14 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



direct effect. The mixture ought, if possible, to be 

 applied from a wooden pail or cask, as it is easier and 

 does not corrode the sprayer. When the soil has been 

 watered with this mixture, cover the roots up carefully, 

 which done, "paint" some lime, sulphur, and soap 

 mixed around the stem of the tree; gas-lime would be 

 preferable if spread over soil, and which the rains will 

 wash in, but this latter must, according to the sound 

 advice tendered to me by Mr. A. N. Pearson, of our staff, 

 be exposed for at least three months before using, at any 

 rate near ordinary fruit trees, and peach trees in particular. 

 Professor Smith, of the New Jersey Agricultural College, 

 U.S.A., speaks very highly of the successful use of a 

 dressing of kainit and nitrate of soda spread on the surface 

 over the root system, or placed in a trench at the tree at a 

 distance of two feet from the trunk or stem. In spraying the 

 trees for aphides, when on the branches, it must be borne in 

 mind (this piece of advice is tendered for the benefit of 

 beginners) that the peach is one of the most delicate of 

 our ordinary fruit trees, so that when spraying or other- 

 wise treating the tree, either for insect or fungous diseases, 

 great care should be exercised. 



Mr. Dumas, Permanent Secretary of the Academy of 

 Science of France, recommends as being superior to the 

 bisulphide of carbon treatment the use of the sulpho- 

 carbonate of potassium and sodium and of barium as 

 evaporating less quickly than the bisulphide of carbon, 

 so useful in applications of this nature. 



The sulpho-carbonate of barium decomposes under the 

 influence of carbonic acid, and evolves, according to M. 

 Dumas, sulphuretted hydrogen and bisulphide of carbon. 

 Placed in the ground, by its slow decomposition, it should 

 prove a powerful insecticide. Sulpho-carbonate of potas- 

 sium, in addition to its toxic effect, has also a direct 

 invigorating influence upon the plant. 



At the head of the list of the best remedies for spraying 

 for Peach Aphis would, according to the most overwhelm- 

 ing testimony from practical growers, coupled with care- 

 fully-conducted experiments both here and abroad, appear 



