PRODUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF BUHACH. 
By D. W. Coquillett. 
Dear Sir : In accordance with j our written request for me to pre- 
pare a report upon the growth, manufacture, &c., of the insect powder 
known as “Buhach”, as practiced by the Buhach Producing and Manu- 
facturing Company, of Stockton, Cal., I beg leave to submit the follow- 
ing : For much of the information contained herein I am indebted to 
Mr. G. N. Milco, one of the proprietors of the above firm, and also to 
the pages of the Pacific Rural Press. I obtained much information con- 
cerning this new industry while staying at the company’s plantation last 
summer when investigating the locust plague for the Department. 
The Buhach Producing and Manufacturing Company’s plantation is 
situated about one mile east of Atwater Station, in Merced County, and 
contains 800 acres, 300 of which are planted to Pyrethrum ciner aricefolium, 
from the dried flowers of which the above company manufacture the 
insect powder to which they have given the proprietary name of Bu- 
hach.* The soil of this plantation is a sandy loam, so sandy in fact 
that when the growing upon it of the Pyrethrum plants was first at- 
tempted many of the plants were buried beneath the loose, drifting 
sand which was blown about by the winds. To overcome this evil, 
lines of Lombardy and Carolina poplar trees were planted along the 
banks of the irrigating ditches to serve as wind breaks. 
The great Merced Irrigating Canal passes through the middle of 
the Buhach plantation, and the latter is supplied with water from it by 
a system of irrigating ditches which, if extended in any one direction, 
would reach to a distance of about thirty miles. 
The seeds of the Pyrethrum are sown in the spring or fall of the year, 
and are buried in the soil to the depth of about half an inch by lightly 
disturbing the soil with a rake. The seed-beds, which are not unlike 
those used for starting cabbage and tomato plants, are occasionally 
sprinkled with water. During the rainy winter season the plants are 
transplanted to the fields, where they are set out in rows four feet 
apart, and two feet apart in the rows. During the dr 3 r summer season 
the plants are irrigated about once every month. 
* The word Buhach is derived from the Sclavonic word Buha, which signifies a flea; 
hut there is no such word as Buhach in the Sclavonic language. 
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