HISTORY OF REMEDIES. 
37 
or from the logical reasoning of some energetic planter or planters, it 
is impossible to say. 
Recently, however, Mr. J. P. Stelle, agricultural editor of the Mobile 
Register, has put forth his own claim to having been the first to pub- 
licly recommend the use of this poison for the Cotton Worm. This 
claim he bases upon an article which appeared iu the Register in August, 
1872. 
This article appeared as an editorial in the body of the paper and 
not in Mr. Stelle's agricultural department, a fact which in itself would 
argue that he was not its author. Moreover, the article does not 
specifically recommend the use of the green, but simply announces the 
fact that it is being tried. We quote the paragraph in which it is 
found : 
We have but little to offer in the way of remedies with which to combat this pest 
of the planter. Eland-picking the plants is sure but hardly practicable in all cases. 
Fires built about th© field at night would be likely to do some good in the way of 
destroying the moth, as it has a natural disposition to fly into them. We know of 
several persons who are now experimenting with dry Paris green sprinkled upon the 
plants after having been mixed with 16 or 20 parts dry ashei or slacked lime, and 
we hope to hear a good report from them. 
It is, moreover, an extremely significant fact, and indicative of the au- 
thorship of this paragraph, that in Mr. Stclle's subsequent writings 
(see, for instance, "The Cotton Caterpillar and How to Combat it Suc- 
cessfully, r Rural Carolinian, July, 1S74) he gives the entire credit of 
the recommendation to our essay before the Indianapolis meeting in 
May, 1873; and it is only recently that he has laid any claim whatever 
to an earlier announcement." 
In the fall of 1873 the following circular, doubtless prompted by our 
Indianapolis ad.lress, was issued and distributed throughout the South 
by the Commissioner of Agriculture: 
PROTECTION AGAINST COTTON INSECTS. 
To Correspondents: 
The animal hisses of cotton from ravages of cotton insects amount possibly to half 
a million hales in years of insect prevalence. One-fonrth of a million hales would bo 
deemed a light infliction, and yet, at $100 per bale, such a loss would be equivalent to 
$2o, 000,000. The methods to be employed lor lessening their ravages have been here- 
tofore canvassed by the Entomologist of this Department. The remedy can only bo 
applied by the planters themselves, and their own experience can best render practi- 
cable and eflicieut the means employed. 
Numerous correspondents have of late been experimenting with a mixtnre of Paris 
greeu and flour or plaster, dusted on the plants when wet with dew — a remedy which 
has proved very efficient against the Colorado potato- beetle and other insects. Some 
report this remedy effectual against the cotton-caterpillar, while others declare it of 
no value whatever ; others, still, hesitate to try it for fear of poisoning. It is of the 
utmost importance that the facts in the experience of planters the present season 
should be carefully reported, showing the quality and proportions of material used, 
the method and frequency of its application, and the observed results, that a thorough 
tost may be made of its value or worthlessness. The answer of the following quest ion* 
is therefore requested : 
