

LECT. v ENEMIES OF CROPS AND TREES 73 



To make a winter wash for cleansing them : 

 Dissolve % Ib. each of caustic soda and commercial 

 potash in 5 gallons of boiling water, and spray on as 

 hot as the hand can be borne in it for ten seconds. 

 This will clear off moss and insects, and make the 

 branches bright and clean. So will freshly slaked 

 lime, washing the large branches with a solution of 

 it, and dashing powdered lime amongst the twigs and 

 spurs when they are wet on a still, misty morning. 



As a summer dressing for all kinds of insects : 

 Dissolve J Ib. of caustic soda in a gallon of water, and 

 in this boil f Ib. of sulphur till it is dissolved. Then 

 dissolve 7 Ibs. of soft soap in any convenient quantity 

 of water, and mix the whole, boiling for a short time. 

 The ingredients are sufficient for 30 gallons of insec- 

 ticide, for applying warm with a syringe fitted with 

 a spraying nozzle only. 



When leaves have a reddish or scorched appearance 

 they are infested on the underside with a mite, known 

 as the red spider. It is so small as to be almost 

 invisible, but is highly injurious. 



The above mixture will destroy this and other 

 insects, as well as most caterpillars that attack trees 

 in summer, and do no damage to foliage or fruit. 



Against the codlin moth grub that devours apples, 

 and the winter moth caterpillar that ruins trees, Paris 

 green is the remedy. It contains much arsenic, and 

 is poisonous. It should be had in paste form. Mix 

 from 2 to 4 ozs. in a little water, then stir into 40 

 gallons j or in small quantity, not more than oz. to 

 4 gallons. Apply when the buds swell in spring, 

 again when the leaves unfold, and the fruit is set, 

 then as often as small caterpillars may be seen. It 

 should fall on the trees and leaves like mist and 

 rest on like dew, not using so much as to run off 

 them like rain. 



