18 
This insecticide may also be used in other stored products, as peas, 
beans, etc., and very satisfactorily where the infested material can be 
inclosed in a tight chest or closet for treatment. 
The bisulphide costs, in 50-pound cans, 10 cents per pound, and in 
small quantities of druggists, 25 to 35 cents per pound. 
OCaution.—The bisulphide may be more freely employed with milling 
erain than that intended for seeding, since used excessively it is liable 
to injure the germ. [It must always be remembered that the vapor is 
highly inflammable and explosive and that no fire should be in the build- 
ing or lighted cigars, ete., during its use. If obtained in large quanti- 
ties it should be kept in tightly closed vessels and away from fire, 
preferably in a small outbuilding. 
CONTROL OF INSECTS BY CULTURAL METHODS. 
It is much easier to ward off an attack of insects or to make condi- 
tions unfavorable to their multiplication than to destroy them after 
they are once in possession; and in controlling them methods and sys- 
tems of farm and orchard culture have long been recognized as of the 
greatest value—more so even than the employment of insecticides, 
which, in most cases, can only stop an injury already begun. Insects 
thrive on neglect, multiply best in land seidom or never cultivated, 
and winter over in rubbish, prunings, or the undisturbed soil about 
their food plants, and become, under these conditions, more numerous 
every year. It is a fact of common observation that it is the neglected 
farm, vineyard, or orchard filled with weeds or wild growth which is 
certain to be stocked with all the principal insect enemies; and, on the 
other hand, thorough and constant culture, with the removal and 
burning of prunings, stubble, and other waste, the collection and 
destruction of fallen and diseased fruit, and the practice, where possi- 
ble, of fall plowing to disturb the hibernating quarters of field insects, 
will almost certainly be accompanied by comparative immunity from 
insect pests. 
The vigor and healthfulness of plant growth las also much to do 
with freedom from insect injury, such plants seeming to have a native 
power of resistance which renders them in a measure distasteful to 
most insects, or at least able to throw off or withstand their attacks. 
A plant already weakened, however, or of lessened vitality from any 
cause, seems to be especially sought after, is almost sure to be the first 
affected, and furnishes a starting point for general infestation. Any- 
thing, therefore, which aids good culture in keeping plants strong and 
vigorous, such as the judicious use of fertilizers, will materially assist 
in preventing injury. 
To the constant cropping of large areas of land, year after year to 
the same staple, is largely due the excessive loss from insects in this 
country as compared with European countries, because this practice 
furnishes the best possible conditions for the multiplication of the ene- 
