INSECTICIDES 47 



called sticker, is sold by James Good of Philadelphia, Pa., and may 

 be used in the same way at the rate of 3 pounds to 50 gallons. 



7. Poisoned Bran Mash. For combating grasshoppers and cut- 

 worms arsenic is often applied in the form of a bran mash. Mix 

 1 pound of Paris green or London purple (or white arsenic col- 

 ored with a dye) with 25 pounds of bran or middlings. Stir a 

 quart or two of cheap molasses into a gallon of water and moisten 

 the bran, stirring thoroughly, until it makes a stiff mash. Do 

 not add so much water that the mash will be thin and will cake 

 when exposed. Apply a heaping tablespoonful near each plant 

 or every 2 or 3 feet in the row. Keep poultry out of fields 

 thus treated. For cutworms apply a day or two before setting 

 plants and as near evening as possible. 



8. Hellebore. The powdered roots of the white hellebore are 

 often used as an insecticide in place of arsenicals, especially for 

 currant worms, rose slugs, and similar saw-fly larvse and for insects 

 affecting crops soon to be eaten, as the hellebore is much less 

 poison to man and animals than arsenicals. It may be applied 

 dry, diluted with from 5 to 10 parts of flour, or as a spray, 1 ounce 

 to ^, gallon of water. It is too expensive to use except for a few 

 plants in the yard or garden, and like pyrethrum, deteriorates 

 with age and if exposed to the air. 



Harmlessness of Arsenicals when Properly Applied. The ques- 

 tion is frequently asked whether it is safe to apply arsenicals to 

 vegetables and fruits to be used as food. Where sprayed or dusted 

 as directed the amount of arsenic which would be deposited on 

 the plant would not be sufficient to cause any injury, and Professor 

 C. P. Gillette has shown that twenty-eight cabbages dusted in the 

 ordinary way would have to be eaten at one meal in order to pro- 

 duce poisonous effects. Occasionally growers dust cabbage with an 

 unreasonable amount of poison, and very rarely instances of poison- 

 ing are recorded, but there is no value in applying any more poison 

 than is necessary to make a thin film over the surface, and more 

 than that is wasted. Because a certain amount of poison will kill 

 an insect does not indicate that a larger amount can kill it any 

 " deader," Experiments have also shown that tobacco sprayed as 



