NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



805 



Tobacco Extracts, their Comparative Value as Insecticides. 



By W. O. Hollister (Jour. Econ. Entom. vol. v. pp. 263-267 ; June 

 1912). — Tobacco water has been in use for about 150 years as an 

 insecticide, and is now finding greater favour than ever before. As 

 a result of experiments carried out by the author it is recommended 

 that solutions of pure nicotine (up to 2 per cent, solution) should be 

 used for spraying in preference to the impure solutions containing 

 various foreign bodies, for with this even delicate flowers may be 

 sprayed without fear of injury. Nicotine sulphate has no advantage 

 in use over pure nicotine. — F. J. C. 



Tomato Culture in Victoria. By S. A. Cook (Jour. Agr. Vict. June 

 1913, pp. 342-346). The factory prices for 1911,1912, and 1913 average 

 is. 6d. a bushel. Requisites for a market tomato are early ripening, 

 smooth skin, solid flesh, size large to medium, productive and free 

 from surface cracks in wet weather, colour bright red. For market 

 it is desirable to grow three or four varieties. — C. H. H. 



Tomato Diseases and Pests. By W. J. Goverts (Gartenflora, 

 vol. lxii. pt. xx. pp. 440-444; 3 figs.). — The tomato is attacked 

 by numerous pests. The eelworm is very destructive. Remove 

 the soil and mix with quicklime, replace with good loam in which 

 plant pieces of potato to act as traps. When plants are attacked 

 by Septoria lycopersici, Mycosphaerella citrullina or Phytophthora 

 infestans spray with 3 per cent. Bordeaux mixture and sprinkle 

 the ground with quicklime. After the crop is garnered burn the 

 plants and singe the stakes to which the}' were attached. As a 

 preventive, steep the seed in a 10 per cent, solution of copper sulphate 

 for two hours before sowing. When there is a sudden rise in tempera- 

 ture with bright sunshine in June, plants raised in hot-beds are often 

 attacked by " mosaic " disease. The leaves are marked with yellow 

 patches and have a blistered appearance. If the hot weather is 

 followed by heavy rains, then Cladosporium fulvum attacks the 

 tomato. Burn the diseased plants and paint the glass of the lights 

 with lime. 



To check chlorosis, give the plants dry soil and discontinue the 

 supply of liquid manure until the plants recover. As a protection 

 against root-knot eelworm, Heterodera radicicola, plant lettuce 

 between the tomatos. In May or June remove and burn the lettuce. 

 Desiantha novica is caught on white paper smeared with a sticky 

 substance placed under a lantern. Hoe the ground and spray with 

 arsenical preparations. Macrosporium lycopersici and M. solani, 

 Didymella superflua, Lophostoma similiana, Bacterium solanacearum, 

 Phytophthora injestans, Gloeosporiumphomoides and Fusarium erubescens 

 are destroyed by Bordeaux mixture. Burn diseased fruit. In 

 the case of Fusarium solani burn the plants and dig in lime. The 

 grubs of the cockchafer and Colorado beetle are destroyed by 

 sprinkling with Schweinfurth green. Fumigating with tobacco 

 removes thrips, and dusting with a mixture of insect powder and 



