State Agricultural Society. 
929 
ITS QBEAT EFFICACY. ITS QUALITY HOW TESTED. 
than an hour, without injuring either the fruit or the bushes. 
(Country Gentleman , vol. xxiii, p. 383.) 
W. B. Smith, of Syracuse, says he has effectually destined these 
worms on a plantation of half an acre, by dusting white hellebore 
over the leaves. It was not necessary to cover all the leaves nor 
to apply it on the under side, as the first mouthful which any one 
took, killed it. The powder is retained by the rough surface of 
the leaves but is quickly washed from the glossy surface of the 
fruit .—(Country Gentleman , vol. xxvii, p. 110.) 
Numerous other published statements to the same purport with 
the preceding might be presented, but it is unnecessary. Within 
the circle of my acquaintance, every one who has used this remedy 
expresses himself as being perfectly satisfied and delighted with 
its operation, except in a single instance. One friend informs me 
he could not perceive that it had any effect. And in the Gardener’s 
Chronicle , 1842, p. 349, a correspondent states that he completely 
covered several larvae with hellebore powder, and confined them 
under a wineglass on paper strewed with this powder, several 
hours, and they appeared to experience no inconvenience whatever. 
It does not admit of a doubt that in both of these instances a worth¬ 
less article was used. If it really was hellebore which these two 
persons received from the druggists, it was so old and had been 
lying so long in the drawers of the shops that it had entirely lost 
its properties. The purchaser should assure himself that the article 
which he obtains is genuine, as this is so readily ascertained. Hel¬ 
lebore is such a powerful sternutatory that it has long been in use 
as the basis of those snuffs which are designed to excite violent and 
continued sneezing, and the smallest pinch of its powder, brought 
Deal- the nostrils, by the tingling sensation it produces in them will 
sufficiently attest its genuineness. And in dusting it over the 
bushes, one soon learns to stand where any slight breeze which 
may be in the air will not waft any of the finer particles to his own 
face. It is ground into such an exceedingly fine light powder that 
it can only be used with economy when the atmosphere is nearly 
or quite still, .so large a portion of it is wafted away and wasted if 
any wind is blowiug. 
Much the most convenient mode of dusting this powder far 
down between the bushes or elsewhere that a worm occurs, I find 
is to put about a gill of it into a small bag made of very fine 
muslin, and tie the mouth of this bag around a stick about eighteen 
IAu.] 59 
