KEROSENE AS AN" INSECTICIDE. 45 



Loudon purple), the rose-bug, etc., by sluiking them into it; and for 

 destroying nocturnal insects attracted to lights placed in fields. 



Cloths may be saturated and spread beneath trees to be jarred. The 

 curculio would be killed by falling upon them, and this method 

 would be of particular value with those insects which show a readi- 

 ness, upon dropping from the foliage, to take wing or travel away, 

 unlike the curculio nidm which usually counterfeit death for a 

 while. A saturated cloth may be stretched upon a light frame and 

 while held in a proper position beside or among infested vegeta- 

 tion, large numbers of the smaller leaf-hoppers, flea-beetles and other 

 minute forms could be driven upon them and destroyed. Or a frame 

 for the cloth could be so constructed as to be pushed by a long handle 

 or drawn by cords over the surface of low-growing crops, by means of 

 which many of these small insects flying or leaping against the cloth 

 would absorb sufficient of the oil, even from the temporary contact, to 

 kill them. 



Cattle may be relieved from lice by simply applying the oil in a small 

 quantity to a card, and occasionally carding them with it ; its use for 

 a few days will prove efiFectual {Country Qentleman, April 18, 1872, 

 p. 250). It has been used successfully upon horses when the mane and 

 neck have become, through neglect, infected with these annoying para- 

 sites, by rubbing it upon them ; and upon hogs, by applying it 

 thoroughly with a stiff brush or the stump of an old broom {Ih., 

 March 6, 1873, p. 155). 



It is very valuable for henneries infested with lice and mites. Ap- 

 plied to the sides, top and bottom with a sprinkler or, which is better, 

 with the rose of a force-pump, it will effectually destroy the vermin. 

 When the nests of sitting hens are found to abound with a small species 

 of the Acarina, to the extent, at times, of driving the hens from them, 

 a moderate sprinkling of the nest will suffice to kill them and to keep 

 them away. It may also be applied to infested fowls with a feather, 

 to the portions of the body where the vermin are observed. It may 

 even be used with safety upon young chickens, if judiciously employed. 

 In all cases care should be taken not to permit the oil to enter the 

 eyes, nostrils, or mouth. 



In addition to kerosene being destructive to insects, it seems to be 

 disagreeable to some species, or at least to prevent their presence. A 

 writer in the Country Gentleman states that he has discovered a very 

 simple means of ridding his stables from flies, by keeping the floor free 

 from droppings, and sprinkling it slightly with kerosene by means of 

 a tin can having a small hole pierced in the cork through which a pint 

 of the oil may be distributed in a week's time. 



