REPORT OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, 1898 223 
It will be readily seen that the correct application of an insecticide 
involves a number of considerations. If it is not done properly the 
effort is useless, and money is lost in the labor wasted and on the poor 
crop resulting. 
Useless remedies. Avoid patent remedial preparations, specially 
those that are advertised to kill most, if not all insects, and act as a fer- 
tilizer in the bargain. A large corps of trained workers in experiment 
stations and other public positions are at present engaged in searching 
for new insecticides and in determining the best methods of applying 
them. Recommendations from such sources can usually be relied upon. 
Some of the preparations sold in the markets undoubtedly are of value, 
but they owe their efficacy to well-known substances and not to certain 
secret compounds. The great objection to this ciass of insecticides is 
that the farmer pays several times the value of the article, because it is in 
a disguised form, and he is usually ignorant of its nature, ‘There are other 
remedies which are totally worthless, having no intrinsic value of them- 
selves One of the most persistently advertised of these is the 
old trick of plugging a tree with sulfur or other substance in order 
to render the sap distasteful to insects of all kinds. This is a fascinating 
theory, but has absolutely no basis in fact. The safest way is to disre- 
gard all innovations till they have been duly tested at experiment 
stations or by other known authorities. 
Preventives. The old proverb, ‘ An ounce of prevention is worth a 
pound of cure,’ is most emphatically true in controlling insects. Un- 
favorable weather, a rush of work or other causes may enable an insect 
to commit serious injuries before it can be stopped. Repeated rains 
frequently cause postponement of spraying. It is well known that the 
period of greatest insect activity is also the time when farmers have the 
most work on their hands. Another noticeable fact is that the man who 
practises a wise rotation of crops, keeps his orchard clean and allows 
no rubbish and brush along the fences, is the one who seldom bemoans 
loss from insects. It has also frequently been observed that healthy, 
vigorous plants suffer less from insects than those in a sickly condition. 
In other words, clean culture with abundant plant food, and a rotation of 
crops are the best checks upon the undue increase of insect pests. 
Need of experiment. The following formulas comprise what are 
regarded as the most reliable, but must be modified under varying con- 
ditions, to meet the demands of the occasion. It should be borne in mind 
that in many cases it is not so much the insecticide used as the manner 
of its application, though in some cases the difference is due to a varia- 
tion in composition. For example, one man will use paris green and not 
