POTATOES. 351 



to secure a uniform distribution over the field. It may be applied with a common watering- 

 pot, if performed by hand, or a small brush-broom with a handle sufficiently long to keep the 

 hands protected from the water. By passing down the rows with a pail of the solution, and 

 frequently inserting the broom and sprinkling the plants and insects, taking both rows right 

 and left in passing, the labor will be made more easy than when only one row is sprinkled at 

 a time, as this process reduces the labor of traversing over the whole field, by one half. 



Several machines for sprinkling with horse-power have been devised and are in use in 

 some sections. The fields should be sprinkled as often as the larvae make their appear 

 ance in order to hold them in check. When the powder is used, it is generally mixed with 

 thirty-five or forty parts of some dilutant, like lime, ashes, or flour; the latter is considered the 

 best by many, as causing it to adhere to the leaves and stalks best, while lime is highly 

 recommended by others as being an aid in exterminating the insect as well as a fertilizer and 

 invigorator to the vines. Many farmers use a considerably less proportionate quantity of the 

 poison, and consider one pound of Paris green sufficient for seventy-five pounds of the lime 

 or other mixture; much depends upon the quantity sifted upon each plant. &quot;We prefer the 

 liquid form as being most safe and more easily accomplished. 



There is great danger of inhaling the powder, when applied dry. Various dusters have 

 been invented and are employed when this method is practiced. Some farmers make a 

 duster for their fields by puncturing a tin box in the bottom and attaching it to a long 

 handle, and with this sift the powder over the plants. Applying it in this manner would be 

 dangerous when there was a breeze, unless the operator kept carefully to windward, as there 

 would be a liability of inhaling the poison or getting it into the eyes, either of which would 

 produce serious results. 



&quot;We would recommend the liquid form of application as preferable to the latter. A 

 heavy shower will wash off much of the poison when either methods are practiced. It 

 requires but a very small quantity to kill these insects. Mr. Tache. the French author, to 

 whom previous reference has been made, recommends even a smaller quantity than American 

 writers; he says: 



&quot; In the application by the liquid method, which I think should be generally adopted to 

 the exclusion of any other, a teaspoonful (level, not heaped), is sufficient, that is, about a 

 hundred and ten grains (quarter of an ounce) of Paris green, of superior quality, to an ordi 

 nary pail, holding from two to two and a half gallons of water. A pound of Paris green is 

 sufficient, therefore, for sixty-four pails of water, or about one hundred and forty gallons. 

 Should the Paris green be of inferior quality, or adulterated, a greater quantity, proportioned 

 to the reduced value, would be necessary.&quot; 



We are reluctant to recommend the use of any poison so dangerous in its results if acci 

 dentally or carelessly used, and we hope the time is not far distant when some equally 

 effective but harmless substance may be found to take its place for this purpose. Many of 

 the harmless insect-powders have been tested with unsatisfactory results. London purple 

 is cheaper than Paris green, and may be used as a substitute, but its effects are not as speedy 

 as the Paris green; therefore the latter is to be preferred. 



A field that has been once attacked by this insect will be liable to continue to be so, as 

 they have a habit of remaining where they once obtain a foothold. Concert of action in 

 exterminating them is also necessary among farmers, as they will spread rapidly to contigu 

 ous fields or those in the same vicinity. This insect, like all others, has its natural enemies 

 that aid in checking its increase, and if the farmer would befriend and encourage these, they 

 would be of great benefit to him in largely reducing, if not wholly exterminating the pest. 

 Among these enemies of the potato beetle, Prof. Riley mentions the various species of birds, 

 and states that the rose-breasted grosbeck often entirely clears a potato field of these insects. 

 The quail is also useful in this direction, as well as the crow, and many other birds. Chick- 



