plants lu tlower ne.\t 

 summer. Best varieties Paeonies, Phlox, 

 and Hollyhocks, 

 Catalogue describes all the above. 



Florists' Signs 



For Windows 



FACSIMILE OF SIQNATURE. ANY SIZE. METAL, 

 ENAMEL OR QLASS 



N. STAFFORD CO. 



Fulton Street 



New York 



