189 



suits of that made with caustic soda are so little inferior, while the 

 price is so much less, that the caustic sodaaud resin soap mixture is the 

 oue which I would recommend. The formula which was found prefer- 

 able is as follows : 



Pounds. 



Caustic soda (77 per cent.") 5 



Resin 40 



Water to make 50 gallons. 



The soda should be dissolved, over a fire, in 4 gallons of water, then 

 the resin should be added and dissolved. After this the required water 

 can be added slowly, while boiling, to make the 50 gallons of the com- 

 pound. To this water may be added at the rate of 9 gallons for 1, 

 making 500 gallons of the dilute compound, sufficient for one hundred 

 large vines, at a cost of only 84 cents, or less than a cent a vine. 



Considering the effective way in which the ravaged vineyards of 

 France have been, and are being, redeemed by the use of resistant 

 American stocks, and considering the efficacy of some of the direct 

 remedies discovered, it is passing strange that no disposition has ever 

 been made of the premium of 300,000 francs offered in the early history 

 of the trouble by the French Government. It can not be awarded to 

 any one person, but should be distributed among those whose labors 

 and discoveries resulted in the several feasible and satisfactory methods 

 of coping with the insect. 



INTRODUCTION OF PARASITES AND PREDACEOUS SPECIES. 



The success which has attended the introduction from Australia of 

 Vedalia cardinalis has been phenomenal. Indeed, few who have not 

 kept in knowledge of the reports and the actual condition of things can 

 appreciate the remarkable character of the results, not only because 

 of the brief period required therefor, but because of the thoroughness 

 of the work of the little ladybird and the moral and financial benefit to 

 orange growers which have followed in its wake. 



The striking success of the experiment has served to fix attention, 

 not only of entomologists, but of fruit growers and farmers, to this 

 mode of dealing with injurious insects, and there is no question but 

 that the cases in which the experiment may be more or less success- 

 fully repeated are numerous. Let us hope, therefore, that the moral 

 effect will be as great as its practical effect in opening up means and 

 ways in the future, as it should serve to remove the disi^osition to de- 

 ride any expenditure having such results for its object. Many fears 

 have been expressed lest after sweeping oif the Icerya the Vedalia, be- 

 ing so far as we now know confined to that species for food, should 

 perish and that the Icerya, preserved in some restricted places undis- 

 covered by its enemy, would again multiply and become destructive. 



