THE BROWN FAMILY IN CALIFORNIA 



of the pests that bite and chew is to poison their food, but the fellows that suck the 

 juices and pay no attention whatever to poison on the outside surface of a plant, have 

 to be met and slain in open battle. The biters are killed by a Paris green mixture and the 

 suckers are laid low by the kerosene emulsion.* 



"Another group of biting pests, though not strictly insects, are slugs and snails. 

 They can be poisoned by the use of poisoned leaves laid on the ground or they can be 

 trapped either with leaves or pieces of board or little piles of wheat bran. Early in the 

 morning the slugs will be found in large numbers under the leaves or boards or col- 

 lected in the bran, and can easily be gathered up for breakfast in the poultry yard." 



"Mamma and I had a better plan than that to kill slugs; didn't we, mamma?" said 

 Ethel. "We had the little chickens do it." 



"That's first rate," said Simpson. "Mother hens in portable coops, with the young 

 chicks running among the plants, are a very good solution of the slug question on a 

 small scale. But a garden should never be troubled with myriads of slugs. When the 

 slugs are found in great numbers it is often due to excessive surface irrigation. If the 

 surface is finely worked up and allowed to dry, it is very discouraging to slugs and is 

 otherwise promotive of plant growth." 



"Now, Mr. Simpson, you put it as though we didn't know that," said Ethel, pro- 

 testing. 



"All right, Miss Ethel," said Simpson. "If you will allow me, I'll escort you over 

 to the speech-making, for I hear Judge Gardiner just beginning a nice address on 

 George Washington." 



♦Note by Jason Brown: "Mr. Simpson didn't tell us what are the means for treat- 

 ing destructive animals, but I will say we've always found it necessary to trap goph- 

 ers; poison ground squirrels, if there are any anywhere in the vicinity." — Jason Brown. 



(To be continued.) 



HOW TO MAKE KEROSENE EMULSION. 



(The standard remedy for plant lice and some other sucking insects.) 



Kerosene emulsion is made by dissolving half a pound of soap, and adding twe 

 gallons kerosene while hot; this must be churned hard until the two ingredients are 

 thoroughly mixed, when it becomes a creamy paste. This must be diluted with twenty 

 to twenty-five parts of water before it is sprayed on the stems and foliage of a plant. 

 You can use one gallon of sour milk in place of the half pound of soap, and dilute in the 

 same proportion before using. 



HOW TO MIX PARIS GREEN. 



(The standard arsenical poison, a wholesale way of killing insects that chew.) 



Paris gr*»n and London purple are the two principal poisons used for chewing in- 

 jects. To mafce a spraying solution, mix one pound of Paris green with 100 or more 

 gallons of water; one pound of milk of lime prevents injury to leaves, and the latter 

 should always be used when making the London purple solution, which is compounded 

 in the same proportion as Paris green. To use them dry or in powder form, take one 

 pound of either poison and mix with 50 pounds of flour or 100 pounds of land plaster, fine 

 road dust or coal ashes. This can be dusted on the leaves through a coarse muslin 

 bag or through a fine sieve. The London purple solution is the cheaper of the two and 

 adheres to the foliage longer. Tobacco dust sprayed or blown onto the leaves and 

 stems rs also a remedy. 



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