NOTES. [113] 



100 grains in an ordinary wine-glass and add thereto an ounce of liquid ammonia. 

 In proportion as there is little or no sediment the green may be considered pure. 



Note 48 (p. 145). — This mixture consisted of 6 pounds of the green to one barrel 

 of flour, in addition to about 20 pounds of adhesive materials ; in round numbers, 

 therefore, of 1 pound of green to 35 pounds diluents, this proportion being generally 

 used near Selma, Ala. 



Note 49 (p. 162). — The following note on the use of kerosene on cotton is from Dr. 

 Barnard's report of experiments made at Selma (Ala.), in the summer of 1883. (Bull. 

 3, Entomological Division, United States Department of Agriculture, p. 47) : 



Concerning the use (jf kerosene upon cotton, the following should be stated: 

 About 10 gallons were applied, half undiluted and half in emulsion variously diluted. 

 The undiluted petroleum destroyed about 10 per cent, of the foilage sprayed by it. 

 The undiluted milk-kerosene emulsion ruined only about 2 per cent., and this diluted 

 injures less and less according to the attenuation, but all treated was injured to at 

 least a slight extent. The sprays were hardly satisfactory, as the tubing would not 

 permit the high pressure necessary for a very fine mist, and the indications are that 

 with the finest spray the strong kerosene and its slightly diluted preparations may 

 possibly yet become used, in proper hands with great cauiion, upon the crop, but 

 additional experimental tests are needed. 



Note 50 (p. 165). — Mr. Willemot calls his plant Pyretlire du caucase {Pyrethrum 

 willemoti Duchartre), but it is more than probable that this is only a synonym of 

 Pyrethrum roseum. We have drawn liberally from Willemot's paper on the subject, 

 a translation of which may be found in the Eeport of the Commissioner of Patents 

 for the year 1861, Agriculture, pp. 223-231. 



Note 51 (p. 167). — A very good illustration of the growth of the productive industry 

 in this country is afforded by the fact that Mr. George Laird, superintendent of the 

 Buhacli plantation, produced about 40 tons of blossoms in 1884, and. employed some 

 250 Chinamen during 13 days in gathering the crop. 



It has generally been supposed that Pyrethrum is innocuous to animals, butinthit^ 

 connection we quote some remarks from an address whi.^ we aelivered before the 

 Georgia State Agricultural Society, February 12, 1884 • 



Pyrethrum is supposed to have no effect on thehighei animals, but that is a mistake, 

 as my own recent experience is that the fumes in a close».i room have a toxic influence, 

 intensifying sleep' and inducing stupor; while the experience of Prof. A. Graham Bell, 

 with the powder copiously rubbed on to a dog, showed that the animal was made sick 

 and was affected in the locomotive organs very much as insects are. The wonderful 

 inflnenco of fchis powder on insects has led me to believe that it might prove useful 

 as a disinfectant against fevers and various contagious diseases by destroying the 

 microzoa and other micro-organisms, or germs which are believed to produce such dis- 

 eases. It should be tried for that purpose. It is remarkable that these two plants of 

 all the many kno w n species of the genus, should alone possess the insecticide prop- 

 erty. 



Note 52 (p. 174). — It is evident that Pyrethrum can be produced as cheaply in Cali- 

 fornia, with the Chinese labor, as in any other part of the country ; yet the reduction 

 in price has not been as great with the increase of production as we have been led to 

 hope. We cannot find in any case that it has been offered for less than 50 cents per 

 pound, when the purity is guaranteed, though a New York firm informs us that they 

 will be able to sell as low as 30 cents in large quantities. 



Note 53 (p*. 179). — Indirectly, also, such enemies of Aletia are killed as feed on the 

 poisoned worms, and in recently poisoned fields dead birds and larger ground beetles 

 have been reported found, the destruction of which must doubtless be attributed to 

 the poison. The number of such cases is, perhaps, larger than can be actually proven. 



Note 54 (p. 184). — In order to illustrate how positively this and other plants, here 

 enumerated, were recommended to the Commission, we give herewith, without further 

 comment, the following letter from a correspondent in Mississippi : 



Some years since, when a caterpillar was stripping the oaks in front of my yard, 

 I observed that some which had ascended an Ailanthus tree (frequently called ''the 



63 CONG — AP 8 



