New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 243 
the insects of cucurbits this species was of minor importance. It 
occurred in spots in the fields and was usually combated by the 
uprooting and destruction of affected plants at the first appearance 
of infestation. 
IMPORTED CABBAGE BUTTERFLY. 
(Pontia rapae L.) 
- This is the best known cabbage insect and during certain seasons 
is one of the most destructive pests with which our market garden- 
ers have to contend. As early as 1870 it was estimated by a corre- 
spondent of the American Agriculturist that the worm damaged the 
cabbage crop to the value of a million dollars in the vicinity of New 
York city alone, and in 1894, when the Station undertook special 
investigations®> of the cabbage industry, it was thought that the 
losses sustained by truckers on Long Island by this one insect would 
at least approximate or exceed this sum. In sections of the country 
where only one crop of cabbage is raised in a year, the cabbage 
worm is not usually considered a serious pest, but in localities where 
two or three crops are grown every year, as is the case on Long 
Island, this insect is a formidable obstacle to the successful culture 
of this crop. 
Aside from its prolificness another reason for the growing im- 
portance of this insect was the lack of intelligent effort in the use 
of efficient insecticides. Numerous remedies, like lime, salt and de- 
coctions of weeds, etc., were commonly used, all of which possess 
little or no value. Many gardeners were, in place of recognized 
remedies, employing proprietary insecticides which were often un- 
reliable and injurious to the plant. The more successful truckers 
used paris green and london purple in powder form, and while these 
poisons could be depended on.to kill the caterpillars, injuries often 
resulted to the foliage from such use. In the study of the insects of 
the cabbage, it was the endeavor of the Station to ascertain more 
efficient and safer methods of control. 
After conducting several tests with paris green and london purple 
with various diluents, as water, flour, and road dust, which were 
usually employed for this purpose, it was demonstrated that the use 
of arsenicals in liquids was much more effective in controlling the 
caterpillars; and that there was less likelihood of injuries attending 
the applications. It was also shown that neither flour nor road dust 
will prevent free arsenic in paris green or london purple from going 
* Buls. 83 and 144; same in Rpts. 13:737-766 (1894) and 17:389-413 (1898). 
