348 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



recommends sulphate of iron. That, I believe, is a very good thing ; but 

 just recently Mr. Pickering, with my assistance, has discovered that there 

 is an oil from which you can make a spray which does not cause that 

 separation. Nor do you get separation from the use of caustic soda. He 

 is calling this soap the Woburn soap for paraffin emulsion ; and there is 

 no doubt that it would be very valuable if used for this purpose ; it is 

 quite a new discovery. 



Mr. Percy Bunyard : I think we are all agreed there is not any 

 insecticide which is so penetrating as nicotine. It is not only extremely 

 penetrating, but it is easy to use ; there is absolutely no clogging of the 

 machinery. What we want is to get nicotine down to about half the 

 price it is at present. The present price of nicotine is about 10s. or 12s. a 

 pound, and if we could get it down to about half that price I believe that 

 it would be by far the cheapest insecticide, as well as the most effective. 



Mr Theobald : There are only two more things to which I should 

 like to refer. I am afraid that Mr. Moore took rather a different view 

 of the paper which I read from the meaning I meant to convey to 

 the Conference. I am not at all saying that we should not go in for 

 winter spraying ; I say that we should go in for winter spraying. But 

 what I maintain is, that it is waste of money to spray trees that are 

 clean. When you see that they are getting dirty you should start winter 

 spraying ; but if you are going on to spray, spray, spray all your trees 

 every winter, spring, and summer, I want to know where the fruit grower 

 is going to get a profit out of his work. By all means do it if you wish 

 to put money into the hands of the chemical manufacturers instead of 

 into your own pockets. If you are going to spray six or ten times a year, 

 where are you going to get a profit ? 



Mr. Fred Moore : One winter spraying and nothing else ? 



Mr. Theobald : Do you destroy the caterpillars and everything else, 

 and do you maintain that the winter spraying destroys the eggs of the 

 insects ? 



Mr. Fred Moore : No, I do not say that ; but I maintain that for 

 insuring the health of the trees the winter spraying is the only spraying 

 which should not be neglected. 



Mr. Theobald : For instance, the apple aphis which flies to the 

 tree ; and the apple-blossom weevil will fly on to the tree. What is the 

 good of winter washing for these ? 



Mr. Fred Moore : I did not claim it as a remedy against insects ; I 

 quite agree that it does not kill insects' eggs — I have proved that by 

 experiment — but I do say that it puts a tree into a healthy condition, and 

 helps to keep it in a healthy condition, so that it is able to resist those 

 attacks infinitely better than the unsprayed tree can — a point of view 

 which the reader of the paper after you also emphasized. 



Mr. Theobald : Certainly spray them to keep them clean, but do 

 not waste money. I maintain that if a tree is clean it is waste of money 

 to spray it. 



Mr. Fred Moore : I maintain that you cannot keep it healthy without 

 spraying. 



Mr. Theobald : The only other point I should like to mention is as 

 regards the nicotine. I do not know that any experiments were made 



