REPORT OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, 1898 223 



It will be readily seen that the correct apphcation of an insecticide 

 involves a number of considerations. If it is not done properly the 

 effort is useless, and money is lost in the labor wasted and on the poor 

 crop resulting. 



Useless remedies. Avoid patent remedial preparations, specially 

 those that are advertised to kill most, if not all insects, and act as a fer- 

 tilizer in the bargain. A large corps of trained workers in experiment 

 stations and other public positions are at present engaged in searching 

 for new insecticides and in determining the best methods of applying 

 them. Recommendations from such sources can usually be relied upon. 

 Some of the preparations sold in the markets undoubtedly are of value, 

 but they owe their efficacy to well-known substances and not to certain 

 secret compounds. The great objection to this class of insecticides is 

 that the farmer pays several times the value of the article, because it is in 

 a disguised form, and he is usually ignorant of its nature. There are other 

 remedies which are totally worthless, having no intrinsic value of them- 

 selves. One of the most persistently advertised of these is the 

 old trick of plugging a tree with sulfur or other substance in order 

 to render the sap distasteful to insects of all kinds. This is a fascinating 

 theory, but has absolutely no basis in fact. The safest way is to disre- 

 gard all innovations till they have been duly tested at experiment 

 stations or by other known authorities. 



Preventives. The old proverb, ' An ounce of prevention is worth a 

 pound of cure,' is most emphatically true in controlling insects. Un- 

 favorable weather, a rush of work or other causes may enable an insect 

 to commit serious injuries before it can be stopped. Repeated rains 

 frequently cause postponement of spraying. It is well known that the 

 period of greatest insect activity is also the time when farmers have the 

 most work on their hands. Another noticeable fact is that the man who 

 practises a wise rotation of crops, keeps his orchard clean and allows 

 no rubbish and brush along the fences, is the one who seldom bemoans 

 loss from insects. It has also frequently been observed that healthy, 

 vigorous plants suffer less from insects than those in a sickly condition. 

 In other words, clean culture with abundant plant food, and a rotation of 

 crops are the best checks upon the undue increase of insect pests. 



Need of experiment. The following formulas comprise what are 

 regarded as the most reliable, but must be modified under varying con- 

 ditions, to meet the demands of the occasion. It should be borne in mind 

 that in many cases it is not so much the insecticide used as the manner 

 of its application, though in some cases the difference is due to a varia- 

 tion in composition. For example, one man will use paris green and not 



