JULY 13, 1005, 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



403 



of a tree by a large wooden syringe or 

 squirt. I should suppose that the best 

 time for making trial of these methods 

 •would be soon after the worms are 

 hatched, for at that stage of their exist- 

 ence they are tender and the more easily 

 killed. Sometimes a frost, happening at 

 this season, has destroyed them. This 

 I am told was the case in some places in 

 the year 1799." 



In a Treatise on the Culture and Man- 

 agement of Fruit Trees (American edi- 

 tion, edited by William Cobbett, 1802) 

 Forsyth recommended the following mix- 

 ture for the destruction of aphis: One- 

 half peck unslaked lime, thirty-two gal- 

 lons water. Allow this to stand three or 

 four days, stirring two or three times a 

 day. He recommended the same mixture 

 for the destruction of red spider, but 

 said that pure water would also answer 

 the purpose. It is also stated that sev- 

 eral English nurserymen used train oil 

 (whale oil) against coccus or scale in- 

 sects on plants. * 



J. Thacher, M. D., in the American 

 Orchardist, 1822, gives a list of the fol- 

 lowing articles to be used against the 

 apple tree borer, an insect that is des- 

 ignated as a "pernicious reptile" by 

 the author: After digging out the borer 

 fill the cavity about the base of the 

 tree with "flax rubbish, sea-weed, ashes, 

 lime, sea-shells, sea-sand, mortar rubbish, 

 clay, tanner's bark, leather scrapings, 

 etc." 



In a Massachusetts agricultural report 

 is stated that Josiak Knapp, of Boston, 

 in 1814, used air-slaked lime with suc- 

 cess against the canker worm. Later ex- 

 perience has shown it to be of little 

 benefit for the canker worm, but rec- 

 ommends it for the slug on the leaves of 

 fruit trees. Mr. Yates, of Albany, rec- 

 ommended the following solution for cat- 

 erpillars: One handful wormwood, one 

 handful rue, two handsful of Virginia 

 tobacco and two pailsful of water. 



In 1822 E. Perley recommended for 

 scale insects on trees to wash them with 

 lye or brine. On account of cheapness 

 and ease of preparation clay paint was 

 used very extensively. The Caledonian 

 Horticultural Society, of Scotland, rec- 

 ommended that paint in 1825. 



The following solution commonly used 

 for bed-bugs, was also recommended for 

 canker by the Practical American Gar- 

 dener, Baltimore, in 1822: Corrosive sub- 

 limate, spirits and soft water. 



On November 20, 1821, John Bobert- 

 son read a paper before the London Hor- 

 ticultural Society, saying:' "Sulphur is 

 the only specific remedy for mildew on 

 peaches." "William Cobbett, in the Eng- 

 lish Gardener, 1829, recommended for the 

 cotton blight (wooUy aphis) a wash of 

 something strong, such as tobacco juice, 

 or water in which potatoes have been 

 boiled, or rubbing the part with mer- 

 curial ointment. 



In The New American Gardener, 1832, 

 Thomas Fessenden gives a list of solu- 

 tions supposed to be strong enough to 

 overcome the organisms against which 

 they were applied, as follows: Simple 

 water, soap-suds, tobacco water, decoc- 

 tions of elder, walnut leaves, bitter herbs, 

 pepper, lye of wood-ashes, solutions of 

 pot and pearl ashes, water impregnated 

 with salt, tar, turpentine, etc.; or they 

 may be dusted with sulphur, quicklime or 

 other acrid substances. 



Lindley's Guide to the Orchard and 

 Kitchen Garden, 1831, recommends vine- 

 gar for destroying insects. 



In the New American Gardener, 1832, 



Thomas C. Thurlow. 



Fessenden quotes Loudon as saying: 

 "Saline substances mixed with water are 

 injurious to most insects witli tender 

 skins and hot water is equally if not 

 more powerfully injurious. Water heat- 

 ed to 120 or 130 degrees will not injure 

 plants whose leaves are expanded and in 

 some degree hardened ; water at 200 de- 

 grees or upward may be poured over 

 leafless plants. ' ' 



Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening, 

 1878, quotes Mr. Swainson as saying that 

 hot water will destroy more aphis than 

 by the use of tobacco water. 



In the New American Orchard, 1833, 

 Dr. W. Kenrick speaks of alve and cay- 

 enne pepper for the aphis and quicklime, 

 flowers of sulphur and lampblack for a 

 white mealy insect and mildew on 

 grapes. 



In 1835 John Mearns recommended: 

 "Strongest farm-yard drainage, soft 

 soap and flowers of brimstone" for the 

 destruction of insects. 



White hellebore was used as early as 

 1842, particularly in destroying worms 

 on gooseberry plants. In America it was 

 not until 1858, the time when the cur- 

 rant worm was first noticed, that J. 

 Harris recommended hellebore. 



J. Murray, in 1841,. used sulphur and 

 alcohol against mildew on peach trees. 

 In December, 1844, nitre and water was 

 used for mildew on chrysanthemums. On 

 March 5, 1842, David Haggerston was 

 awarded a premium of $120 by the Mas- 

 sachusetts Horticultural Society for the 

 cheapest and most effective mode of de- 

 stroying the rose bug. It was two pounds 

 whale oil soap to fifteen gallons water. 



A recipe made up by Nichols consisted 

 of soft soap, flowers of sulphur, nux 

 vomica and soft water, supposed to be 

 good for any scale insects. 



Loudon publishes Hamilton's recipe, 

 consisting of the following ingredients: 

 Sulphur, Scotch snuff, hellebore powder, 

 nux vomica, soft soap, cayenne pepper, 

 tobacco liquor and boiling water. Ham- 

 ilton himself mentions that solution as a 

 specific, if properly used; that is, while 

 you wash the plants with this solution, 

 remove the insects. 



Grison, head vegetable gardener at 

 Versailles, recommended flowers of sul- 

 plnir, fresli slaked lime and water, for 

 mildew. The liquid was called the 

 "Grieon Liquid" and is still in use. In 

 1850 J. Young, of Louisville, Ky., found 

 that covering the young fruit with a thin 

 coating of lime was a preventive for the 

 plum cnreulio. 



In 1861 W. F. Radclyffe experimented 

 with copper sulphate, as it was used 

 with gocHl success for smutty seed-wheat, 

 lie tried it on roses for mildew. Not 

 long after that growers were warned not 

 to use sulphate of copper, as it would 

 kill roses by coming in contact with their 

 roots, and no more was heard of it until 

 1883, when, under the directions of Mil- 

 lardet, experiments were made with sul- 

 phate, carbonate, phosphate and sulphide 

 of copper. 



I may say a few words in regard to 

 the invention of Bordeaux mixture. In 

 southwestern France, in the Maritime de- 

 partment of Gironde, is situated the city 

 of Bordeaux. It is one of the greatest 

 grape raising districts. It was here that 



