46 FIKST ANNUAL KEPOET OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



6. Paraffine oil as an Insecticide. 



This material has, within the last few years, become a popular in- 

 secticide in England, where it is highly esteemed for the destruction 

 of underground larvae. I am not aware that it has been experimented 

 with in this country, nor do I know if it is manufactured for sale. 



The oil is produced by the distillation of Cannel coal. The crude 

 oil gives four products, viz. : 1st, Paraffine naphtha ; 2d, Paraffine oil, 

 used as a burning fluid in lamps, in England ; 3rd, a heavy oil much 

 used for machinery in Lancashire; 4th, Paraffine used for candles. 



When applied to vegetation by sprinkling, in the proportion of one 

 pint of oil to two gallons of water, it has been used with satisfactory 

 results in England for destroying the carrot-fly {Psiln rosce), the cur- 

 rant-worm [Nematus ventricosus), the onion-fly [Anthomyia ceparum), 

 etc. It is claimed that even so dilute a mixture as a glassful of the oil 

 to six gallons of water, and sprayed over the plants two or three times 

 has arrested an attack of the onion-fly; and a wine-glass of oil to one 

 gallon of water has been of service in attack of the carrot-fly. 



A plot of young larches nearly destroyed by a species of aphis {Cher- 

 ones laricis) was saved and restored to health, by watering them at 

 intervals of three or four days, for about three weeks, with diluted 

 paraffine, in the proportion of a wine-glassful to a watering-can of 

 water. 



An excellent method of mixing the oil is said to be the following : 

 Put the oil first in a pot and then fill in the water vigorously with a 

 syringe. In applying it, one man is kept lifting a syringeful out of the 

 mixture and discharging it into itself, while another applies it to the 

 plant. In using upon tender vegetation, it should be syringed off 

 with clear water in two or three minutes {London Gardener). 



When mixed with some absorbing substance, as ashes, sand, saw- 

 dust, or even dry earth, and applied in this form to the ground, it is 

 more gradually absorbed and is more lasting in its results. Thus one 

 quart of oil to a wheel-barrow of wood-ashes has operated quite bene- 

 ficially in protecting carrots, turnips, etc., from attack. A convenient 

 method of applying it to plants is to mix with sand just a sufficient 

 quantity of the oil to moisten it, but not to prevent its running readily 

 through the hand, when it may be scattered broadcast or applied di- 

 rectly to the roots of plants. In the absence of rain, sprinkling with 

 water will aid in carrying the oil into the ground. A field of turnips 

 badly infested with the wire-worm {Agriotes Imeatus), was saved by 

 strewing the paraffined sand with spoonfuls along the center of the 

 drills, so as to fall directly "above the roots of the plants, — the whole 



