ADULTERATION OF INSECT POWDER. S 



eye dais}^ flowers are used to a very limited extent in some of the 

 New England States in the preparation of a "tea" for ''medicinaP' 

 purposes. It is quite evident, however, that the daisy flowers col- 

 lected in this country are used largely, if not exclusively, as an 

 adulterant of insect powder. 



INSECTICIDAL ACTION OF CHRYSANTHEMUM LEUCANTHEMUM. 



Cantraine (5) learned in Kagusa that the Bosnians and Dalmatians 

 used the G. Leucaiifhojiuini to destroy fleas, but fails to state what 

 part of the plant served this purpose. It is quite probable that Can- 

 traine mistook the flowers of C. c'mciarkvfolium for those of C. Leu- 

 caiitheiuam because of their similarity. Garrigues (12) quotes Can- 

 traine and an unnamed writer who states that the flowers, dried, 

 pulverized, and used as the PijrcfJiniiii cducdsictini, have the power of 

 destrojing insects. An anonymous writer in the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 (1) states that the Spaniards burn the centers of these flowers in 

 order to keej) gnats awa3\ 



Kalbruner (18), Bei inger (2), Ctesar and Loretz (3), Huber (17), 

 and Riley (27) found powdered daisy flowers to be inactive as an 

 insecticide. Scott and Abbott, of the Bureau of Entomology, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, have recently tested powdered daisy flow- 

 ers against roaches, bedbugs, house flies, cabbage aphis, chrysanthe- 

 mum aphis, nasturtium aphis, orthezia, and red spider, finding it to 

 be inactive in every case. 



The use of daisy flowers in insect powder is for no other purpose 

 than to cheapen it. Since this form of adulteration is being carried 

 on to a marked extent at the present time, it was deemed necessary 

 to make a special study of this subject, with the view of establishing 

 methods for its detection and quantitative estimation. Samples of 

 the flowers of C. Lcticanthemum were collected for this purpose from 

 various sources, mainly from the collectors of "medicinar' herbs in 

 the mountainous regions of Virginia and North Carolina. 



CHEMISTRY OF CHRYSANTHEMUM LEUCANTHEMUM. 



More or less complete analyses of C. Leiicoiithemuiii have been made 

 by Goessmann (13), Millspaugh (22), Stone (33), Penny (23), Ber- 

 inger (2), Thorns (31), and Dietze (8). The results obtained by them 

 are given in Table 1. 



