148 REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
uble in water, but has the same disadvantages as commercial arsenic. 
For a number of years an arsenical compound has been advertised un- 
der the name of " Potato-pest poison," by the Lodi Chemical Works of 
Lodi, K J. It is put up in pound packages, which are sold at $1 each, 
with directions to dissolve 4 ounces in 2 quarts of hot water, then pour 
into a barrel containing 30 gallons of cold water, and use on the plants 
in as fine a spray as possible. 
The common arsenic water, which every druggist knows how to make, 
will answer well. To make it from the white arsenic (arsenioas acid) 
and common baking (carbonate of) soda is cheaper than to buy the 
arseniate, although the arseniate method of preparation involves less 
time and labor. One-fifth of a pound of sal soda to a pound of arsenic 
should be boiled in a gallon of water until dissolved. The solution is 
permanent, no stirring or shaking being necessary to keep the poison 
mixed. One quart of the solution to forty gallons of water is used on 
each acre. 
Fowler's solution. — This compound is said to consist of arsenious ox- 
ide, dissolved in a solution of sodium or potassium carbonate in water. 
It has been used quite extensively in some parts of the canebrake re- 
gion of Alabama, but does not appear to be patented. 
A more complicated compound, " Johnson's Dead Shot," has been 
patented by Judge J. W. Johnson, of Columbus, Tex. (No. 151,668, June 
2, 1874), consisting of 8 ounces arsenious acid, 1 ounce cyanide of po- 
tassium, 8 ounces dextrine, dissolved in 40 gallons of water. Jne of 
the claims for this compound was that the vapor of the cyanide of po- 
tassium even killed the moths which came in the vicinity of the plants 
that had been sprinkled with the "Dead Shot." Experience has shown 
that the claim was unwarranted, and in fac*", in the packages offered to 
the public, Judge Johnson did not adhere to the specification, being 
finally afraid to use the cyanide of potassium, and making a mixture 
composed of 3 pounds of commercial arsenic, 1 pound of starch, 1 pound 
of salts of tartar, ground up together. This was made up in powder 
packages, to be used at the rate of 5 pounds to 500 gallons of water, 
and sprayed by means of his patent sprinkler presently to be described. 
This was found to have the same drawback, common to arsenical mix- 
tures, of injuring the plant, and the later packages, advertised under 
the name of "Johnson's Improved Dead Shot," put up in 4-pound tin 
boxes, and to be used at the rate of 4 pounds to 500 gallons of water, 
consist (according to the inventor's own statement to us) of 2 pounds 
of commercial arsenic with a due proportion of rosin, caustic soda, and 
sulphate of copper, all boiled together. This is sold at $1.25 per box. 
It has, however, proved too often unsatisfactory and inefficient, and 
Mr. Johnson has been obliged to add or recommend the addition of one 
pound of Paris green to the mixture. 
A patent (No. 151078, May 10, 1874) was obtained by Messrs. J. D. 
Braham and A. Itobira, of Galveston, Tex., for their "Texas Cotton 
