76 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



"BUHACH" ON CABBAGES. 



A REMEDY FOB THE CABBAGE BUTTERFLY. 



Last summer I recommended a friend 

 of mine who grows cabbages on a large 

 scale, and who has been a great loser 

 by the cabbage worm, to try the Cali- 

 fornian insect powder, '' Buhach." I 

 obtained some for him from Mr. Miles, 

 of Stockton, Cal., and, thinking a few 

 notes of the results may be useful and 

 interesting to your readers, I send them 

 to you. 



My friend was growing about 3,000 

 head of cabbages, so that their protec- 

 tion was an object of considerable im- 

 portance to him. In the beginning of 

 September the plants were much in- 

 jured, some of them nearly destroyed. 

 The first application of the powder was 

 then made in the form of a mixture of 

 ten parts of flour to one of the Buhach. 

 This was found to be rather too weak. 

 Its effects were evident on those worms 

 which were touched at the moment of 

 application, but many of those not ac- 

 tually so touched were not injured. 

 The experiment was made on 800 

 plants, and the time required was two 

 hours. 



A second application was made on 

 September 7th to 1,000 plants in two 

 h,ours. This time a mixture of one 

 part of Buhach to eight parts of flour 

 was employed, and the effect was much 

 more lasting and complete. 



On September 21st a third applica- 

 tion was made to 1,000 plants, also 

 requiring two hours. This time a mix- 

 ture of one part of Buhach to eight 

 parts* of lime was employed. This was 

 found the most successful compound of 

 all. The lime formed a better dust- 

 spray than the flour, and adhered to 

 the plants equally well. The plants 

 all formed new heads, ami an excellent 

 crop was the result. 



It was, of course, not necessary to 

 do more than to poison the outer rows 



of the patch. In so large a number 

 the inner portion is not visited by the 

 butterfly, which rests upon the plants 

 which it first meets. 



The three applications mentioned 

 above were consequently made upon 

 the outer rows entirely, some of the 

 plants receiving two and some three 

 dustings. 



My friend informs me that he con- 

 siders himself a gainer by the presence 

 of the worm this year, as its ravages 

 threw the heading of the cabbages later 

 in the season, and they were not fully 

 matured until the cold weather set in. 

 He was therefore at no trouble or ex- 

 pense in preserving them through the 

 last few warm weeks of autumn. 



E. W. Claypole. 

 YeUow Springs, Ohio. 



P.S. — I sent you some time ago a 

 few notes on my treatment of the po- 

 tato beetle last summer with London 

 purple, which appeared in your num- 

 ber for September. In order to make 

 that account complete, I will add that 

 as a consequence of preserving the tops 

 from injury, I had the pleasure of dig- 

 ging from an acre of gi'ound more than 

 eighty bushels of good, large potatoes, 

 worth at the time $1 25 or $1 30 a 

 bushel. ' This was in spite of the in- 

 tense drought, which destroyed almost 

 all the potatoes in this district. Many 

 of my neighbors, acting towards the 

 beetle on the principle of " live and let 

 live," did not get more than ten, or in 

 some cases five bushels of small pota- 

 toes from the same quantity of land. 

 Not a few failed to obtain even their 

 seed. 



I may add to the experience of my 

 friend given above, that in my own 

 garden I find the poison dust of Lon- 

 don purple much more effective and 

 much easier of application to cabbages 

 in the early stages; but, in spite of 

 many assertions to the contrary th::t 



