MANGOLD APHIS. 
43 
at once removed by it from the Aphides, and the creatures killed, the 
plants thus getting a few days’ rest before a new attack was set up, 
boiling add paraffin, or any similar mineral oil, and boil for a minute or two longer, 
when the whole will be thoroughly amalgamated, and, if bottled and securely 
corked while warm, it will remain so, and be fit for use at any time when required. 
The strength of the solution of course depends on the amount of mineral oil in it, 
and it can be easily reduced to the proper power by mixing it with soft water as it 
is wanted for use.” 
Mr. Malcolm Dunn gives me the following notes as to the method he finds most 
convenient for mixing the application:—“ In practice I boil the proper proportions 
of soap and water together, and when ready I fill this into ordinary wine-bottles, 
which have been placed in boiling water. The bottles are about half-filled with the 
lye, and then the paraffin is poured into them, tivo gills being put into each bottle. 
The bottles are then filled up with the boiling lye, corked at once, and stored away 
for use. 
“ When required for use a bottle of the mixture is poured into a four-gallon 
watering-pot, which is filled up with soft water, and is ready for use, at a strength 
of one wine-glass of paraffin (half a gill) to one gallon of water.” 
Mr. Dunn further notes that the important point is the proportion of the soap 
and water :—“ Eight parts ivater and one part soft-soap thoroughly amalgamated form 
the lye which takes mineral oil, and thoroughly amalgamates with whatever pro¬ 
portion of this may be added,—that is to say, the paraffin may be put into the 
boiling soap and water in any quantity, and the whole will mix together of an equal 
strength throughout. Heat helps much in quickly producing thorough amalga¬ 
mation of all the ingredients, and hence I have stated that they should be mixed 
in a boiling state. 
“ My object in using common wine-bottles for mixing the lye and paraffin is, for 
one thing, they cost me nothing, and the cost is not heavy in any case; but 
further, by having two gills (four wine-glasses) of paraffin in each bottle the men 
can make no mistake in using it at the proper strength. By using one bottle of the 
mixture (containing four wine-glasses of paraffin) in an ordinary four-gallon can, 
the mixture is at the rate of one wine-glass of paraffin to a gallon of water, and 
so on. 
“Few plants in a green state will stand a strength of four wine-glasses (two 
gills) to the gallon , but at the same time it is not necessary to use it so strong for even 
Scale insects , the most difficult to kill of all ordinary plant-pests. 
“ One wine-glass full of paraffin to a gallon of water is strong enough to kill 
Aphides, and such soft insects; two wine-glasses for Thrips, and three wine-glasses 
for Scale is our ‘ regulation ’ strength. The tender young fronds of ferns and the 
young green growths of most plants will not be safe if over one wine-glass to the gallon 
is used. 
“This mixture is such a safe, cheap, and easily applied remedy for insect-attack 
that a knowledge of it must prove a boon to many who have their crops annually 
destroyed by insects.” 
The above recipe, which has now been in use with success for some years, will 
probably be of service for a large number of attacks on bush-fruit trees (as for 
Gooseberry caterpillars, &c.), and (at least in garden cultivation) for Aphides on 
Cabbage, Carrots, Turnips, &c. ; but I place it under the heading of Mangolds, as 
this is one of the regular field-crops to which paraffin solution has been successfully 
applied in the case of leaf-maggot, and would have been more used but for the 
difficulty of keeping the paraffin permanently mixed.—‘ Eighth Beport on Injurious 
Insects,’ by Editor, pp. 66, 67. 
