762 [Assembly 
ready seen how repulsive to these insects the trees of Mr. Briggs, 
immediately became upon being washed with a solution of soda. 
Tobacco water, prepared by pouring a gallon of boiling water 
upon a quarter of a pound of tobacco, and used in the same man¬ 
ner as above directed iD the case of soap suds, has been reported 
as a certain remedy. Moses L. Colton, of West Bolton, Vermont, 
says (Country Gentleman, v> 1. vi. p. 78), a nursery of about 
twelve hundred Apple trees became so infested with lice that 
most of the trees turned black and the jeaves withered and died, 
until he tried tobacco water, prepared, however, much stronger 
than above recommended. This completely destroyed the insects, 
and the leaves they had killed having fallen off, new ones started 
out. For six years past he has been obliged to resort to this more 
or less every year, in his nursery and orchard, and he finds it an 
effectual remedy when made strong enough. He prepares a de¬ 
coction, made by boiling four or five pounds of tobacco in water 
sufficient to nearly fill a tin pan. 
The remedy which is admitted on all hands to be the most 
effectual, and sure of ridding infested vegetation of every aphis 
upon it, is the smoke ' of tobacco. But unfortunately this 
can only be resorted to in the case of rose bushes and other low 
shrubs or small trees. For enclosing a shrub to be operated upon, 
gardeners abroad use a large box, a hogshead, or a kind of small 
tent humorously described some time since by Prof. Lindley 
(Gardener’s Chronicle, July 11, 1816,) under the name of a 
“parapetiicoat,” made by sewing the upper end of a wornout but 
entire petticoat to the outer edge of an opened parasol that has 
been thrown aside, any holes in its cover being first, mended, and 
a staff six feet Jong securely tied to its handle. The petticoat 
being then raised up in folds to the parasol, the staff is insetted 
into the ground under the centre of the infested shrub, and the 
petticoat is drawn down to surround and inclose all of the foliage 
of the shrub. The interior is then filled densely with tobacco 
smoke for the space of five or ten minutes, or long enough to in¬ 
sure the fumes penetrating every curl, plait and crevice of the 
foliage., The apparatus fs hereupon removed, and the foliage 
immediately washed with lukewarm water from a large syringe, 
v 
