28 
Lilder Leaves.—June 7: made an infusion of elder leaves and tops, 
weight $ pound; poured on two quarts of boiling water; set on back of 
range to draw; time,two hours. I had expected a good result from elder, 
as it has long been used by gardeners and farmers, combined with bur- 
dock and walnut leaves, &c., as an application against insects ; but in 
this case it did not seem to work well. I marked another tree, and ap- 
plied it by dipping the ends of the branches. The water rolled off as 
usual, and would not stick. I mixed a little alkaline lime- water, but it 
seemed not to injure them in the least. I noticed that the infusion was 
nauseous but not bitter. I cannot see how it acts as an insecticide unless 
by the smell. Some insects have a great dislike to pungent and strong 
smells. After the fourth dip, which was on the fourth day, I despaired 
of its doing any good in this case, and so tried my next remedy, which 
was mandrake root. 
Mandrake Root.—June 8: made a decoction of mandrake root, 1 pound; 
put in two quarts of water; let it come to a boil, and then simmer or 
stew slowly for one hour. When cool it tasted very bitter and was 
rather dark colored, and I had good hopes of it, in which I was not dis- 
appointed. J applied it to another young peach tree, and also to a 
young, six-year-old cherry tree, infested with black Aphides (M/yzus 
cerasi). Three dips almost cleaned them entirely from the peach tree, 
and also from the cherry tree, so that the Ladybug and her larve made 
short work of the few sickly ones that remained. I cannot account for 
it, but this wash seemed to take a better hold of the insects, so that the 
Peach Aphis would turn brown after the second dip; and in my subse- 
quent experience I found that whenever the insects turned brown it was 
a sure indication that their time was short. They would not increase 
afterwards, and the Ladybug larve soon destroy them. I also tried 
this remedy on rose bush Aphis, with about the same result. 
Ailanthus.—June 9: made an infusion of 8 ounces of the leaves of 
Ailanthus in two quarts of water; letit draw two hours. The liquor was 
very dark, and the infusion similar to elder in its effects; the water rolled 
off and would not adhere to the insects. An infusion of the bark was 
clear, only slightly brown. I added some lime-water, for the purpose 
mentioned in my first experiment, and also applied a little fine dust 
through a small dredging box. This made the infusion adhere very 
closely, and the Aphides succumbed after the third dip. It will be re- 
membered in all these cases that I made only one dip each day, and 
waited till next day to see its effects; then dipped again. No one need 
be surprised that these different bitter and obnoxious plants had no 
better effect on these insects when I say that I afterwards tried two of 
the strongest vegetable bitters we know—namely, quassia and coloquin- 
tida, or the colocynth gourd—with no better effect. 
I may here remark that I bottled and labeled all those bitters for 
other experiments. 
N. B.—I have since found that the ailanthus bark contains the bitter 
principle very largely, but takes a long time to draw. 
