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tarded, the effectiveness of sodium selenate is 
proportionately reduced. Also, selenation itself 
respresents a considerable shock under the very 
best of conditions. It will usually finish off a 
plant already half-gone. The time to use sodium 
selenate is WHILE THE PLANT IS HEALTHY, 
NOT after the bugs have done their worst with it. 
If it is impractical for you to spray your col- 
lection, and the poisonous aspects of sodium sele- 
nate don’t alarm you (wouldn’t try it if you have 
small children who might get into the dirt in 
your flower pots) treat as follows: %4 level lump- 
free teaspoon of pure sodium selenate powder to 1 
gallon of water. Glass jug is good for this. Mix 
thoroughly. Treat plants at rate of % cup to 
4-inch pot. Important: DO NOT TREAT DRY 
PLANTS. Water the day before treatment. Also 
do not use on old plants. Now this is poison, re- 
member. For Pete’s sake, don’t leave it out on the 
kitchen table. If you don’t find this in small 
quantities at your local seed store, we have small 
vials of it at $1.00. 
Soil sterilization is always something of a pro- 
blem. Baking and steaming often tend to remove 
the “live”, springy quality and leave your potting 
dirt as thick and gooey as clay. We happened on 
an arrangement for soil fumigation which circum- 
vents this problem nicely. Capsules of ethylene 
dibromide which burst in the moist soil and make 
short business of nematodes. Each capsule treats 
about of square foot of potting soil. The only 
catch is that you ought to wait two weeks before 
you use the soil after treatment. We have these 
with complete instructions for using at $1.00 per 
25 capsules. 
If you live in a very humid climate and lose 
many plants from crown rot, it isn’t a bad idea to 
keep a good supply of vermiculite (box 7 x 7 x 14, 
ioc) on hand tor quick re-rooting. The chief ad- 
vantage of vemiculite over sand is that it is sterile, 
making it ideal for use with already sick plants. 
Roots will form a little sooner with vermiculite 
than with sand. Don’t be too reluctant about re- 
rooting plants. We’ve run across more and more 
collectors who resort to “surgery” when their 
plants are suffering from obscure ailments. They 
report excellent results. If you can’t seem to find 
time to pot them up again after the roots have 
formed in the vermiculite that’s all right, too. 
Just remember to feed them with Hyponex water 
or weak manure tea (here we are again) oc- 
casionally. | 
Lady in here the other day said she’d written 
Arthur Godfrey about the tea bags but hadn’t 
heard from him yet. 
Yours, 
oe & 5 
A 
EIN INA ININININININININININININININILINININININININININIRINININ IRIN ICH 

