300 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



great measure also, the soundness of the fruit. Spraying with the 

 arsenites in order to preserve stone fruits from the curculio is still of 

 questionable value, but there is hope that some recently discovered in- 

 secticides miy be found more eflTectual. Undoubtedly human ingenu- 

 ity will, in the course of time, vanquish even this, as yet, invincible foe. 

 At the last meeting of the Society of Economic Entomologist at 

 Springfield, Mass., August 27, 1895, a number of discoveries were an- 

 nounced in the line of new insecticides and of combinations of those well 

 known, with substances, which while not diminishing their poisonous 

 effect upon the insects, rendered them less caustic upon the foliage of the 

 trees and plants to which they were applied. In the treatment of the 

 Gypsy moth, for example,which has for several years been such a scourge 

 upon trees and shrubbery in Massachusetts, Prof. Fernald reported that, 

 after all known insecticides that could be used with even a measure of 

 safety to the trees, had failed, a preparation of arseoate of lead, a dis- 

 covery of the station chemist, had been found effectual in destroying the 

 insects without injury to foliage. Fish oil soaps had given very favor- 

 able results both as insecticides without admixture, and when used in- 

 stead of the ordinary domestic soaps in the manufacture of kerosene 

 emulsions. Prof. Smith of Kew Jersey gave the results of his experi- 

 ments with two viscous products of crude petroleum. One of these,"Rau- 

 penleim," was of German manufacture, and in general use in many sec- 

 tions of Germany, where it is applied to the trunks of the trees to prevent 

 the oviposition of boring beetles, and to make it impossible for those 

 already in the tree to make their way out when they have arrived at 

 the perfect state. It also acts as a barrier against all species that 

 naturally crawl up or down the tree in the course of development, and 

 is still further useful in protecting the bark from the gnawings of wild 

 or domestic animals. The second of these products is " Dendroleum," 

 which is produced in America. It is of lighter color and lacks the 

 tarry odor of the foreign article, but in other respects closely resem- 

 bles it. Both are recommended for use, not only against borers, but 

 for catching such insects as canker worm females, bag worms, Tus- 

 sock moths, climbing cut worms, and for destroying the eggs and trap- 

 ping the minute pear tree Psylla, which is very destructive in some of 

 the Eastern states to the foliage and fruit of the tree from which it 

 derives its name. These substances are daubed upon the trunks of the 

 trees with a paddle, and afterward spread more evenly over the bark 

 with a stiff brush. They are said not to injure the tree in the least. 

 The cost of the Raupenleim — which the experiments reported had 

 proved to have some advantages over Dendroleum — is $12.75 per 100 

 pounds in New York, while Dendroleum may be purchased from oil 

 works for $5.50 per 100 pounds. 



