254 



THE CANADIAN HOKTICCL lURIST. 



oil to destroy the worms. In this case 

 the kerosene is the insecticide, the ob- 

 ject of the soap being but to thicken 

 the liquid so as to retard, in a measure, 

 the separation of the oil from the water. 

 A large proportion of the soap makes 

 the water so thick that it will not flow 

 readily through the fine openings of 

 the rose. A large proportion of oil en- 

 dangers the plant, while a small pro- 

 portion is inefficient against the worms. 

 There is one caution, however,* to be 

 given : If repeated applications of the 

 mixture are made upon the same plants, 

 the more tender varieties will be de- 

 stroyed or will be injured. We found, 

 on trial, that where one or two appli- 

 cations were made without injury to 

 the plant, a large number of applica- 

 tions blighted the leaves, more or less, 

 and five applications entirely destroyed 

 the early varieties, while large growing 

 and late varieties seemed uninjured 

 even under severe dosing. The grow- 

 ing cabbage furnishes so many hiding 

 places for wor»ns that we cannot hope 

 to destroy them all with a single appli- 

 cation, however thoroughly it may be 

 made. The perfect remedy should de- 

 stroy the worms wherever it touches 

 them, and should not injure the plant 

 in the least under any number of appli- 

 cations. 



During the strawberry season we 

 noticed that a decaying strawberry had 

 a great attraction for the wire worm. 

 We frequently found as many as twenty 

 of these worms beneath a single over- 

 ripe decaying fruit. This suggested 

 that it might be possible to entrap the 

 wire- worm, by placing some sweet sub- 

 stance about plants that are troubled 

 by it. Accordingly, on June 25th we 

 placed small lumps of a mixture of 

 molasses and wheat flour about plants 

 of Sweet William in the flower garden, 

 which, from the early spring, had been 

 the favorite haunts of the wire-worm. 

 On June 29th an examination showed 



that our trap was a success, and we 

 counted thirty- five worms under a 

 lump of the mixture, the size of a silver 

 dollar. We next collected a large 

 number of the worms and placed them 

 with a small quantity of soil on an 

 earthen seed-pan, and placed on the soil 

 a lump of the same mixture, with a 

 little Paris green added. The mixture 

 attracted the worms as before, but, ta 

 our surprise, it did not kill them. We 

 confined them for a week in the pan^ 

 but did not see that they diminished 

 in numbers. 



One part of Paris green mixed with 

 200 parts of ground limestone proved 

 entirely successful against the larvse of 

 the potato beetle. Great care is, how- 

 ever, required to secure a thorough ad- 

 mixture of the two substances where so 

 small a proportion of the poison is used. 

 In this dilution Paris green seems ta 

 lose its danger to the human family, 

 as we can scarcely imagine injurious re- 

 sults coming from its use, to the careful 

 man, 



Bisulphide of carbon applied to the 

 soil about the roots of squashes for de- 

 stroying the squash-borer, Aegeria 

 cucurbita, had no visible effect in di- 

 minishing their ravages. Paris green, 

 mixed with water, at the rate of 1 part 

 of the former to 600 of the latter, by 

 weight, and carefully applied to the 

 stems of squash plants, seemed to be of 

 benefit. We commenced using about 

 August the 20th, taking great care to 

 first remove every borer from the stems. 

 We have since found but few borers in 

 the plants treated with it, although the 

 plants were of those varieties very sub- 

 ject to their attacks. A careful exam- 

 ination made September 5th, discovered 

 but two borers in 8 plants, while other 

 plants in the same row, to which no 

 application had been made, contained 

 from 1 to 3 borers each. The Paris 

 green and water was applied in this 

 case with a watering-pot having a small 



