ms 
THE RUBAI HEW-Y0RSCER 
Personally, I have never known any loss of 
life from insecticides, except two cattle which 
ate Paris-green and flour which were left un¬ 
covered in the field. I have noted many ac¬ 
counts in papers and all have been from care¬ 
lessness like the above, or else from handling 
poisons with bare bauds when there was some 
sore or wound on the hand. Carelessness, 
gross carelessness, was the destroyer in every 
case I have read of. I have known of several 
cases where /Concerted action has seemed near¬ 
ly to banish certain noxious insects like the 
curculio, peach borer, currant borer, etc. 
INSECTICIDES. 
WILLIAM FALCONER. 
My list of insecticides include a solution 
of Paris-green, kerosene emulsion, hellebore 
powder, buhach powder and tobacco. 
Elm-Leaf Beetle. —Kerosene emulsion— 
one-twelfth part kerosene, eleven-twelfths 
warm, soapy water—applied in spray against 
the trunks and main stems,and a weaker emul¬ 
sion, say one-eighteenth of kerosene and seven¬ 
teen-eighteenths of warm, soapy water, 
sprayed among the leaves and smaller 
branches, were effectual in destroying the 
larvae they touched. We repeated the appli¬ 
cation several times in July and August. But 
as we have neither water nor force-power 
enough, in fact, no practicable means of 
reaching into and thoroughly drenching the 
tops of our larger elm trees, we have failed to 
save them. We can, with a good deal of 
trouble, save our small trees, but in the case 
of the large ones we are powerless. 
Borers. —By continued vigilance, a knife, 
and pliable wire, we keep our young peach 
trees pretty clean, but the old trees have 
gotten beyond our aid, and I am cutting 
them out. 1 have not found any insecticide 
of any use either as a preventive or remedy. 
Locusts are infested beyond control, and 
exotic ashes can hardly exist because of borers. 
Bark Louse or Scale. —On dwarf pear 
aud apple trees this is quite troublesome, but 
in the orchard among the standards I am not 
much troubled with it. The dwarfing stock 
and sandy soil enervate the trees and render 
them an easier prey to insect pests than are 
vigoi ous trees. I use kerosene emulsion—one- 
tenth kerosene, nine-tenths soapy (soft soap or 
whale oil soap) water. I paint it on with a 
brush, rubbing the bark well, for I find when 
it is applied in spray it has scarcely any effect. 
This is done about the end of April, and again 
in October. Emulsion of this strength will 
injure foliage or bursting buds. 
In some seasons some insects, the currant 
worm, for instance, are more numerous than 
they are in others, but I am satisfied that the 
hellebore used one season has no perceptible 
effect in reducing the number of these worms 
the next season. In.the case of the bark scale 
continued attention exterminates it on the 
trees operated on. 
A teaspoonful of Paris-green to GO quarts of 
water, and this applied twice in the season, 
saves our potatoes from the beetles. I have 
failed absolutely to destroy the rose-beetles. 
Squash bugs must be hand-picked. As soon 
as turnips appear aboveground and while wet 
with dew they should be dusted over with air- 
slaked lime to save them from the flea-beetle. 
Cut-worms are worst between May 1 to June 
21; search for them in the morning aud kill 
them. I have found neither preventive nor 
remedy for spinach leaf maggot, onion mag¬ 
got or cabbage root maggot. But observe if 
they are much affected by these pests this sea¬ 
son, do not sow or plant them again in the 
same ground for the next two seasons, at 
least. May-bug grubs only submit to being 
squeezed to death. 
ONION FLY AND MAGGOT. 
As is well known, the onion maggot is 
hatched from eggs laid in the young onion at 
the surface of the ground, by an insect known 
among gardeners as the "onion fly.” This is 
one of the much dreaded enemies of the onion 
crop, the one whose extensive ravages have 
driven its cultivation from many localities in 
our Northern States. Thick planting with 
the expectation that after the fly pest has 
helped himself to a portion of the young plants 
there may be left a proportion sufficient for a 
good crop, has not proved to be a remedy, for 
the habit of the fly is generally to deposit her 
eggs in every onion until they are exhausted. 
The result therefore of this thick planting, af¬ 
ter the maggot has done its work is to leave 
the bed with rows that have alternate 
patches of utter blauk and extra thick 
spaces; on the latter the plants are too near 
together to make onions of fair market size 
possible. The general practice where beds are 
badly infested with the maggot has been to 
give up the location and transfer the raising 
of the crop to some other portion of the farm. 
As laud suitable for raising onions in the qual¬ 
ity of the soil, freedom from stones aud level 
character, is not very common on the average 
New England farm, it is oftentimes the case 
that the tiny insect conquers and the crop is 
driven from the farm. Having this trouble 
on my own farm, while preparing to abandon 
one of my beds, located on excellent onion 
land, and to start it in anew location, I heard 
an old market gardener state that he had had 
no serious trouble from the maggot since he 
had tried the hen-and-chickens remedy. On 
being asked to explain, he stated that it was 
his practice to confine a hen with chickens on 
each acre of his onion ground, soon after the 
plants appeared above ground; the hen to be 
confined in a small coop which allowed the 
chickens easy access in and out. The chickens, 
he stated, soon got track of the fly and de¬ 
voured it while depositing its eggs. The 
past season I tried the experiment on my own 
farms, locating three broods on about as many 
acres, putting in one in about the middle of 
each. As to the result, though I am not able 
to report with the accuracy of a scientific ex¬ 
pert, testifying only to what I really saw, yet 
as a matter of fact, on all three of the acres 
my onions were much less injured by the mag¬ 
gots than they had been the year previously, 
and I am so strongly inclined to award the 
credit to the feathered hunters, that I shall 
again give them watch and ward over them. 
Marblehead, Mass. J. J. n. Gregory. 
THE ARSENITES AS INSECTICIDES. 
E. S. GOFF. 
Certain compounds of arsenic are coming 
into such general use as insecticides that it is 
a matter of some importance to know which 
one of these can be used with the geatest econ¬ 
omy, efficacy and market value both being 
considered. The two most generally employed 
as insecticides are Paris-green and London- 
purple. From a recent report of the Connec¬ 
ticut Experiment Station, I learn the lowest 
wholesale price at which the first of these com¬ 
pounds could be purchased the past season was 
18 cents per pound, aud that the retail prices 
ranged from 85 to 40 cents per pound. It is 
stated that the price will be somewhat lower the 
coming season. Six samples purchased at as 
many different stores, and analyzed at the 
Connecticut Experiment Station the past sea¬ 
son, were all found to be free from all 
adulteration. It is said that only the strictly 
pure article is now prepared by any of the 
American manufacturers. If this statement 
is true, those who buy it in sealed packages 
marked with the brand of the manufacturer 
will not bo in any danger of being imposed 
upon. 
London-purple is commercially a much 
cheaper article than Paris-green, being a waste 
product of manufacture. It is lighter in 
weight, and hence more readily kept in sus¬ 
pension in water. When pure, it contains near¬ 
ly as much arsenic as Paris-green. The lowest 
wholesale price at which I have recently seen 
it quoted is 0% cents per pound in kegs and 
barrels, and 10 cents per pound in smaller 
packages. It retailed the past season at from 
10 to 20 cents per pound. I am informed that 
but one grade of it is sold. 
It appears, therefore, that London-purple 
costs but about half as much for the same 
amount of arsenic as Paris green. Is it as 
efficacious for destroying insects? Last season 
1 made a comparative test of the two poisons 
for the potato beetle, both mixed with plaster 
and suspended in water, and was unable to 
detect any difference in their efficacy. I used 
one pound of each to 150 pounds of plaster 
and one ounce of each to 10 gallons of water. 
Prof. Forbes made experiments with the two 
poisons for the coddling moth in the year 1885. 
The results showed that the Paris-green was 
decidedly more efficacious, this poison saving 
something more than two-thirds of the apples 
which would otherwise have been damaged, 
while the London-purple saved but about one- 
sixth of the apples from injury. In these ex¬ 
periments, however, the London-purple did 
not have a fair chance, as the spraying with 
this poison began four days later than that 
with the Paris-green, while the latter, as used, 
contained about one-third more arsenic than 
the London-purple. Many fruit-growers have 
used London-purple for the coddling moth 
with very satisfactory results; and from the 
reports I am led to believe that it is used ex¬ 
clusively for this insect in California. The 
fact that a given amount of poison may be 
had in this form for about one-half what it 
costs in Paris-green is certainly a matter wor¬ 
thy of consideration. 
Last season I tested an arsenite received 
from the “Zoekstein Company” which proved 
very efficacious both for the potato beetle and 
the coddling moth, more efficacious indeed 
than either Paris-green or London-purple 
used at the same rate. I do not know the per 
cent, of arsenic that it contained, nor the 
price at which it could be furnished. 
The common white arsenic of the drug 
stores is by far the cheapest and most conven¬ 
ient of the arsenites, and it would probably 
supplant all others but for the fact that it 
bears so close a resemblance to several of the 
•compounds used in cooking, that it cannot be 
prudently kept in the house. But why do not 
some of our astute friends find a way of color¬ 
ing this poison, so that it could not be mistak¬ 
en for anything else? 
Geneva, N. Y. 
A FEW INSECTICIDES AND THEIR 
USES. 
There are a few standard insecticides that 
no farmer or fruit-grower can afford to be 
without. Among these are London-purple or 
Paris-green, hellebore, pyrethrum and either 
kerosene emulsion, whale-oil soap, or common 
soft soap. These insecticides are especially 
useful in the following cases: London-purple 
and Paris-green are always useful in destroy¬ 
ing insects feeding upon any part of the plant 
where these substances can be applied, but 
they should not be used on food plants where 
they will endanger the life of the consumer. 
Hence Paris-green and London-purple are the 
remedies to apply against the potato beetle, 
the coddling moth, and the canker-worm. 
Repeated experiments have proven that they 
are sure and safe remedies against these pests. 
These poisons should not be applied against 
the cabbage worm, the currant worm, the 
radish beetle and the like, because they would 
endanger the life of the consumer. 
Pyrethrum diluted with plaster or flour in 
the proportion of one of the pyrethrum to four 
of the diluting material is very successfully 
applied against the cabbage worm. White 
hellebore, in the proportion of one ounce to 
two gallons of water, I know to be a sure 
remedy against the currant worm, the cherry 
slug, and the rose slug. 
Kerosene emulsion, whale-oil soap and 
strong soapsuds I have used very successfully 
against plant lice. The first can be made by 
briskly agitating one part of kerosene with two 
parts of soft soap and one part of water, until 
a stable emulsion is obtained. * Before using, 
this should be diluted with 10 or 12 parts of 
water. I tried a number of experiments last 
spring, which thoroughly convinced me that 
the time to treat plant lice was either while 
they were in the egg state, or, better, immedi¬ 
ately after the hatching and before the leaves 
of the plant have put forth to protect them. 
It is useless to apply poisons for the destruc¬ 
tion of plant lice, as the lice do not feed on the 
surface, but draw their nourishment through 
a beak which they insert into leaf or bark, 
exactly as a mosquito diaws blood through its 
proboscis. The soap mixtures are the only 
insecticides that have succeeded in my hands 
against plant lice. I have repeatedly used 
pyrethrum, but got very slight results.* 
C. P. GILLETTE. 
INSECTICIDES IN INDIANA. 
I have sold for 40 years the various insecti¬ 
cides that have been known to the trade— 
white hellebore powdered fine, also tobacco 
finely powdered, sulphate of iron, acetate of 
copper, nitrate of potash, and now Paris- 
green, London purple, pyrethrum, etc., and I 
do not recollect a single case of poisoning 
either of man or beast by their use. For the 
same length of time I have been fond of gar¬ 
dening and fruit growing, and have tried to 
keep in check the various insects that annoy 
us by destroying our growing crops, and with 
no extra precaution in the use of insecticides 
I have had no case of poisoning at all. While itjis 
best to have people, in general, fearful of poi¬ 
sons of all kinds, nevertheless the danger is 
very slight. 
My favorite insecticide is the pyrethrum 
roseum, very finely powdered. In the destruc¬ 
tion of the beetle family that annoy us in our 
gardens, I have had but little trouble by a per¬ 
sistent and thorough use of a good article of 
pyrethrum. I think it does not act as poisons 
do, but by mechanically closing up their spir¬ 
acles, or breathing holes, ranged along the 
sides of the body, it practically suffocates them 
to death. But to be successful in its use one 
must know the insect and use it accordingly. 
If used for the cabbage caterpillar as for the 
house fly, it will not succeed; and it must be 
frequently applied—once or twice will not do. 
The pyrethrum must be finely powdered and 
light. As it is often found in the market coarse, 
dark in color, and heavy, it will not do. I 
think the efficacy of hellebore is due more to 
its mechanical action than to its poisonous na¬ 
ture. Pyrethrum and hellebore have given 
me the best results when used as dry powders. 
Last seasons my garden was visited by the 
“striped blister” beetle; after it had done 
much damage to my potatoes and beets, I tried 
the pyrethrum powder, blown from a pair of 
bellows, and soon succeeded in getting rid of 
the pest, and, if it succumbs to the powder, it 
is safe to say .the beetle family can be con¬ 
trolled by its use. I shall for experiment only 
try pyrethrum on the Colorado beetles this 
season; but Paris-green is all that is needed to 
get rid of them. On the cabbage caterpillar 
I have used water at 160 degrees and water at 
32 degrees; also saltpeter, copperas and car¬ 
bolic acid solution with good effect, but the 
best of all is pyrethrum. bates. 
Rockville, Ind. 
SOME NOTES ON APPLE INSECTS. 
CLARENCE M. WEED. 
Few plants have so many insect enemies 
as the apple. Having been in cultivation 
for so long a .time both in Europe and 
America, and many trees being usually 
massed together, this fruit has presented to 
the insect tribes an extraordinary opportu¬ 
nity for development. Besides this, the fre¬ 
quent exportation and importation of the 
trees and fruit from one country to another, 
have been the means of introducing European 
pests to America and vice versa. Hence it 
is not so strange that a recent list of insect 
depredators on the apple includes 176 species. 
Of course, only a comparatively small num¬ 
ber of these have as yet been known to do 
significant injury, but, as Dr. Lintnerhas well 
remarked, “the least harmful among them 
may, at any time, through such sudden and 
inexplicable multiplication as is often wit¬ 
nessed in the insect world, become seriously 
injurious.” 
In Illinois the most destructive apple insects 
are the coddling moth and the borers, but prac¬ 
tical remedies for both these pests are now 
known, and are being successfully used by 
our leading fruit growers. But that there is ' 
yet great need for their use by the mass of the 
fruit-raising community is shown by the fact 
that most Illinoisians have eaten New York 
and Michigan apples this winter, paying from 
one to two dollars per bushel for them. 
The methods of fighting the borers, which 
during the first two or three dry seasons have 
been extraordinarily destructive in this State, 
now being successfully practiced, are (1) pre¬ 
venting the laying of eggs by application of 
a wash of soft-soap with a little carbolic acid 
added; aud (2) destroying the eggs aud young 
larvae by a knife or wire. The wash should 
be applied in this latitude first about the mid¬ 
dle of May and again about a month later. 
The coddling moth is also being successfully 
controlled by spraying with the arsenites, tho 
elaborate experiments made by Prof. S. A. 
Forbes during 1885 and 1886 having proven to 
the horticulturists of the State that this remedy 
is efficient. These experiments were conduct¬ 
ed with great care and under varying condi¬ 
tions, aud involved the separate examination 
of more than 40,000 apples. The conclusion 
reached was that at least 70 per cent, of the 
loss commonly suffered by the fruit grower 
from the ravages of the coddling moth or 
apple worm, may be prevented at a nominal 
expense, or practically, in the long run, at no 
expense at all, by thoroughly applying Paris- 
green in a spray with water once or twice 
in early spring, as soon as the fruit is fairly 
set, and not so late as the time when the grow¬ 
ing apple turns downward on the stem. 
These results have been abundantly con¬ 
firmed the past season in the fruit regions of 
Southern and Western Illinois. Secretary 
A. C. Hammond, of the State Horticultural 
Society, writes that from an orchard sprayed 
twice with London-purple he gathered about 
500 bushels of high-colored, perfect fruit,while 
from the same number of trees not thus 
treated he could not pick a bushel of perfec 
apples. I prefer London-purple to Paris-green 
as an insecticide, and find it easier to apply in 
a water mixture. We have had some trouble 
in spraying apple trees, on account of scorch¬ 
ing, and find London-purple less liable to burn 
the foliage than Paris-green. 
NOTES ON INSECTICIDES. 
I have applied poison to potatoes success¬ 
fully, at th,e rate of 30 acres per day with the 
labor of one man and a horse, and the same 
apparatus is equally well adapted to spraying 
an orchard or doing a dozen other kinds of 
work. Yet, if you tell a farmer that it would 
pay him to own a machine for spraying in¬ 
secticides which costs §75, he would, most 
likely, wonder whether you w'ere an escaped 
lunatic. It is so much easier to sit by and let 
a crop go to waste, than to save it, that nine 
out of every ten farmers prefer to let the in¬ 
sects take their own time aud pleasure. I 
have not space to particularize, but it would 
be very easy to do so. 
So far as specially prepared or patent in¬ 
secticides are concerned, 99 out of every 100 
are worthless, or could as well be prepared at 
home. It is not at all probable that artificial 
poisoning will ever exterminate any species, 
though we may prevent their ravages over 
limited areas. wm. b. alwood. 
INSECTICIDES IN VIRGINIA. 
I would suggest as most practicable, 1, 
