206 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



this marvellous plant belonged to the genus Pyrethrum, but the specific character was uncer- 

 tain. This plant has been recently introduced into Brussels in the rich collections of the 

 botanical garden. We hope that in some years the red camomile shall have freed our people 

 from one of the most abominable plagues which afflict sensitive humanity. Some details of 

 a plant of so certain a future as that of the red camomiles will be, without doubt, acceptable 

 to our readers. In Transcaucasia, its country, this plant bears also the name of the 

 Persian Camomile, the flea-killer, and flea-wort; it forms a little shrub with perennial roots, 

 branched twelve to fifteen inches high, bearing many flowers at first of a deep red, after- 

 wards a clear or rosy red, and an inch and a half in diameter, (the size of the flowers will 

 also cause this plant to be cultivated as an ornament in our gardens ; ) the stalks dry up 

 after the ripening of the seeds, but the roots are perennial, and for some years may be mul- 

 tiplied by division. Freshly gathered, the flowers are not very odorous, but dried they 

 acquire an odor so strong and penetrating that it kills all the insects and all the vermin, of 

 which until now no certain agent of destruction has been found. The red camomile can 

 bear 20 Centigrade of frost, a temperature to which it is often submitted on the Caucasian 

 mountains and on the plains, elevated from 4500 to 6500 feet above the sea level. Although 

 it inhabits virgin soil, it is easily brought into cultivation in gardens, and, since its ener- 

 getic properties have been recognised, it is cultivated in a large way in different parts of 

 Southern Russia. One very remarkable fact is, that the knowledge of the secret of the 

 manufacture of the red camomile powder for the destruction of fleas, &c. only dates, even 

 in Caucasia, back about ten years, while the employment of this strong powder was known 

 in regions far distant from Circassia. It seems that an Armenian merchant, named Sumbi- 

 toff. travelling in the south of Asia, observed 4;hat the inhabitants sprinkled themselves with 

 a powder to prevent the stings of insects. This powder was nothing else than that made of 

 the flowers of the red camomile. Returned to his country, our Armenian told his son of the 

 discovery, and taught him to recognise the plant. This son became poor by reverses of 

 fortune, but bethought himself of his father's secret; he set himself then to make this 

 powder, and retired with very large profits from this trade. In 1818, he sold a pood (about 

 twenty kilogrammes) of camomile powder at twenty -five roubles, (near one hundred francs;) 

 and although the secret had been published, and every one knew the preparation of this 

 powder, more than twenty villages in the district of Alexandropol were actually given up to 

 the cultivation of the red camomile. The flowering of the Pyrethrum roseum commences in 

 June, and continues more than a month. The flowers are gathered in dry weather. In 

 one day a good harvester can collect from thirty to eighty pounds of these wild flowers. 

 They generally dry them in the sun ; but it is remarked that those dried in the shade have 

 more virtue. The bed of flowers is stirred from time to time to help the drying ; three or 

 four days is sufficient to drive off every trace of moisture. To obtain one pound of dried 

 flowers it requires about one hundred pounds of fresh ones ! They are then reduced to a 

 coarse powder with the hand, and by means of a little millstone, or a little brass mill, a very 

 fine powder fit for use is obtained. We see by this that the process is very simple ; the most 

 difficult question is how to operate upon a sufficiently large number of flowering plants. To 

 give an idea of the importance of the manufacture of this powder, we must state that in 

 Transcaucasia alone there are made each year for consumption in the Russian Empire more 

 than 40,000 kilogrammes. Baron Folkersahm has recently published a valuable paper on 

 the cultivation of the red camomile. His memoir terminates with the following remarks: 

 That this powder preserves you from fleas and bugs ; it kills flies, gnats, maggots, lice, and 

 even the worms which are produced in the wounds of our domestic animals. To kill insects 

 provided with wings, they mix a little of this with a substance which will attract them ; for 

 instance, to destroy flies, it is mixed with sugar. M. Folkersahm desires that the effects of 

 this powder should be tried on other insects and worms hurtful to man or to his horticultural 

 plantations. He adds, that if experiments demonstrate the efficacy of this powder, each 

 person could cultivate in the corner of his garden a certain number of plants of red camo- 

 mile to kill the insects, caterpillars, &c. which ravage his field. From an approximative 

 calculation, it is found that a space of eighteen square versts furnishes a quintal of powder. 

 Mr. B. Roezl, who lived a long time in Russia, states that the Insecten pulver (powder of the 



