409 



against the insects which attack tea-bushes. The problem of an effi- 

 cient insecticide for use upon this <aop is a difficult one, since it raust 

 be noiii>()is()n(>us, inodorous, and tasteless, and must not injure the 

 tender foliage. The experiments which Mr. Strawson has made with 

 this compound show that it is efficacious against various formsof insect 

 life, and that it evaporates so rapidly and so throughly as to leave the 

 tenderest foliage unharmed, after a few hours leaving no trace of the 

 application, either by taste or smell. 



ANOTHER INSTANCE OF THE VALUE OF SPRAYING FRUIT TREES. 



The good that may be accomplished by spraying fruit trees at the 

 proper time, for the Codling Moth and Pkim Curculio, is becoming very 

 well understood, but we deem it advisable to occasionally mention 

 instances in which the use of the remedy seems to have brought about 

 exceptionally good results. Thus in previous nund)ers of the current 

 volume we have given the experiences of Mr. J. S. Lupton, of Virginia, 

 and Mr. W. F. Brown, of New York. The following note we take from 

 the Indiana Farmer of February 13, 1S92. 



I sprayed all my fruit trees twice, and the result is that they are all loaded down 

 with fruit and free from the Apple Worm. There is not one in a hundred apples that i« 

 wiirmij. I have forty apple trees and some pears, and I have to prop the trees up to 

 keep them from breaking down. Most of my neighbors that did not spray their 

 trees have no fruit but what is wormy. This is the first year I have ever had a good 

 crop of apples. 



A NEW INSECTICIDE. 



We have seen a somewhat indefinite item in a recent number of the 

 Scientific American concerning the use of monosulphide of potassium, 

 which, it is stated, has been discovered by Mr, Dubois to be a cheap 

 and effective insecticide. Experiments show that the hatching of 

 locust eggs is prevented by a light sprinkling with a solution of this 

 substance, while adult insects of several kinds have been quickly killed 

 in the same manner. The substance, it is stated, acts as an excellent 

 fertilizer for such plants as require potash. We publish this note 

 simplj^ as a suggestion to experimenters. 



THE IBIS AS A LOCUST DESTROYER. 



The Australian correspondence of the Mark Lane Express of March 

 7 has a paragraph relating to the value of the Ibis to farmers in the 

 recent locust incursions of last year and the present. In the Glen 

 Thompson district several large ilocks, one said to number fully 500 

 birds, have been seen eating uj) the young locusts in a wholesale man- 

 ner. Other insectivorous birds are flourishing upon the same diet. 

 Recently near pallarat Victoria, a swarm of locusts was noted in a 

 paddock, and "just as it was feared that all the slieep would have to 

 be sold for want of grass, flocks of starlings, spoonbills, and cranes 

 made their appearance, and in a few days made so complete a clearance 

 of the locusts that only about 40 acres of grass were lost." 



