418 Forty-sixth Report on the State Museum 



" Very uniform and rapid work may be done with this machine in 

 broadcast sowing of wheat, oats, and smaller seeds. These are dis- 

 tributed with great regularity over a track eighteen to twenty feet 

 wide, giving a rate of thirty to fort>' acres per clay. It is especially 

 serviceable as a distributor of fertilizers (phosphates, nitrate of soda, 

 lime, etc.,) and all insecticide powders, which latter may frequently 

 be applied in connection with the former substances. 



" Liquid insecticides are distributed broadcast at the rate of from one 

 gallon upwards per acre, and by the action of the powerful blast of 

 air are broken up into a fine mist, which spreads uniformly to a width of 

 twenty feet." 



'" The one-horse power machine for broadcasting grains, fertilizers, 

 and other solid or liquid insecticides, with suitable receptacles and 

 nozzles, is retailed in England for £30 sterling, or $l50. Hand-power 

 machines are sold for £12 and £14." — Insect Life, iii, 1891, pp. 

 194, 195. 



Insecticides lately recommended. — Prof. J. B. Smith, of the New 

 Jersej^ Experiment Station has recently written of the value of potash 

 salts for insecticidal purposes. High testimony to their value is given. 

 Kainit was found to be more effective than the muriate of potash. 

 Used of a strength of a half-pound to a gallon of water, it was effective 

 against cabbage mag;gots, plant-lice infesting rose-bushes, and other 

 species. Muriate of potash of the same strength quickly killed the 

 mealy bugs on green-house camellias when sprayed upon them, without 

 injury to the plants. It was also promptly effective upon the rose-leaf 

 roller, Cacoecia rosaceana. It was found to injure some of the more 

 delicate plants, and therefore needs further experiment with it. 



Of the several preparations of tobacco, Prof. Smith gives preference 

 to that known as " X. O. Dust," which seems to be tobacco, carbolic 

 acid, and whiting. It was more active against plant-lice than even 

 pyrethrum, and all kinds of naked larvae yielded readily to it. The cab- 

 bage-worm was destroyed by it. 



Prof. Smith also gives high attestation to the value of Sludge-oil soap, 

 manufactured by the Columbia Chemical Works, Brooklyn, N. Y. It 

 was tried upon the rose-bug, Macrodactylus subspinosus, against which, 

 when appearing in full force as it often does in New Jersey, everything 

 else had failed. This was the only material that would conquer these 

 insects, in the experience of Prof. Smith. Col. Pearson of Vineland, 

 who has so long been experimenting with methods for controlling the 

 rose-bug, also had most gratifying success in the use of this insecticide. 

 The experiments made with this soap were necessarily limited, and it is 

 to be hoped that they will be continued. 



