36 GARDEN STEPS 



pecially valuable for currants. Shake the powdered 

 hellebore among the leaves or mix a tablespoonful 

 to two quarts of water and spray it on. 



Treatment of Sucking Insects. — Lice, those little 

 green mites which gather sometimes in great numbers 

 on pea vines, cabbages, and other plants, get their 

 living by sucking the sap from the veins and thus 

 robbing the plant of its nourishment. 



Tobacco powder is good, to dust on such insects. 

 It fills up the breathing pores of their bodies and 

 kills them. Persian insect powder also has the same 

 effect. The best and most generally used weapon 

 against the sucking insects, however, is kerosene 

 emulsion. 



Kerosene Emixlsion. — In preparing the kerosene 

 emulsion spray, shave a quarter of a pound of good 

 laundry soap and dissolve it in two quarts of water. 

 Place a gallon of kerosene in a receptacle large enough 

 to hold both the soap water and the kerosene. 

 Into this kerosene, pour the soap water while it is 

 boiling hot, and churn or stir vigorously for five 

 minutes till the mixture is creamy. This will keep 

 until wanted. For lice, plant bugs, and scale insects 

 that suck the sap, take a cup of this emulsion, mix 

 it with a gallon of water, and spray vigorously. It 

 is a good plan, when vines are badly affected, to 

 spray with this emulsion every three days, using a 

 spray of clear water once in between, till the lice 

 are gone. 



