79 
We should not, however, wait until the plant is large before we 
apply these poisons, but should poison the young plants as soon 
as the small caterpillars appear. The foliage of the cabbage 
being smooth, it is well to add some boiled flour or stale milk to 
the liquid containing the poison, in order to make it stick bet- 
ter to the leaves. By doing this work thoroughly and in sea- 
son we shall be successful, but if we wait until the cabbage- 
head is formed, we must resort to other means. The leaves of 
the cabbage below the head are, of course, not utilized for food 
and even the outer leaves forming the head are thrown away as 
being too tough, and consequently we do not spoil valuable 
material by spraying or dusting it with poison, nor do we en- 
danger human life. When, however, the head has been formed, 
and the caterpillars have entered it, then the application of poi- 
son is dangerous. To kill caterpillars at this late stage is not 
a simple and cheap affair. A numberof patent medicines have 
been freely advertised to destroy cabbage-worms. The slug- 
shot and oxide of silicates are most frequently used. Both do 
good service since they contain, asthe killing agent, Paris- 
green. Yet all such patent medicines are more dangerous and 
expensive than the mixtures made by the cabbage grower him- 
self, since he knows the exact composition of the insecticides. 
If only a comparatively few heads are to be protected, an ap- 
plication of boiling-hot water has been proposed. ‘This seems to 
be a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire, and most 
people seem to think that hot water would kill the plants a lit- 
tle quicker than the worms, yet such is not the case. An ap- 
plication of hot-water will kill all insects but will not kill or in- 
jure the plant. It should be applied as hotas possible with a 
sprinkling-pot. The passage from the sprinkler to the plant 
will cool the water sufficiently to render it incapable of doing 
any permanent injury. Of course this is a remedy which can 
not be applied on a large scale. 
A free use of pyrethrum in the following proportions: one 
part of pyrethrum to three or four parts of flour, is also a very 
good remedy, providing the pyrethrum is not too much adulter- 
ated or otherwise spoiled. The powder should always be kept 
in an air-tight tin box, otherwise its active principle, an essen- 
tial oil, will soon escape. As it is, some of our retail druggists 
expose it in open barrels in their show windows with flaming 
