28 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



AGRICULTURAL MATTERS 



FUNGICIDE AND INSECTICIDE 

 SOLUTIONS 



Arsenate of Lead can be used as a sub- 

 stitute for Paris green and London purple. 

 It can be used much stronger with less 

 danger of injury to plants. Two pounds 

 to fifty gallons of water will give good 

 results against most biting insects. 



Bordeaux Mixture. Copper sulphate, 

 four pounds ; quick lime, six pounds ; 

 water, fifty gallons. Dissolve the copper 

 by putting it in a bag and hanging it in 

 a wooden or earthen vessel holding 

 twenty-five gallons ; slake the lime grad- 

 ually and add water until you have twenty- 

 five gallons. The blue-stone mixture and 

 lime should then be poured into the pump 

 so that the two streams Avill mix thor- 

 oughly as thejr fall. Bordeaux mixture 

 will not keep more than twenty-four hours. 

 Remember this. 



Copper-Sulphate Solution. Dissolve one 

 pound of copper-sulphate in fifteen gallons 

 of water. Do not apply this solution to 

 foliage ; it must be used before buds break 

 on grape-vines and peach trees. For the 

 latter, use twenty-five gallons of water. 



Kerosene Emulsion. One-half pound of 

 soap dissolved in one gallon of water ; add 

 to this, while hot, two gallons of kerosene. 

 ( The boiling soap solution should be re- 

 moved from the fire before the kerosene 

 is added. Churn violently with a spray 

 pump or garden syringe until the mass be- 

 comes of the consistency of butter. Dilute 

 the above mixture with from nine to fifteen 

 parts of water when using, so ttiat it will 

 not be stronger than one part of oil to 

 nine to fifteen of water. Sour milk may be 

 used instead of soap. 



Land Plaster. With fifty pounds of land 

 plaster mix one pint of crude carbolic acid. 

 Sprinkle over vines for beetles and 

 aphides. 



Lune and Sulphur Wash. Lime, unslaked, 

 twenty pounds ; sulphur, ground, sixteen 

 pounds ; water, to make fifty gallons. 

 Place eight to ten gallons of water in an 

 iron kettle over a fire, and when it reaches 

 the boiling point add the sulphur and mix 

 thoroughl}^, then add the lime, which will 

 immediately produce a violent boiling. 

 From time to time add a small quantity of 

 water as needed to prevent boiling over or 

 burning. The sulphur gradually goes into 

 solution, and the mixture, at first thick 

 and pasty, becomes thinner and thinner, 

 changing in color through several shades 

 of yellow. After boiling at least one and 

 a half hours, the mixture should be diluted 

 to the proper amount by the addition of 

 sufficient hot water. If a suitable boiler 

 is convenient, the mixture maj' be more 



economically cooked in barrels or tanks by 

 the use of steam. 



The lime and sulphur wash is now gen- 

 erally recommended for controlling the San 

 Jose scale, and in some respects is superior 

 to the other remedies named. 



Xaptlia Soap and Nicoticide. One ounce 

 of soap and one-quarter ounce of nicoti- 

 cide to each gallon of water. It is ad- 

 visable to have the water at 100 degrees 

 Fahrenheit. This is an excellent spray 

 for Red Spider. 



Paris Green. Actively poisonous. Add 

 four ounces Paris green, one pound fresh 

 lime, to fifty gallons of water. Paris green 

 and Bordeaux mixture may be applied to- 

 gether without the action of either being 

 v>eakened. 



Pyrethruiii. One ounce of the "'Bubach" 

 powder, add to two gallons of cold water, 

 or any plant used for food, as this is non- 

 ooisonous. 



Scaleside. One per cent solution of 

 Scaleside or 1 per cent prepared lime- 

 sulphur solution will eradicate Red 

 Spider. 



Sulphur. One pound; one pound of 

 air-slaked lime, and boil it in eight quarts 

 of water until the concoction simmers 

 down to about six quarts ; add one gallon 

 of this mixture to fifty gallons of water. 

 Use as a spray for Red Spider every five 

 to six days until the spider is eradicated. 



Tobacco, one pound ; boiling water, two 

 gallons : strain when cool. Is very effective 

 when used as a spray against flea beetles, 

 lice aphides (plant lice). 



MULCH AND INSECTS 



In the Isle of Pines we have many spe- 

 cies or varieties of lizards, from an inch 

 to four feet long. There are a dozen 

 or more varieties of snakes. The larger, 

 I am glad to say, live in the jungles and 

 mountains, as do the big lizards, but the 

 small ones, from the size of a lead pencil 

 to an inch in diameter, live in grass and 

 brush. Then there is a great variety of 

 frogs, from the size of a peanut to the 

 mammoth toad. 



These all want a moist or wet place 

 to sleep during the day. The mulch is 

 the home of all three of the families. 

 They live entirely on insects and each 

 other, except the larger snakes which eat 

 mice and rats as well. I examined my 

 mulch which is nearly two years old. I 

 could not find a leaf eating insect in it, 

 though I searched diligently, nor could I 

 find any in the mulch surrounding the 

 citrus tree. I noticed two or three lizards 

 on every tree, some in the branches and 

 some on the trunks, always heads pointing 



