114 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



acter. The time required for producing a perfect emulsion varies 

 witli the temperature. If the milk is heated to sixt}' degrees it will 

 take from one-half to three-quarters of an hour, but if heated to 

 seventy-five degrees, only about fifteen minutes are required to 

 produce the emulsion. 



When this mixture is needed for use, take as much as is required, 

 thin it by adding some water, and when it is thoroughly mixed 

 add as much water as is necessary to dilute it to the required 

 amount. For the destruction of plant lice, a mixture of one pint 

 of the butter to one and one-half gallons of water is a fair propor- 

 tion, and it should be applied with the force-pump and spray 

 nozzle. 



An emulsion may be made with soap instead of milk, by dissolv- 

 ing four pounds of common bar soap in one gallon of hot water, 

 adding a gallon of kerosene gradually while still boiling, and 

 churning it with the force-pump as before. A gelatinous com- 

 pound of butter is formed which is very stable and which will keep 

 a long time if protected from the air. It can then be reduced by 

 mixing with water in any proportion desirable, but great care must 

 be exercised in making the emulsion to obtain a complete union, 

 otherwise the oil will injure the foliage of the plants. 



Cut-worms are often very troublesome from the fact that they 

 remain concealed during the day under the ground or under pieces 

 of board or any object which affords shelter, and emerge in the 

 night on their errand of mischief and wanton destruction. We 

 could look upon their work with greater lenienc}^ if they would 

 climb to the top of the plants and eat onl}^ what is necessar}^ for 

 their present needs, but instead of this they select our choicest 

 and tenderest plants and simply eat them oflT just above the surface 

 of the ground, leaving the entire top intact to fall over and wilt in 

 the next "day's sun. I cannot conceive of anything more annoy- 

 ing than to go out in the morning and discover the devastations of 

 the cut-worms. 



These insects belong to a large family of moths known as the 

 Noctuidm, of which there are more than fifteen hundred different 

 species in the United States and more than five hundred of these 

 occur in New England, and probably the greater part of this 

 number in Massachusetts alone. These insects vary in their 

 habits, but a large proportion of them are destructive to some one 

 or other of our cultivated crops. 



