140 



THE PRACTICAL GARDEN -BOOK 



Kerosene is fatal to insects. It is likely to 



injure plants if applied full strength, although if applied in 

 full sunlight (so that evaporation takes place rapidly) it may 

 do no harm. It is safest to apply it in dilution. Of late, 

 there are pumps which mix or emulsify Kerosene and water 

 in definite proportions, and this mixture (in the proportion 

 of or -| Kerosene) is fatal to insects and usually harmless to 

 plants. The standard Kerosene emulsion is with soap, but 

 the perfection of mechanical devices for emulsifying it with 

 water is probably destined to supplant the soap emulsion. 



Kerosene Emulsion. Hard soap, % pound ; boiling soft 

 water, 1 gallon ; Kerosene, 2 gallons. Dissolve the soap in the 

 water, add the Kerosene, and churn with a pump for 5 to 10 

 minutes. Dilute 10 to 25 times before applying. Use strong 

 emulsion, diluted four times in winter, for all scale insects. 

 For insects which suck, as plant-lice, mealybugs, red spider, 

 thrips, bark-lice or scale. Cabbage -worms, currant- worms, 

 and all insects which have soft bodies can also be success- 

 fully treated. 



Kohlrabi. This vegetable looks like a leafy 

 turnip growing above ground. If used when small (2 to 3 

 inches in diam.), and not allowed to become 

 hard and tough, it is of superior quality. It 

 should be more generally grown. The culture 

 is very simple. A succession of sowings should 

 be made from early spring until the middle of 

 summer, in drills 18 inches to 2 feet apart 

 thinning the young plants to 6 or 8 inches in 

 ' the rows. It matures as quickly as turnips. 

 One ounce of seed to 100 feet of drill. 



Lantana is a popular greenhouse 

 pot-plant, and is occasionally seen in windovv- 

 Lantana gardens, being grown for the profusion of its 



orange-red, heliotrope-shaped flowers. In the South, and 

 sometimes in the North, it is planted out for the summer. 



