The Busy Woman s Garden Book 



sects which chew or eat the leaves of the plants 

 to which they are addicted, as the potato beetle, 

 caterpillar and the like, can most readily be de- 

 stroyed by poison applied to the foliage; insects 

 which do not eat the vegetation on the surface, 

 but puncture it and drain away by suction the 

 juices of the plant, like the aphis and other plant 

 lice, will not be injured by surface poison, but 

 must be destroyed by the contact of corrosive 

 poison with their bodies, or with hot water, which 

 is one of the best insecticides known, not only de- 

 stroying all insect life with which it comes in con- 

 tact, but cleansing and strengthening the plants. 

 It should be used as a spray at about a hundred 

 and forty degrees, taking pains to reach the 

 underside of the leaves as well as the upper sur- 

 face, and as it can be used when the fruit is in any 

 stage of growth its advantage is obvious. 



For the eating or chewing insects and beetles 

 there are several reliable poisons on the market, 

 all ready for use, needing only to be mixed with a 

 definite bulk of water, flour or lime, according as 

 the poison is to be used as a dust or a spray. 



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