28 
Elder Leaves. — June 7: made an infusion of elder leaves and tops, 
weiglit J pound ; poured on two quarts of boiling water; set on back of 
range to draw ; time, two hours. I had expected a good result from elder, 
as it has long been used by gardeners and farmers, combined with bur- 
dock and walnut leaves, &c., as an application against insects ; but in 
this case it did not seem to work well. I marked another tree, and ap- 
plied it by dipping the ends of the branches. The water rolled off as 
usual, and would not stick. I mixed a little alkaline lime-water, but it 
seemed not to injure them in the least. I noticed that the infusion was 
nauseous but not bitter. I cannot see how it acts as an insecticide unless 
by the smell. Some insects have a great dislike to pungent and strong 
smells. After the fourth dip, which was on the fourth day, I despaired 
of its doing any good in this case, and so tried my next remed}^, which 
was mandrake root. 
Mandrciike Boot. — June 8 : made a decoction of mandrake root, 1 pound; 
put in two quarts of water; let it come to a boil, and then simmer or 
stew slowly for one hour. When cool it tasted very bitter and was 
rather dark colored, and I had good hopes of it, in which I was not dis- 
appointed. T applied it to another young peach tree, and also to a 
young, six-yearold cherry tree, infested with black Aphides {^fyziis 
cerasi). Three dips almost cleaned them entirely from the peach tree^ 
and also from the cherry tree, so that the Ladybug and her larvae made 
short work of the few sickly ones that remained. I cannot account for 
it, but this wash seemed to take a better hold of the insects, so that the 
Peach Aphis would turn brown after the second dip; and in my subse- 
quent experience I found that whenever the insects turned brown it was 
a sure indication that their time was short. They would not increase 
afterwards, and the Ladybug larvae soon destroy them. I also tried 
this remedy on rose bush Aphis, with about the same result. 
Ailantlnis. — June 9: made an infusion of 8 ounces of the leaves of 
Ailanth us in two quarts of water ; let it draw two hours. The liquor was 
very dark, and the infusion similar to elder in its effects ; the water rolled 
off and would not adhere to the insects. An infusion of the bark was 
clear, only slightly brown. I added some lime-water, for the purpose 
mentioned in my first experiment, and also applied a little fine dust 
through a small dredging box. This made the infusion adhere very 
closely, and the Aphides succumbed after the third dip. It will be re- 
membered in all these cases that I made only one dip each day, and 
waited till next day to see its effects; then dipped again. ^S'o one need 
be surprised that these different bitter and obnoxious plants had no 
better effect on these insects when I say that I afterwards tried two of 
the strongest vegetable bitters we know — namely, quassia and coloquin- 
tida, or the colocynth gourd — with no better effect. 
I may here remark that I bottled and labeled all those bitters for 
other experiments. 
N. B. — I have since found that the ailanthus bark contains the bitter 
principle very largely, but takes a long time to draw. 
