248 INJURIOUS AND USEFUL INSECTS 



Dusting 



Soot, powdered quicklime, etc., may be applied as dust. 

 Paris green has been much used in this way in America. 

 Mr Marlatt ("Important Insecticides") recommends the fol- 

 lowing method : — 



A pole five to eight feet long and about two inches in 

 diameter is taken, and a |-inch hole bored through it within 

 six inches of each end. Near each end is securely tacked a 

 bag of " 8-ounce Osnaburg cloth," one foot wide and eighteen 

 inches to two feet long, so that the powdered poison may be 

 introduced into the bags, with a funnel through the holes at the 

 end of the pole. The bags are filled with undiluted Paris green, 

 and the apparatus is carried on horseback through the fields, 

 dusting two or four rows at once. The shaking induced by 

 the motion of the animal going at a brisk walk or at a trot is 

 sufficient to dust the plants thoroughly, or the pole may be 

 jarred by hand. The application is preferably made in early 

 morning or late evening, when the dew is on, to cause the 

 poison to adhere better to the foliage. From one to two pounds 

 are required to the acre, and from ten to twenty acres are covered 

 in a day. The occurrence of heavy rains may necessitate a 

 second application, but frequently one will suffice. This simple 

 apparatus, on account of its effectiveness and cheapness, is em- 

 ployed throughout the cotton belt to the general exclusion of 

 more complicated and expensive machinery. The cost fre- 

 quently does not exceed twenty-five cents per acre, and the 

 results are so satisfactory that the leaf-worm is no longer con- 

 sidered a serious factor in cotton culture. If small garden 

 patches are dusted with poison by this or similar means from 

 bags or with hand bellows it is advisable always to dilute the 

 poison with ten parts of flour, or preferably lime, and for appli- 

 cation to vegetables which will ultimately be used for food, as 

 the cabbage, one ounce of the poison should be mixed with 

 six pounds of flour or ten of lime, and dusted merely enough 

 to show evenly over the surface. Arsenicals should not be 

 applied to lettuce or other vegetables the fresh leafage of which 

 is eaten. 



Soil-poisoning 



Gas-lime is often used with effect to destroy underground 

 larvae. It should be evenly distributed on land that has 



