14 



Sunlight. This is one of nature's greatest antiseptics and in the 

 construction of houses for the growing of lettuce, as much sunlight 

 must be admitted as possible. 



RED SPIDER. 



{Tetranychus telarius.) 

 Tills minute insect is often very destructive in greenhouses, es- 

 pecially where the air is kept dry and at a high temperature. It is 

 so small, and under favorable conditions it increases so rapidly, that 

 serious harm is often done before it is discovered. In our rose room 

 and other rooms where the sulphur has been evaporated regularly, 

 scarcely a specimen can be found, and if at any time we find them 

 upon plants, an exposure of a few hours in the room where the sul- 

 phur is used will exterminate them. 



Experiments of Hon. E. W. Wood., West Newton, Mass. 



In connection with our report of the use of evaporated sulphur as 

 a fungicide and insecticide, we are pleased to report the results of 

 experiments made by Mr. Wood, who, with the late John B. Moore 

 of Concord, Mass., first suggested its use to us. He writes as follows : 



" In answer to your inquiry as to my experience with evaporated 

 sulphur as a fungicide and insecticide in the cold grapery, I would 

 say that in 1884 the red spider appeared on two of my eighteen vines, 

 the first week in August, and so injured the foliage that the fruit 

 ripened but imperfectly. The following year the spiders appeared 

 on all the vines the last of July, the foliage commenced turning 

 brown and their webs covered the under side of the leaves. I pro- 

 cured some flowers of sulphur, and using an ordinary sauce disli of 

 glazed granite ware, put in the sulphur to the depth of one and one- 

 half to two inches and placed it over the blaze of the second size 

 Summer Queen Oil Stove and boiled the sulphur three and one-half 

 hours, filling the room with the vapor. The next morning by the 

 most careful examination with a microscope I could not find a live 

 spider in the house. From that time on the new foliage was as clean 

 and bright as in the early part of the season and the fruit ripened 

 perfectly. I have found the evaporated sulphur equally effectual in 

 destroying mildew which occasionally appears in most cold grap- 

 eries." 



Mr. Wood also finds this remedy effectual in preventing the fungous 

 growth that causes the dropping of the leaves of the chrysanthemums 

 after they have been taken from the ground in the fall. 



