140 EEPOET 



more tender leaves ; but it has, so far as our experience goes, no influ- 

 ence on the unopened blossoms/^ the squares and bolls, and this slight 

 injury is much less serious than that which would have been caused 

 by the worms. With the improved machines and with some practice 

 the best arsenical poisons can always be so applied that they will effect- 

 ually destroy the worms within forty-eight hours and without injury to 

 the plants. If the plant be injured to any considerable extent the 

 fault w ill lie either in the mode of application or in the inferior quality 

 of the poison. 



Most of these arsenical poisons can be applied to the leaves either in 

 water or dry, but some of the compounds are prepared so as to be used 

 cmly in the former manner. 



Dry application. — When applied in powder the poison must be 

 mixed with other ingredients, in order to render it sufficiently econom- 

 ical and to avoid injury to the plant. The ingredients should mix readily 

 with the poison J they should be cheap and, in the application from 

 above, as far as possible adhesive, in order to prevent their being washed 

 away by the rains. Of the various ingredients that have been used with 

 success common flour gives most satisfaction, though it is somewhat 

 expensive. Flour not only mixes most readily and homogeneously 

 with the poison, but possesses also great adhesive qualities, even with- 

 out further admixtures. Other materials used with success as dilu- 

 ents are land plaster (gypsum) and cotton-seed meal, both being very 

 cheap in some sections of the South, and to be recommended during 

 dry weather, but having the disadvantage of being much less adhesive 

 than flour. Both materials can, however, be advantageously used when 

 mixed with the flour, the proportion being immaterial, provided the 

 flour occupies the greater bulk. Finely-sifted wood ashes are not readily 

 mixed or kept mixed with the much heavier arsenical poisons, and, hav- 

 ing little adhesiveness, are not to be recommended alone, but are im- 

 portant when combined with flour. 



By the admixture of about one-third of wood ashes to two-thirds of 

 flour, the cost of the application is not only considerably lessened, but 

 another important advantage is obtained. The action of rain and dew^ 

 converts the flour on the plants into a kind of paste, which, while it ad- 

 heres firmly to the leaves, is somewhat injurious by excluding the air 

 and by increasing the caustic action of the poison. Both these difficul- 

 ties are measurably overcome by the admixture of wood ashes, and the 

 good results obtained in Texas in the application of various arsenical 

 poisons are largely due to the prevalence of the use of such ashes. A 

 good supply can be collected during the winter, at no expense and with 

 but little trouble. 



The substitution of common road dust for the diluents mentioned 

 above has been taken into consideration, and we have carried on experi- 

 ments as to its feasibility. The results show that very finely-sifted 

 dust, which contains as little sand as possible, may, if nothing else is at 



