I30 



muscular effort on the part of the workman. In using any- 

 kind of hoe where twitch grass is to be encountered, it is 

 well to give the edge a touch on the grindstone, or fasten- 

 ing it in a vice, to sharpen with a file; in passing, I will 

 remark that it is also well to bear in mind when dealing 

 with twitch that a covering of three inches of earth will al- 

 ways smother it, and even a slighter covering will mater- 

 ially check its growth. 



Two new implements I have used on my seed farm the 

 past season, with great profit and satisfaction, which has 

 not yet found their way into our markets. I refer to an 

 implement for distributing Paris green in a dry state^ 

 directly on potato vines, without the diluting or mixing it 

 with plaster, water, or any other substance, so that instead 

 of having, as heretofore, to carry some hundreds of pounds- 

 of water or about half as much of plaster to protect an 

 acre, a pound of paris green and ten or twelve in the 

 weight of the implement is all our outfit. It is named 

 "Cyclone Insect Exterminator." The principle is that of 

 the old fashioned bellows, blowing the Paris green in an 

 almost imperceptible dust over the plants. From a pound 

 to a pound and a half is sufficient for an acr.e, which can 

 be gone over in an hour and a half. I have protected my 

 ten acres wholly by this means the past season without a 

 single leaf being injured. By the old plan of using water 

 as every farmer knows, at times the leaves are so badly 

 burned, we are left in doubt whether the bugs or the Paris 

 green have done us most harm. This is caused by that 

 portion of the arsenic that has been dissolved by the water, 

 (and there is always more or less of it) for the Paris green 

 of itself will do no harm. In practice I find I need to 

 caution my men to hold the machine so as to blow the dust 

 especially into the tops of the vines, which is the real home 

 of the bugs. Some farmers who have used it state that one 

 thorough going over, with a retouch here and there was 

 all they found necessary to protect their vines during the 

 season. My own experience is that we need to go over 



