GAS-LIME : AS A FERTILIZER AKD INSECTICIDE. 53 



the coal is forced through it, it leaves with it its sulpliuretted hydro- 

 gen and other impurities. It is produced in large quantities by all 

 our gas-works, and, up to the present, it is regarded only as a waste 

 material of no commercial value. As it entails an expense to dis})ose 

 of it, it would, no doubt, be readily given to any one who would re- 

 move it from the works. The Albany Gas Light Company, last year, 

 produced 19,000 bushels, which was carried away by the company and 

 used for filling up some low grounds. 



Its value as a fertilizer. — In this country, gas-lime has, within a 

 few years past, been used to some extent as a fertilizer. If its value 

 for this purpose were generally known, and also its proper method 

 of use, there is scarcely a doubt but that every bushel would be 

 reclaimed from waste, and utilized upon lands with quite benelicial 

 results. In reply to frequent inquiries made of one of our leading ag- 

 ricultural journals by correspondents, of its value and method of use, 

 the reply has generally been to this effect: Gas-lime is beneficial to 

 such land as may be improved by the application of common lime. 

 As it is dangerous to vegetation when applied in its fresh state, it 

 should be kept for a year or two, and then fifty bushels may safely be 

 applied to an acre. It may be either made into a compost with two or 

 three times its bulk of swamp-muck, or applied directly to the soil 

 after having been pulverized. 



From some experiments made with it during several years, it would 

 seem that it may be much more freely used than above stated and 

 with less caution. A gentleman who claims that he has thoroughly 

 tested its value as a fertilizer, states that two hundred bushels per 

 acre may be saTely spread upon meadows and pastures through the 

 winter and up to March 1st, letting the rain wash it into the soil. 

 During the month of February he drew two loads a day fresh from the 

 works, and s^jread it as it was drawn. {Country Gentleman, xlvi, 

 1881, p. 85.) 



Its use, in its fresh state, as an insecticide. — Used as above, 

 in its fresh state, in the latter part of winter, besides its value as a 

 fertilizer, it would unquestionably be of much additional value as an 

 insecticide. It would be destructive to most hibernating larvae near 

 the surface of the ground and perhaps to tlie depth that they ordi- 

 narily penetrate. The young and less than half-grown larvae of the 

 vagabond Cranibus {Cramhus vuk/itm/eUus) in their slight protective 

 coverings, would certainly be killed by it. As the latest studies render 

 it probable that the army- worm (Leucaiiiatunptincta) in this itovtionot 

 the United States, usually passes the winter as a caterpillar, sheltered, 

 perhaps, among the roots of the grasses, we should be able to prevent tho 



