AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 325 



stating a number of experiments with soap-suds, for destroy- 

 ing aphides, which were unsuccessful, or but partially suc- 

 ceeded, says, ' I was led io conclude, that it is not sufficient 

 to wet the upper side of the leaves, thinking to make them 

 disagreeable or poisonous to the insect, but that they must 

 be well drenched or immersed in the suds. I therefore ap- 

 plied again the same remedy ; but with this difference — 

 instead of r;^rinkling the upper side of the branches, I carried 

 a pailful of suds from tree to tree, and, bending the tops of 

 small trees, and the branches of larger ones, immersed all 

 the parts infested with lice, holding them in the liquor for a 

 moment, that none might escape being well v;et. On ex- 

 amining the trees the next day, the greater part of the lice 

 were destroyed. It was found necessary to repeat the same 

 process once or twice, with suds not too weak, say about 

 two or three ounces of soap to a gallon of water.' Another 

 writer in the same paper, page 10, says, ' I have applied soap- 

 suds to my apple-trees, in order to kill the lice. It will be 

 sufficient for me to say, that just sprinkling them with suds 

 will not kill them ; neither will dipping the branches which 

 are infested with them kill them. But dipping and holding 

 them in as long as I can conveniently hold my breath, wiU 

 destroy every one. The suds do not appear to injure the 

 leaves. I tried suds made on purpose, and suds which had 

 been used for family washing. The latter answers the pur- 

 pose much the best.' It is possible to make soap-suds so 

 strong as to kill the tender branches, as well as the insects 

 which infest them. The proportion above mentioned, of two 

 or three ounces of soap to a gallon of water, is probably 

 most advisable.' 



Cut -worm. This is an ash-colored worm, with a stripe 

 almost black on its back. When fully grown it is about the 

 size of a gooseqnill, and about an inch and a quarter in 

 length. They are very apt to cut off young cabbages, cauli- 

 flowers, beets, &c. They never voluntarily appear on the 

 surface of the ground in the day time, but may be found 

 about an inch below it. In the night they make their ex- 

 cursions, cut off the stems of young plants just at the top of 

 the ground, and again bury themselves. 



Dr. Deane observed, ' I once prevented their depredations 

 in my garden, by manuring the soil with sea-mud, newly 

 taken from the flats. The plants generally escaped, though 

 every one was cut off in a spot of ground that lies contigu- 

 ous. From the success of this experiment, I conclude that 

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