young, lemon colored thrips may do this 
damage to the bud so it is important to kill 
such adult thrips as may arrive before they 
lay eggs, also because the young have the 
bad habit of staying inside the bud and crev¬ 
ices of the plant where they are hard to reach 
with insecticides. The silvery gray (feeding) 
streaks on the foliage, in badly infested cases, 
turn brown, stopping both plant and bulb 
growth. 
If your first buds have a light infestation 
before you have taken notice, pick blooms 
when first bud opens, bloom indoors and 
when through blooming dip these in kerosene 
and burn. 
In our opinion, thrips come more into the 
open during the hours of 4-5 P.M.. so spray¬ 
ing is most effective if done at that time. 
Spraying but one part of the patch only is 
inadvisable on account of the migratory 
habits of the insect. 
Paris Green formula. Canadian Dept. 
Ent. cut the paris green content of the U. S. 
Dept, formula, thus: 
1 tablespoon Paris Green 
2 lbs. brown sugar 
3 gal. of water 
and now the U. S. Dept, offers the following 
change, not quite so effective as the one above 
but causing less burning of the foliage: sub¬ 
stituting 3 oz. acid lead arsenate for the Paris 
Green. Others have suggested substituting 2 
tablespoons magnesium arsenate. These 
sprays must be kept constantly agitated while 
spraying. None are satisfactory to use after 
blooms have opened here and there in the 
patch on account of the sugar deposit and if 
one of these formulas is used it is desirable to 
plant early and late blooming varieties sep¬ 
arately, so that the spraying schedule, ending 
at bloom time, may be carried out for each. 
Plainly we want an insecticide that will not 
burn the plants and that will act as a “double 
action” insect poison effective on both suck¬ 
ing and leaf eating forms of insects. Rotenone 
in proper concentration, with a spreader 
that will not deteriorate the ingredients, 
is both inexpensive and more effective than 
any other formula that has come to our 
attention. 
We recommend preventative spraying, 
using a somewhat lighter concentration than 
advised for serious infestations. Either about 
once every 10 days after plants are up 6 or 8 
inches until blooming, or else about 4 spray¬ 
ings about 4 days apart beginning about 20 
days before blooming, i.e., about when the 
bud spikes begin to fatten the stalk. If an 
infestation is actually present, use full 
strength concentration. In any event, have 
your insecticide on hand to use if needed. 
ROTOTOX 
The Penetrol spray made with Rotenone, 
containing also Acetone and Ethylene Di¬ 
chloride, in fact a full 90% of active ingred¬ 
ients 
We have been investigating the value of 
the new insecticide called “Rototox” with a 
view to its substitution for all home-made, 
assembled formulas, as a complete spray in 
itself for all general purposes and for gladi¬ 
olus in particular. The results are almost too 
amazing to be readily believed. Let doubters 
try it and be convinced. We have numerous 
reports that its use has been highly satisfac¬ 
tory. Perhaps you have already seen the 
article by Dr. Roark, of the Dept, of Agricul¬ 
ture, who considers Rotenone (derived from 
derris or cube root) one of the most effective 
insecticides available, being fifteen times as 
effective as nicotine and thirty times as 
effective as arsenate of lead. 
Rototox, while so deadly to insects, is 
non-poisonous and perfectly harmless' to 
humans, animals and plants and fruit and 
vegetables sprayed with Rototox may be 
eaten with perfect safety within 24 hrs. after 
spraying. The Rotenone acts as a stomach 
poison to insects as long as it remains on the 
plant, in addition to being a contact insecti¬ 
cide. Penetrol (oxidized petroleum hydro¬ 
carbon, sulfonated) is a carrier, spreader 
and activator. It is neither acid nor alkaline 
nor caustic, so the rotenone is held in perfect 
suspension, without precipitation or disin¬ 
tegration, thus making no disfiguring sedi¬ 
ment to mar or injure the most delicate foli¬ 
age or petals. Therefore, no need of segregat¬ 
ing early and late varieties. It causes the for¬ 
mula to emulsify as readily and completely 
in cold, hard water as in warm, soft water. 
It does not have to be kept agitated and it 
cannot clog the spray nozzle. These are the 
reasons why Penetrol is known as the best 
spreader for carrying the formula into the 
crevices of the plant, an extremely desirable 
feature for the control of thrips. 
At Century of Progress grounds, 1934, there 
was planted four large plots of beds of gladi¬ 
olus by about 20 growers. (We participated). 
Laid end to end there were 6 miles of rows of 
gladiolus. Rototox was used preventatively 
on all these beds with very satisfactory 
results. 
Rototox has already become popular for 
greenhouse use and is cheap enough for use 
on large acreages of gladiolus, dahlias, per¬ 
ennials, evergreens, truck crops, etc. 
We do not stock Rototox. You can get 
what you need promptly (much quicker than 
by asking us to relay your order), postage pre¬ 
paid, from 
The Rototox Co., 
81 East Yale St., 
East Williston, N. Y. 
Their prepaid prices (no doubt subject to 
change) are: 1 oz., 35c; 8 oz., $1.00; 1 pint, 
$1.75; 1 quart, $3.00; )/£ gal., $5.00; 1 gal., 
$10.00; 5 gal. $45.00. 
At the strong concentration for bad infesta¬ 
tions, 1-200, 1 gal. will make 192 gallons of 
spray. At suggested preventative concentra¬ 
tion, 1-400, 1 gal. will make 384 gallons of 
spray. (About 5c or 2)^c per gal., depending 
on concentration needed.) 
