336 



three ounces of cyanide of potassium ; and of this solution pour two or 

 three or four table-spoonfuls in and around the holes of the pests. Its 

 contact appears to paralyze the insects, and they soon die. If the first 

 application does not finish them, another one will. The nests can then 

 be dug out and burned. Great care should be observed in haudling the 

 remedy, as it is poisonous." We believe the use of benzine would prove 

 to be an equally efficacious remedy. 



The decay of foeest fixes. — A correspondent in Mississippi writes 

 that, within a radius of five miles of his residence, many forest i)ine-trees 

 have died this year from an unknown cause. Four clusters are entirely 

 dead, three of which wiU average twenty trees each. In another and 

 a larger cluster, seventy-five trees are dead. A small bark and wood 

 eating insect, either a Tomicus or Scolytus, is probably the cause of the 

 death of the trees. It would be well to examine the bark of a tree after 

 its vitality has been destroyed, and if insects are found under its bark, 

 the whole tree should be burned. By thus destroying the insects, other 

 trees would probably escax)e iujury. 



SCi:eNTIFIO NOTES. 



Use of watee-glass itt washing wool. — Among the many practi- 

 cal applications of water-glass, or the silicate of i)otash and soda, its use 

 in the washing of wool is said to be not the least important. For this 

 purpose one part of the water-glass is to bs dissolved in forty of warm 

 water, and the wool placed in it for a minute, and stirred around a little 

 with the hand. It is then to be taken out and rinsed in cold or luke- 

 warm water, when it will be white and entirely free from smell. After 

 this treatment the wool is said to remain perfectly soft, and is not af- 

 fected in the slightest degree, even if allowed to remain for several days 

 in the solution, and then rinsed out with warm water. Wool may be 

 washed very rapidly in this way, and in large quantity, by inclosing it 

 in baskets or nets, immersing it in the solution, and treating it as above 

 mentioned. Even the sheep can be rendered of snowy whiteness very 

 quickly, if immersed for a minute in a vessel containing the above solu- 

 tion at a temperature of 100^ to 120^, and then rinsed iu pure water. 

 In this case it may be necessary to take some precaution to prevent the 

 introduction of the solution into the eye of the sheep, which may be 

 done by fastening the legs securely to prevent struggling, and, perhaps, 

 enveloping the head for the time in cloth. 



A similar use of the water-glass is recommended for the ordinary 

 washing of clothes, the process consisting in laying the fabrics in a 

 solution of one part of glass and twenty to thirty of water at a tempera- 

 ture of 100^ to 150° F., and allowing them to stand several hours, when 

 they are to be stirred around with a stick, the bath having been previously 

 heated up by the addition of warm water. The clothes are then laid 

 upon a board or over bars to drain, when the liquid coming from them 

 will be found to contain nearly all the dirt. After this, treatment in 

 ' the ordinary way, with a very little soap, will quickly remove any re- 

 maining impurity. It is recommended to x)lace the clothes a second 

 time in a weak solution of water-glass — one part in fifty — and finally to 

 rinse out with warm water. Clothes thus treated, it is said, become of 

 a dazzling white, and do not need bleaching. 



