EXPERIMENTS WITH INSECTICIDES. 
INTRODUCTION. 
There are a number of remedies against insects, which have been pro 
posed from time to time, and which have been published without any 
definite record of experiment, their reputation resting upon hearsay 
evidence. The list of such remedies is growing longer every day, 
and with a view of testing some of those which are most frequently rec- 
ommended, in order to enable us to speak with definiteness concern- 
ing their value, we prepared a list early in the summer and sent dupli 
cates to two of our agents, Prof. H. Osborn, at Ames, Iowa, and Mr 
F. M. Webster, at La Fayette, Ind. At the same time, being desirous of 
testing the infusions and decoctions of certain plants popularly sup- 
posed to have insecticide properties, we engaged Mr. Thomas Bennett, 
of Trenton, N. J., a practical gardener of many years’ experience, to ex- 
periment in this direction. The reports of these three gentlemen are 
subjoined, and their results, though in the main negative, are neverthe- 
less of considerable interest and value. 
KEROSENE WITH MOLASSES. 
It will be noticed that the kerosene emulsion used by Messrs. Web- 
ster and Osborn w’as made of equal parts of kerosene, molasses, and 
water. This method of m aking an emulsion was first suggested to us 
by Mr. E. S. Goff, of the New York agricultural experiment station at 
Geneva, N. Y., early last August. Mr. Goff had made what he thought 
a tolerably perfect emulsion w ith these substances by using a crude 
sorghum molasses, and his experience at once interested us on account 
of the fact that the mixture was made without heat, and because of the 
probability that the molasses would render the dilute emulsion more or 
less adhesive. After a long series of experiments, however, Mr. Goff 
came to the conclusion that he had overestimated the value of the prep- 
aration. We quote from his last letter on the subject: 
<‘I write to say that after abundant experimenting with the molasses- 
kerosene emulsion, of which I w rote to you in August last, I fail to find 
it equal to the soaj> emulsion. By boiling the molasses and water and 
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