286 THE beginner's garden book 



The best poison is arsenate of lead, since it does not injure 

 the plant, and sticks well. Paris green is not, for both these 

 reasons, so good. Buy the arsenate in jars, and mix it with 

 water according to the printed directions. A good poison for 

 plants that are to be eaten, such as currants and cabbages, 

 is hellebore, which presently weakens and washes off. Dust 

 it on when the plants are wet with dew; or 

 mix it with water, and spray it on. 



Mark all these as Poison, and keep them 

 where young children will not find them. 



Contact insecticides are of several kinds. 

 Easiest to make is the soap solution. Get 

 whale-oil soap, or even a good laundry soap, 

 and whittle shavings from it. Dissolve these 

 in hot water, about a quarter pound to a 

 gallon for caterpillars, or weaker for aphis. 

 To make a still better insecticide, dissolve 



FlG 159 The a half pound of soap in a gallon of water, 



bucket pump is and to it add two gallons of kerosene, shak- 



aimple and reli- • ,1 ,i - 1 



abl( T mg the two together, or in some way churn- 



ing them, until they are a creamy mixture. 

 This is kerosene emulsion, and when made well will keep well. 

 To use, mix one part with ten or fifteen parts of water. 



Tobacco dust, or tobacco stems, make a good contact in- 

 secticide. Use the dust as an insect powder, sifting it or 

 blowing it against the insects. Or steep the stems in boiling 

 water, and spray the liquid on the insects. 



Such is, simply, the work of fighting insects above ground. 

 But there may easily come puzzles that are hard to solve. 

 The flea-beetle and the rose-bug do not chew, and so cannot 

 be poisoned; they are hard-bodied, and do not mind the 

 spray. Luckily the arsenate of lead is unpleasant to -them, 

 and they leave the plants which are sprayed with it. 



