INSECTS AND FUNGUS ENEMIES OF FRUIT, TREES AND PLANTS. 
ONLY a few years ago little or nothing was known about fungus diseases, and almost nothing 
about the insects that trouble the fruit grower. But we know now the life history of all the 
common insects, as well as the fugus diseases, and know how to combat them at each stage of 
their life. It is only necessary to follow directions, and be prompt and thorough, to insure suc- 
cess. A man will spend weeks cultivating his corn field, that will barely yield a crop to cover 
the iabor, and begrudge a week's time to his fruit, that will yield him returns running into hun- 
dreds of dollars in profit per acre. We give below some general directions for spraying and 
caring for fruit, that, if followed, will insure success. 
INSECTS.— There are some insects that escape our attention entirely, unless we look- 
closely Among these are the gnats, mites, scale-lice and the ordinary plant-lice. These are all 
insects that live by sucking the sap of the plant for food, and have to be combatted with some 
mixture that dries on them, stopping up their breathing pores, which are arranged along their 
sides or else by their caustic action eats away their tissues and destroys them. They have a 
great many natural enemies. Among them are the Ichneumon Flies— a fly looking much like a 
tiny wasp, and the Lady Bug. The insects that eat the leaves for food, such as the Potato Bug, 
the Api>le Tree Tent-Caterpillar, etc., are killed by poisoning their food, and some form of arse- 
nic has been found best for this purpose. 
FUNGUS. — Fungus is a plant— a parasite plant— living by throwing its roots in the tissue:* 
of the, plant on which it lives, and appropriating its sap. It grows very rapidly when once start- 
ed and, as it is beneath the skin of the leaf or bark during the greater part of its life, if once 
started it Is hard to stop, so that to be successfully combatted work must be begun before any 
signs of the fungus appear. Usually fungus shows itself conspicously only when it has gone to- 
seed. Its seeds are called spores, and are transmitted from plant to plant by the wind. To the 
naked eye they appear like grains of very fine dust. 
FORMULAS. — Note. — Wherever lime is called for in the following mixtures, it is to he 
weighed before slaking, then slaked and the creamy white wash, after straining to remove lumps, 
added to the solution. 
Formula 1, Paris Oreen. Paris Green, 3 ozs.; lime, 1 ft.; water, 1 barrel. Keep well stirred. 
Formula 2, White Arsenic Solution. This is to take the place of Paris Green, and is> very 
much cheaper,' costing about 4 cents per .barrel. Boil 2 po,unda of white arsenic, with 8 pounds 
of sal soda (common washing soda) in 8 qts. water for 15 minutes, or till dissolved, leaving only 
a small muddy sediment at the bottom. Put this solution in a 2-gallon jug and label "Poison, 
stock material for spraying mixture." 
Use one pint of this to a barrel of water. But this will burn the leaves and greatly injure 
the tree if lime is not added, so to each barrel of mixture add 2 pounds of lime. 
Formula 3, Bordeaux Mixture. Copper sulphate, 4 pounds ; lime, 3 pounds ; water, one bar- 
rel Dissolve the copper in a part of the water, slake the lime in another part, and mix, filling- 
the barrel with water. Another way, and a better way where several barrels are to be made, is. 
as follows : Make several bags of burlap or old sacking. Weigh 4 pounds of copper sulphate 
in each. Slake a bushel of lime in a barrel of water. Go to your druggist and get a cents 
worf.1 of ferro-cyanide of potassium, and get an extra label to paste on your bottle. Put this, 
ferro-cyanide in a 1-ounce bottle, and fill it with water. It will all dissolve, or nearly all. Paste 
on your poison label, for it is very poisonous. To prepare the mixture : Fill a barrel nearly full 
of water, and hang a bag of copper in it, so that it does not rest on the bottom. If it rests on 
the bottom it will take a day or so to dissolve, -ft'hile if you suspend it, it will dissolve in an hour. 
When copper is dissolved, stir up the barrel of lime and dip out enough adding it to the copper, 
till a drop of the ferro-cyanide solution does not turn brown when added to it. It is then neutral, 
and ready for use. 
Bordeaux Mixture is for fungus diseases, and by adding Paris Green to it, or white arsenie 
solution, it can be made a remedy for both fungus and insects. Three ounces of Paris Green to 
the barrel is enough, or 1 pint of the stock solution of white arsenic. If the latter is used, 2 
pounds more of lime must be added. 
Formula 4, Kerosene Emulsion. Kerosene emulsion is made by adding 2 parts of kerosene 
to 1 part of a solution made by dissolving half a pound of hard soap in 1 gallon of boiling rain- 
water and churning the mixture through a force pump with a rather small nozzle until the whole 
forms'a creamy nuiss, that will thicken into a jelly-like substance on cooling. The soap solutioa 
should be hot when the kerosene is added, but of course must not be near a fire. The emulsion, 
thus made is diluted before using with 9 to 20 parts of cold water. 
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