OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 21' 



nation with other ingredients, to kill potato beetles, I was not aware 

 that anything of the sort had been done in the South till I received 

 the following letter, accompanied by several circulars, containing, 

 references, etc.: 



Prof. C. V. Riley, State Entomologists Mo. — Dear Sir: 



My attention has been called to a paper read by you at Indiana- 

 polis, in reference to the destruction of the Cotton worm with the use 

 of Paris green. I have experimented with the Paris green. I com- 

 bine it with cheap Hour and other ingredients to make it stick to the 

 leaf, so the rain does not wash it off. My compound is under patent. 

 It is used in the West to destroy the potato-bug and in the South tO' 

 destroy the worm. I am having it introduced into all the cotton States.. 

 It is an eifectual preventive against the ravages of the Cotton-worm — 

 does not injure the plant and does not wash off. 



Inclosed please find circulars. 



Very respectfully, yours, etc., 



Wm. B. ROY all. 



Brenham, Texas, July 2, 1873. 



The patent is numbered 112,732, and the following advertisement^ 

 which I found a short time afterwards, in several Southern journals, 

 will explain the ingredients which this right royal mixture contains : 



Notice.— The ingredients of my " Cotton Worm Destroyer" and " Potato Bug, 

 Destroyer," are as follows : " Paris Green," " Flour of Elm or Gum Arabic," " Com- 

 mon Flour," "Powdered Uosin." These remedies are covered by my Letters Patent 

 for all of the Cotton g'rovvini; States. Any person using any of these ingredients with- 

 out authority from me, or my agents, will be prosecuted in the Federal Courts; and 

 the full penalty of the United States Patent I.aws visited upon those thus infringing: 

 upon my Patent. 



W. B. PvOYALL. 



Bhenham, Tex.vs, July 15, 1873. 



It is to be regretted that patents can be obtained at all for reme- 

 dies of this nature after they have become generally known and right- 

 fully belong to the public. When the discoverer of such a remedy 

 does not see fit to patent it, no one subsequently has a moral right to ;: 

 whatever speculative right he may possess. Fortunately, in this case, 

 the patentees can not interfere with the public rights, and it is to be 

 hoped that no planter, either of potatoes or cotton, will be induced by 

 flaming circulars and threats, to pay even one cent per one thousand 

 acres, much less the demanded .?20.00 per one hundred acres, for the 

 privilege of using these patented mixtures. The very fact that so 

 many patents have been granted for the same purpose, all of them, 

 having Paris green as a base, shows clearly that the patent covers 

 only the particular combination. By ringing the changes on the dif- 

 ferent proportions of the several ingredients, a thousand of these 

 patent remedies may be obtained ; and any one who diverges but a 



