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The best remedy that can be recommended is pure Paris-green, mixed 

 with ashes or flour, in the proportion of 1 part to 12 or 15. It should 

 be dusted over the plants in the morning when the dew is on the foliage, 

 and should always be repeated after rains. A convenient way of dust- 

 ing the vines evenly is to prepare a dredge, on a large scale, from an 

 old fruit-can, by puncturing the bottom full of small holes, and securing 

 to the side a piece of broom-handle about two feet in length. This, 

 when tilled, the operator can carry in one hand as he walks down the 

 rows, gently tapping the handle with a similar stick held in the other 

 hand, being careful always to keep to windward. The amount can be 

 regulated by the speed of the operator. Three pounds of Paris-green 

 to about forty pounds of flour, ashes, or air-slacked lime, will answer 

 for an acre of potatoes. 



One of our correspondents writes that he has applied Paris-green, 

 mixed with water, sprinkled over the plants with good effect at the 

 rate of 1 pound to about 48 gallons, and seems to think it the best plan, 

 as the dust then cannot be hurtful io the operator. 



Mr. Saunders, of this Department, has tried brushing them off of the 

 vines in the heat of day, and thinks that most of them were destroyed 

 by the operation, and recommends it as the easiest way to get rid of 

 them. AVe think, however, this remedy would prove of little value in 

 localities where the heat of the sun is not as great as here. Some per- 

 sons, having a prejudice against the use of Paris-green, recommend hand- 

 picking, or collecting the insects in nets of gauze, and though this may 

 answer in the early part of the season, and do much good by lessening 

 the numbers of the second brood, still it is not practicable or sure later 

 in the season when the insects are very abundant. Insects caught in 

 this manner should never be crushed by the fingers, as they are quite 

 poisonous. Deaths have also resulted from breathing the steam from 

 hot water that has been used to kill them, and also from carelessly 

 partaking of food without washing the hands after handling these in- 

 sects. As the Paris-green is also poison, composed largely of arsenic, 

 great care should be exercised in its use. 



As much of the Paris-green that is sold for the purpose of destroying 

 the potato beetle is impure, and in many instances not Paris-green at 

 all, but chrome-green or imperial green, we give the following test for 

 its purity from one of the Baltimore manufacturers, as follows : Place a 

 small portion of the green in a test-tube, adding a small quantity of 

 water and caustic potash, which will take up all the arsenic, throwing 

 down the oxide of copper ; wash this with a little water to free it from 

 the arsenite of potash ; then add nitric acid and water, which will dis- 

 solve the copper, leaving the adulteration, if any. 



Insect Injuries. — Our statistical correspondents reveal an appall- 

 ing visitation of insect scourges in the Northwest. The most injurious 

 pests are of types unfortunately too well known by the American farmer. 

 Several species unrecognizable from description are mentioned, and in 

 a few cases correspondents have attempted to describe them. In a 

 majority of cases, however, a person not versed in entomology will fail 

 to detect the specific points of difference, and will consequently send a 

 description that will suit several other forms of insect life as well as the 

 one under consideration. A single specimen will enable the entomolo- 

 gist to identify the injurious insect, and to suggest such methods for its 

 extirpation as the recources of entomological science will admit. The 

 intelligent gentlemen who give gratuitously so much time and thought 

 to the collection and transmission of the latest statistical facts will see 

 at once the importance of prompt and accurate information in regard to 



