96 BULLETIN NO. 4, DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



light covering of leaves, at the same time lifting a few plants and pot- 

 ting them, thinking if I lost those in the open ground that I would still 

 have a start; but those in the open ground started with a vigorous 

 growth, and to-day (the 10th of June) gathered a handful of blooms 

 from a space 5 feet square. The blooms of those kept in the house are 

 inferior to the others. The seed received of you this spring I gave the 

 same treatment, with almost an entire failure ; have several plants of 

 each kind- We were well pleased with our former success, and expect 

 to gather blooms enough this season to make powder, so that we can 

 try its virtues on all kinds of insects that infest house plants. 



Kansas. Manhattan, May 2, 1883.— S. 0. Wells. 



I gave away a part of the pyrethrum seed you sent me last spring, 

 and planted the rest; some of them came up, but our dry winds or 

 something else destroyed all but one plant. That one is now growing 

 and looking well. 



Massachusetts. Franklin, June 18, 1882. — Ruth H. Smith. 



The seeds of the Pyrethrum roseutn received from you early in April, 

 1881, were planted according to directiou. They came up, but did not 

 seem to thrive well during the year. However, a few plants survived 

 the severe hail-storm of July 4, and wintered well without any covering. 

 They bloomed first about three weeks ago. 



Michigan. Burnside, October 22, 1883. — Michael J. Kirwven. 



According to your request I write to inform you of my success in rais- 

 ing the pyrethrum. I sowed the seed in a dark, sandy loam spot in my 

 garden on the 23d of May. Of the P. carneum but one plant grew; 

 P. roseum, five; P. cinerariwfoUuni from Austria, none; P.cineraricefolium 

 from California, about thirty-five plants grew. None of them have come 

 to maturity. Will the P. roseum stand the winter without protection! 



Mississippi. Oxford, April 28, 1883.— R. W. Jones. 



The pyrethrum plants, which I mentioned in my report of January 11, 

 1883, are now blooming beautifully. 1 send you specimens of the blooms 

 and leaves. They are (1) Pyrethrum roseum, (2) Pyrethrum cinerarue- 

 folium. I think the only difficulty here in growing the plant is in get- 

 ting it started. From my experience thus far I am led to the conclu- 

 sion that in Mississippi the best time for sowing the seed is in Oc- 

 tober; seeds sown in the spring do not do so well, though I succeeded 

 in raising some plants from seed sown in the spring. The hot, dry sum- 

 mer of this latitude is a severer trial to the plants when young than 

 our winters are. In the spring, too, the rains are too heavy and too 

 often repeated for the young plants to thrive. It is very interesting to 

 watch insects that are attracted by the brightness of the colors of P. 

 roseum, as they fly to the bloom and suddenly leave. I note that some 





