96 BULLETIN NO. 4, DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
light covering of leaves, at the same time lifting a few plants and _ pot- 
ting them, thinking if I lost those in the open ground that I would still 
have a start; but those in the open ground started with a vigorous 
growth, and to-day (the 10th of June) gathered a handful of blooms 
from a space 5 feet square. The blooms of those kept in the house are 
inferior to the others. The seed received of you this spring I gave the 
same treatment, with almost an entire failure; have several plants of 
each kind. We were well pleased with our former success, and expect 
to gather blooms enough this season to make powder, so that we can 
try its virtues on all kinds of insects that infest house plants. 
KANSAS. Manhattan, May 2, 1883.—S. C. WELLS. 
I gave away a part of the pyrethrum seed you sent me last spring, 
and planted the rest; some of them came up, but our dry winds or 
something else destroyed all but one plant. That one is now growing 
and looking well. 
MASSACHUSETTS. Franklin, June 18, 1882.—RurH H. SMITH. 
The seeds of the Pyrethrum rosewm received from you early in April, 
1881, were planted according to direction. They came up, but did not 
seem to thrive well during the year. However, a few plants survived 
the severe hail-storm of July 4, aud wintered well without any covering. 
They bloomed first about three weeks ago. 
MIcHIGAN. Burnside, October 22, 1883.—MICHAEL J. KIRWVEN. 
According to your request L write to inform you of my success in rais- 
ing the pyrethrum. I sowed the seed in a dark, sandy loam spot in ny 
garden on the 23d of May. Of the P. carneum but one plant grew; 
P. roseum, tive; P. cinerariefolium from Austria, none; P. cinerariefolium 
from California, about thirty-five plants grew. None of them have come 
to maturity. Will the P. rosewm stand the winter without protection? 
Mississippi. Oxford, April 28, 1883.—R. W. JONES. 
The pyrethrum plants, which | mentioned in my report of January 11, 
1883, are now blooming beautifully. I send you specimens of the blooms 
and leaves. They are (1) Pyrethrum roseum, (2) Pyrethrum cinerarie- 
folium. I think the only difficulty here in growing the plant is in get- 
ting it started. From my experience thus far I am led to the conelu- 
sion that in Mississippi the best time for sowing the seed is in Oc- 
tober; seeds sown in the spring do not do so well, though I succeeded 
in raising some plants from seed sown in the spring. The hot, dry sum- 
mer of this latitude is a severer trial to the plants when young than 
our winters are. In the spring, too, the rains are too heavy and too 
often repeated for the young plants to thrive. It is very interesting to 
watch insects that are attracted by the brightness of the colors of P. 
roseum, as they fly to the bloom and suddenly leave. I note that some 
