434 Forty- SIXTH Report on the State Museum 



From an address made by W. J. Green, before the Ohio State Horti- 

 cultural Society at its last meeting, and reported in the Country Gentle- 

 man of January 12th, 1893, it appears that while the effectiveness of 

 arsenical spraying for the curculio is conceded, it can not be done with 

 -sufficient frequency during the long period of the curculio's presence — 

 from May to August — without injuring the foliage and causing the 

 leaves to fall. A large degree of protection, however, to the foliage 

 may be secured by using a dilute Bordeaux mixture with the Paris 

 green. The following is the formula given: Lime, 4 pounds; sulphate 

 of copper, 4 pounds; Paris green, 4 ounces; water, 50 gallons. This 

 mixture was found satisfactory for European plums, but damaged the 

 American varieties. With the Paris green reduced to two ounces, 

 very little harm resulted, but it was questioned if this proportion of the 

 'arsenite would prove effectiA^e against the curculio. 



A New Contact Insecticide. — The Gypsy Moth Committee in Massa- 

 chusetts have found by experiment that the soap-powders, such as 

 ^' Gold Dust " and " Babbitt's Continental Washing-powder," are 

 deadly to caterpillars when properly applied, and were efficient in killing 

 both the caterpillars and the pupse of Ocneria. Babbitt's 17 76 soap- 

 powder was used in the proportion of one pound to six gallons of water, 

 the powder being first dissolved in a little warm water, and sprayed 

 upon the congregated caterpillars until they were well soaked 

 -with the liquid. It was thought that the " Gold Dust " gave 

 'the most uniform and satisfactory results. Unfortunately, "these 

 solutions can not be used for spraying tender plants, as they iu jure the 

 foliage. They can be used only on insects that cluster about the trunks 

 of trees or smaller objects." (Forbush.) 



Creosote Oil as an Insecticide, — For killing the eggs of the gypsy 

 moth, the committee found that creosote oil, applied to the clusters by 

 means of a brush so as to saturate them, penetrated and killed the eggs 

 at once. The oil is made by the Carolina Oil and Creosote Company, 

 at Wilmington, North Carolina, and is sold at fifteen cents a gallon by 

 the barrel. 



Experiments should be made to test the efficacy of this oil on the 

 apple-bark and other scale insects, and on the eggs of such insects as 

 have failed to be killed by applications of kerosene, as those of the pear- 

 tree Psylla, the apple-tree aphis, the squash-vine borer (Melittia 

 eucurhit€e)y and the squash-bug (Anasa tristis). 



A Cheap Insecticide. — The assistant chemist, B. W. Kilgore, 

 of the North Carolina Experiment Station, has proposed the follow- 

 ing cheap preparation for spraying fruit-trees: A mixture of one 

 pound of the commercial white arsenic and two pounds of lime, 



