28 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Frost. 



Mold. 



Gypsum. 



Insecticide. 



A. Sap is water circulating ia plants, and containing gaseous matter 

 and certain eartlis and salts in solution or suspension. 



120. Q. Why do young vegetables and the tender leaves of all plants 

 suffer more from frost than older growth ? 



A. Because supercharged with sap they evaporate rapidly and become 

 cold and freeze sooner than parts more mature. 



121 Q. What is vegetable mold ? 



A. It is a dark-colored soil best known as the upper strata found in 

 woodlands. It consists of decayed weeds, twigs, branches of trees, de- 

 cayed grass and other vegetable matter mixed with surface soil. 



122. Q. What is gypsum ? 



A. It is known sometimes as plaster of Paris, sometimes as sulphate of 

 lime. It is the least valuable of the mineral manures, pound for pound, 

 but is highly thought of as a top dressing for grass lands, clover thriving 

 especially after its application. 

 Insecticides. 123. Q. How can I kill garden ants ? 



A. By using molasses mixed with paris green. 



124. Q. What is the best insecticide ? 

 A. The discovery of an article which, while not injuring the cucumber 



plant, will destroy the bug which infests it from the time of its germina- 

 tion until it has attained a growth of three or four rough leaves, is a sub- 

 ject of the greatest interest to all cultivators of this fruit. So much has 

 been written of a contradictory nature upon this subject that it is next 

 to impossible to determine what remedies to adopt. We would suggest 

 that each cultivator experiment for himself with several compounds : for 

 instance, one part of hellebore mixed with four parts of ground land 

 plaster ; one part of slug shot mixed with six parts of land plaster ; one 

 part Paris green mixed with twelve parts of land plaster ; and one pint of 

 kerosene oil mixed with three quarts of sawdust. 



Good results in the destruction of squash bugs have been obtained by 

 the application, under ground about the roots of the plants, of the liquid 

 carbon bisulphide, the fumes of which are quickly deadly to insect life. 

 Eight ounces of Paris green to 100 gallons of water is Professor Cook's 

 wash for the cucumber beetle. Oil of Lavender is very efficient. 



125. Q. In the use of Paris green, what quantity should be applied ? 

 A. On an average one pound to twenty-five or thirty of plaster or lime, 



or one tablespoon ful to fuur gallons of water. 

 Paii8 Green. 126 Q. Name the six or seven insecticides in most general use, attach- 

 ing suggestive prices for same? 



Paris green about 30 cents per pound. 



Slug shot " 25 " " 



Hellebore " 25 " " 



London purple " 20 " " " 



Persian insect powder " 75 " " " 



Hammond thrip juice. 



Paris Green. 



