74 



THELANCASTER FARMER. 



[May, 



days, one part of the powder to 22 parts of 

 flour is sufficient to kill all average-sized 

 worms with which the mixture comes in con- 

 tact. For very young cotton worms a mix- 

 ture of one part of Pyrethrum to 30 parts of 

 flour, and applied one day after preparation, 

 proved most eflective, hardly any of the worms 

 recovering. 



An ordinary powder bellows will answer for 

 insects infesting dwellings or for plants kept 

 in pots in rooms, or single plants in the garden 

 but it hardly answers on a large scale out- 

 doors, because it works too slowly,the amount 

 of powder discharged cannot be regulated, 

 and there is didiculty iu covering all parts of 

 a large plant. Another method of applying 

 the diy powders is to sieve it on to the plants 

 by means of sieves, and this method is no 

 doubt excellent for insects that live on the 

 upper side of the leaves. For large, more 

 shrub-like plants with many branches, and 

 for insects that hide on the underside of the 

 leaves, this method will be found less service- 

 able. A very satisfactory way of applying 

 the powder on large i)lants, in the absence of 

 any suitable machine or contrivance, is to 

 throw it with the hand after the manner of 

 seed-sowing. This method is more economi- 

 cal and rapid than those mentioned above, 

 and it has, moreover, the advantage that, if 

 the plants are high enough, the powder can 

 be applied to the underside of the leaves. 



2. Aiiplkation of Pyrethrum in Fumes. — 

 The powder burns freely, giving off' consider- 

 able smoke an an odor which is not unpleas- 

 ant. It will burn more slowly when made 

 into cones by wetting and molding. In a closed 

 room the fumes from a small quantity will 

 soon kill or render inactive ordinary flies and 

 mosquitoes, and will be found a most couven 

 lent protection against these last where no 

 bars are available. A series of experiments 

 made under our direction indicates that the 

 fumes affect all insects, but most quickly those 

 of soft and delicate structure. 



This method is impracticable on a large 

 scale in the field, but will be found very 

 effective against insects infesting furs, 

 feathers, herbaria, books, etc. Such can easily 

 be got rid of by inclosing the infested objects 

 in a tight box or case and then fumigating 

 them. This method will also prove useful in 

 greenhouses, and, with suitable instruments, 

 we see no reason why it should not be applied 

 to underground pests that attack the roots of 

 plants. 



3. Alcoholic Extract of Pyrethrum Powder. — 

 The extract is easily obtained by taking a 

 flask fitted with a cork and a long and verti- 

 cal glass tube. Into this flask the alcohol 

 and Pyrethrum is introduced and heated over 

 a steam tank or other moderate heat. The 

 distillate, condensing in the vertical tube, 

 runs back, and at the end of an hour or two 

 the alcohol may be drained oft' and the extract 

 is ready for use. Another method of obtain- 

 iug the extract is by re-percolation after the 

 manner prescribed in the American Pharma- 

 copceia. The former method seems to more 

 thoroughly extract the oil than the latter ; at 

 least we found that the residuum of a quantity 

 of Pyrethrum from which the extract was 

 obtained by re-percolation had not lost a great 

 deal of its power. The first method is appar- 

 ently more expensive than the other, but the 



extract is in either case more expensive than 

 the other preparations, though very con- 

 veniently preserved and handled. 



The extract may be greatly diluted with 

 water and then applied by means of any 

 atomizer. Professor E. A. Smith, of Tusca- 

 loosa, Ala., found that, diluted with water, 

 at the rate of one part of the extract to 15 of 

 water, and sprayed on the leaves, it kills cot- 

 ton worms that have come iu contact with 

 the solution in a few minutes. The mixture 

 in the proportion of one part of the extract to 

 20 parts of water was equally effluacious, and 

 even at the rate of 1 to 40 it killed two-thirds 

 of the worms upon which it was sprayed in 

 15 or 20 minutes, and the remainder were 

 subsequently disabled. In still weaker solu- 

 tion, or at the rate of 1 to 50, it loses in effi- 

 cacy, but still kills some of the worms and 

 disables others. Professor Smith experi- 

 mented with the extract obtained by distilla- 

 tion, and another series of experiments with 

 the same method was carried on last year by 

 Professor R. W. Jones, of Oxford, Miss.* He 

 diluted his extract with twenty times its 

 volume of water and applied it by means of 

 an atomizer on the cotton worm and the boll 

 worm with perfect success. Mr. E. A. 

 Schwars tried, last summer, the extract ob- 

 tained by re-percolation, t and found that 10 

 drachms of the extract stirred up in two gal- 

 lons of water and applied by means of Whit- 

 man's fountain-pump was sutRcieut to kill all 

 cotton worms on the plants. Four drachms 

 of the extract to the same amount of water 

 was sufficient to kill the very young wojms. 



4. Pyrethrum in Simple Water Solution. — 

 So far as our experiments go, this method is 

 by far the simplest, most economical, and 

 efficient. The bulk of the powder is most 

 easily dissolved in water, to which it at once 

 imparts the insecticide powder. No constant 

 stirring is necessary and the liquid is to be 

 applied in the same manner as the diluted 

 extract. The finer the spray in which the 

 fluid is applied the more economical is its use 

 and the greater the chance of reaching every 

 insect on the plant. Experiments with 

 Pyrethrum in this form show that 200 grains 

 of the powder stirred up in two gallons of 

 water is amply sufficient to kill the cotton 

 worms, except a very few full-grown ones, 

 but that the same mixture is not sufficiently 

 strong for many other insects, as the boll 

 worm, the larva of the Terias nicippe, and 

 such species as are protected by dense long 

 hairs. Young cotton worms can be killed by 

 25 grains of the powder stirred up in two 

 quarts of water. 



The Pyrethrum water is most efficacious 

 when first made and loses power the longer it 

 is kept. The powder gives the water a light 

 greenish color, which after several hours 

 changes to a light brown. On the third day 

 a Juxuriant growth of fungus generally de- 

 velops in the vessel containing the liquid, and 

 its efficacy is then considerably lessened. 



5. The Tea or Dccoctioji.— Professor E. W. 

 Hilgard, of Berkeley, Cal., is the only one 

 who has experimented with Pyrethrum in 



*Vide " Ajuerican Entumologist, Vol. Ill, pp. 252-3. 



tFrom one pound of the powder one pint of extrat-t 

 is made, each drop of the extract representing one grain 

 of the powder. The actual cost of making the extract 

 was 50 cents. 



this form, and expresses himself most favor- 

 ably as to the result. He says : 



''I think, from my experiments, that the 

 tea or infusion prep)arcd from the flowers (which 

 need iiot be ground up for the purpose) is the 

 most convenient and efficacious form of using 

 this insecticide in the open air; provided that 

 it is used at times ichen the water will not 

 evaporate too rapidly, and that it is applied, 

 not by pouring over in a stream, or even in 

 drops, but in the form of a spray from a syringe 

 with fine holes in its rose. In this case the 

 fluid will reach the insect despite of its water- 

 shedding surfaces, hairs, etc., and stay long 

 enough to kill. Thus applied, I have found 

 it to be efficient even against the armored 

 scale-bug of the orange and lemon, which falls 

 off' in the course of two or three days after the 

 application, while the young brood is almost 

 instantly destroyed. As the flower tea, un- 

 like whale soap and other washes, leaves the 

 leaves perfectly clean and does not injure even 

 the most tender growth, it is preferable on 

 that score alone ; and iu the future it can 

 hardly fail also to be the cheaper of the two. 

 This is the more likely, as the tea made of 

 the leaves and stems has similar although 

 considerably weaker effects; and if the farmer 

 or fruit grower were to grow the plants, he 

 would save all the expense of harvesting and 

 grinding the flower-heads by simply using the 

 header, curing the upper stems, leaves, and 

 flower-heads all together, as he would hops, 

 making the tea of this material by the hogs- 

 head, and distributing it froni a cart through 

 a syringe. It should be diligently kept in 

 mind that the least araouut of boiling will 

 seriously injure the strength of this tea, which 

 should be made with briskly boiling water, 

 but then simply covered over closely, so as to 

 allow of as little evaporation as possible. The 

 details of its most economical and effectual 

 use on the large scale remains, of course, to 

 be worked out by practice." 



The method of applying Pyrethrum in either 

 of the three last-mentioned forms is evidently 

 far more economical in the open Held and on 

 a large scale than the application of the dry 

 powder, and, morover, give us more chance of 

 reaching every insect living upon the plant to 

 which the fluid is applied. The relative mer- 

 its of the three methods can be established 

 only by future experience, but so far we have 

 found the simple water solution most conven- 

 ient and satisfactory. 



QUINCE CULTURE. 



There is some difference of opinion as to 

 the best length for a cutting. Eight or ten 

 inches are recommended. My experience in 

 Vineland gives the preference to a cutting of 

 about fifteen inches, planted a foot in the 

 ground. The advantages of so deep a setting 

 are, that it guards agaiust drouth, and fur- 

 nishes a greater length for the formation of 

 roots, which comes out through the bark all 

 the way from the lower end as high as the 

 soil is moist. 



Cuttings can be made to grow if taken at 

 any stage of their development. If green 

 and soft they depend on conditions of heat 

 and moisture in the soil and air, requiring the 

 skill of a professional gardener with the ap- 

 pliances of the hot-house. For out-door cul- 

 tivation the wood must all be well ripened 



