PKODUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF BUHACH. 



By D. W. Coquillktt. 



Dear Sir : Id accordance with your written request for me to pre- 

 pare a report upon the growth, manufacture, &c, of the insect powder 

 known as " Buhach", as practiced by the Buhach Producing and Manu- 

 facturing Company, of Stockton, Cal., I beg leave to submit the follow- 

 ing : For much of the information contained herein I am indebted to 

 Mr. i}. N. Milco, one of the proprietors of the above firm, and also to 

 the pages of the Facific Rural Press. I obtained much information con- 

 cerning this new industry while staying at the company's plantation last 

 summer when investigating the locust plague for the Department. 



The Buhach Producing aud Manufacturing Company's plantation is 

 situated about one mile east of Atwater Station, in Merced County, aud 

 contains 800 acres, 300 of which are planted to Pyrethrum dneraricefolium, 

 from the dried flowers of which the above company manufacture the 

 insect powder to which they have given the proprietary name of Bu- 

 hach.* The soil of this plantation is a sandy loam, so sandy in fact 

 that when the growing upon it of the Pyrethrum plants was first at- 

 tempted many of the plants were buried beneath the loose, drifting 

 sand which was blown about by the winds. To overcome this evil, 

 lines of Lombardy and Carolina poplar trees were planted along the 

 banks of the irrigating ditches to serve as wind-breaks. 



The great Merced Irrigating Canal passes through the middle of 

 the Buhach plantation, and the latter is supplied with water from it by 

 a system of irrigating ditches which, if extended in any one direction, 

 would reach to a distance of about thirty miles. 



The seeds of the Pyrethrum are sown in the spring or fall of the year, 

 and are buried in the soil to the depth of about half an inch by lightly 

 disturbing the soil with a rake. The seed beds, which are not unlike 

 those used for starting cabbage and tomato plants, arc occasionally 

 sprinkled with water: During the rainy winter season the plants are 

 transplanted to the fields, where they arc set out in rows four feet 

 apart, and two feet apart in the rows. During the dry summer season 

 the plants are irrigated about once every month. 



*The word Buhach is derived from the Sclavonic word Buha, which signifies a flea ; 



but there is no such word as Buhach in the Sclavonic language. 



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