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against the insects which attack tea-bushes.. The problem of an effi- 
cient insecticide for use upon this crop is a difficult one, since it must 
be nonpoisonous, inodorous, and tasteless, and must not injure the 
tender foliage. The experiments which Mr. Strawson has made with 
this compound show that it is efficacious against various formsof insect 
life, and that it evaporates so rapidly and so throughly as to leave the 
tenderest foliage unharmed, after a few hours leaving no trace of the 
application, either by taste or smell. 
ANOTHER INSTANCE OF THE VALUE OF SPRAYING FRUIT TREES. 
The good that may be accomplished by spraying fruit trees at the 
proper time, for the Codling Moth and Plum Curculio, is becoming very 
well understood, but we deem it advisable to occasionally mention 
instances in which the use of the remedy seems to have brought about 
exceptionally good results. Thus in previous numbers of the current 
volume we have given the experiences of Mr. J. 8S. Lupton, of Virginia, 
and Mr. W. F. Brown, of New York. The following note we take from 
the Indiana Farmer of February 13, 1892. 
I sprayed all my fruit trees twice, and the result is that they are all loaded down 
with fruit and free from the Apple Worm. There is not one in a hundred apples that is 
wormy. Ihave forty apple trees and some pears, and I have to prop the trees up to 
keep them from breaking down. Most of my neighbors that did not spray their 
trees have no fruit but what is wormy. This is the first year I have ever had a good 
erop of apples. 
A NEW INSECTICIDE. 
We have seen a somewhat indefinite item in a recent number of the 
Scientific American concerning the use of monosulphide of potassium, 
which, itis stated, has been discovered by Mr. Dubois to be a cheap 
and effective insecticide. Experiments show that the hatching of 
locust eggs is prevented by a light sprinkling with a solution of this 
substance, while adult insects of several kinds have been quickly killed 
in the same manner. The substance, it is stated, acts as an excellent 
fertilizer for such plants as require potash. We publish this note 
simply as a suggestion to experimenters. 
THE IBIS AS A LOCUST DESTROYER. 
The Australian correspondence of the Mark Lane Hxpress of Mareh 
7 has a paragraph relating to the value of the [bis to farmers in the 
recent locust incursions of last year and the present. In the Glen. 
Thompson district several large flocks, one said to number fully 500 
birds, have been seen eating up the young locusts in a wholesale man- 
ner. Other insectivorous birds are flourishing upon the same diet. 
Recently near Ballarat Victoria, a swarm of locusts was noted in a 
paddock, and “just as it was feared that all the sheep would have to 
be sold for want of grass, flocks of starlings, spoonbills, and cranes 
made their appearance, and in afew days made so complete a clearance 
of the locusts that only about 40 acres of grass were lost.” 
