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The insect-destroying property of Buhach consists of a volatile oil 

 which, in evaporating, exhales a gas that causes death by asphyxia 

 to those insects which breathe it, producing a similar effect upon insects 

 that chloroform and ether have upon human beings. But, what is very 

 singular, while being so destructive to insect life, Buhach has no injuri- 

 ous effect upon human beings. That such is really the case can easily 

 be proved by a visit to the company's mill at Stockton when in full 

 operation. At such times the air in the room where the flowers are 

 ground into powder is filled with the fine, dust-like particles of the 

 powder; many of the workmen are obliged to remain in this room con- 

 tinuously for several hours at a time, and take no more precautions 

 against breathing the powder than a miller takes against inhaling the 

 fine particles of flour in his mill ; and yet they never suffer from the 

 effects of thus inhaling the fine particles of the Buhach powder. 



Neither is the Buhach poisonous to either man or animals who eat 

 some of it by chance or otherwise. Mr. Milco writes me that a tea- 

 spoonful of the alcoholic extract of Buhach was administered to a cer- 

 tain person afflicted with tape-worm ; the dose was repeated every hour 

 for ten consecutive hours, with the effect of removing the tape-worm 

 without in the least degree injuring the patient. 



Neither is Buhach poisonous to insects. I have seen locusts feed 

 upon cabbage leaves that had been so thoroughly sprayed with a solu- 

 tion of Buhach and water that the leaves were thickly covered with 

 Buhach after the water had evaporated ; still the locusts were not at 

 all injured by thus feeding upon it. 



At the stables of the Buhach plantation several tons of the dried 

 stems of the Pyretlirum cineraricefoliiim were fed to the horses; the lat- 

 ter appeared to relish it very much, and I could not discover that they 

 were injured in the least by thus feeding upon these stems. 



It is this perfect immunity from poisonous or other injurious qualities 

 to those using it that has given to Buhach a prominent position among 

 our insecticides, and makes it a perfectly safe remedy to use about the 

 house. 



While in one form or another it is so destructive to insect life, still it 

 appears to have little or no effect upon the eggs; it also is not so fatal 

 in its effects upon the pupre or chrysalids of those insects which pass 

 through a quiet pupa state as it is to the larvas and to the adult insects. 

 It appears to have the greatest effect upon the higher forms of insect 

 life, while the lower or more or less degraded forms are not so easily 

 affected by it. 



Buhach is sometimes applied in a dry state, but for out-door purposes 

 this occasions a great loss, since the finer particles of the powder will 

 float in the air, and be carried away by the wind. A much more satis- 

 factory way of applying it is to mix it in water and spray the insects 

 with the solution. 





