20 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [11:1— Jan., 1915 



As a part of the care of the plants, the pupils inspected them 

 and controlled the insects that began to prey upon them. The 

 remedies used are indicated in the course listed above. We 

 secured our supplies either from the large dealers in the center 

 of the city or from local florists who ordered what we desired. 

 The pupils of the eighth grade made kerosene emulsion and 

 used it both at school and at home. 



The pupils also scoured the whole district for destructive 

 insects. During 19 lo they captured over 6,000 tussock moths, 

 or their egg masses. Since that time we have been unable with- 

 in the radius of a mile to secure enough specimens for study. 

 That year also they gathered over 25,000 other moths and cater- 

 pillars, and there has been a remarkable diminution in the num- 

 ber of such pests in our neighborhood since. As Dr. Forbes, 

 the state entomologist, wrote me, if all the schools would do 

 as much of this work in proportion, the insect-problem would 

 be solved. The tussock moth is very abundant in Chicago, even 

 in the crowded districts. 



We have a large hand-sprayer, Brown's Auto Spray, No. i. 

 It works by compressed air and throws a spray of ten feet; with 

 the extension rod we can reach twenty feet. The boys also use 

 the small hand sprayers, and even made some which work fairly 

 well. One boy who had learned to make kerosene emulsion went 

 to fifteen neighbors and showed them how to kill the cottony scale 

 by tying a bunch of rags around the end of a stick, saturating it 

 with kerosene emulsion, and scrubbing the trunks and lower 

 branches of the tree with it, thus killing this dangerous whitish 

 scale, which is found on the under side of the branches of the soft 

 maple and box elder especially, though also found on many soft 

 woods, and occasionally on the elm, hard maple, and other hard 

 woods. 



We also tried the fertilizing of soil by the use of nitrifying 

 bacteria, secured from the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. We find that the plants of the pea and bean family 

 grow much better after the addition of these nitrifying bacteria 

 to the soil; but a soil that already possesses the germs in abun- 

 dance is not benefitted by the addition of more. 



The pupils also take great pleasure in preparing cuttings, 

 both hard and soft, and planting them. They do considerable of 

 this in the fall and spring, using pieces that have been discarded 



