84 VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



are poisonous to animal life when confined with it. On ac- 

 count of these properties it is used for killing- weevils in grain 

 or peas, beans and other seeds, and for killing- gophers, mice 

 or other creatures in their holes. The method of using- it for 

 g-rain weevils, is to fill a barrel or other tight receptacle near- 

 ly full of seed, then sprinkle an ounce of the liquid for each 

 one hundred pounds of seed and cover the vessel tightly for 

 several hours. It does not hurt the grain which is just as 

 good and looks as nice as ever after being treated. The 

 germinating qualities of the seed are not injured by this treat- 

 ment. When used for killing moles, gophers and mice, the 

 material is put on cotton or other absorbent and placed in 

 their holes, which should be closed with earth over the cotton. 



Catching Insects by Suspended Light.— By suspending a lantern 

 at night over a tub of water having its surface coated with 

 kerosene, many night flying insects can be destroyed. Among 

 those that can be caught in this way are cut worm moths, the 

 clicking beetle (which is the mature form of the wire worm), 

 and the May beetle (which is the mature form of the white 

 grub.) When these insects become especially abundant this 

 method of catching them is worthy of trial. The objections to 

 it are: (1) that it is the larvae and not the flying form of these 

 insects that do serious injury: (2) few persons are so far 

 sighted that they can be persuaded to attack insect enemies 

 until they are suffering from their ravages, and the benefits of 

 this method will not be felt until perhaps the following year. 

 (3) The observations of Dr. Otto Lugger show that insects 

 have generally laid their eggs before they fly much, and only 

 the male insects of some species fly, and the females are nearly 

 or quite wingless. It is obvious that in some cases catching 

 the flying insects will do little if any good. 



Applications of Insecticides.— In applying insecticides it is 

 generally important to begin their use as soon as the insects 

 appear and not wait until the plants have been weakened and 

 set back by their attacks. There are many and various 

 machines for distributing insecticides. The machine best 

 adapted to this purpose will depend much on the insecticide 

 used and the extent of the operations contemplated. For ap- 

 plying liquid compounds some of the many forms of spray 

 pumps will be found best. For the small garden where there 



