25 



Remedial Measures. 



Two sorts of campaign can be carried on against this insects A 

 summer series, directed at the larvge, and a winter campaign, directed 

 against the hibernating forms. None of the ordinary summer 

 mixtures liill all stages of the scale without endangering tlie foliage. 

 Larvse may be killed by diluted oil emulsions or by soap mixtures; 

 say for whale oil soap one pound in tM'o or three gallons of water, 

 depending upon the kind of plant; or the oils in a 5 or even a 10 

 per cent, dilution, according to the manner in which it is put on and 

 the plant on which it is to be used. In any case, the application 

 will kill only crawling larvae and very recent sets. Applications 

 must, therefore, be renewed at short intervals throughout the summer 

 to obtain a really effective result. This sort of work is feasible in 

 gardens that are under constant supervision, and in such places the 

 insect can be almost completely cleaned out in a single season. The 

 new forms of petroleum, made soluble in water, will be most efEective 

 aids in this sort of campaign. 



For winter work more severe applications are necessajy as against 

 the scale, and possible with safety to the plant. Perhaps the safest 

 to the plant and very effective against tlie insects, are the lime and 

 sulphur washes, with or without salt, either boiled or combined by 

 the heat of slaking lime ; but these are difficult to make for a small 

 establishment and belong rather to the orchard remedies. 



Standing first in effectiveness, but somewhat dangerous in its ap- 

 plication, is crude petroleum. Carefully used with an atomizer or 

 through a fine nozzle, undiluted petroleum of a specific gravity of 

 forty-three degrees or over, and made slightly warm, can be applied 

 safely on plants of almost every description and will be almost certain 

 death to every scale that is reached. There is a danger in the use 

 of oil that must be recognized, but when that danger is kept in 

 mind and the proper precautions are taken, there is no more satis- 

 factory material. 



An effort has been recently made to render petroleum soluble in 

 water, so that it can be used with greater safety, and this has resulted 

 in the production of a material called "Kill-0-Seale," by the Griffith 

 & Turner Company, Baltimore, Maryland. This can be applied to 

 plants of almost every description, at the rate of one part of the 

 insecticide in twenty parts of water. It is almost too expensive for 



