\ 
450 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Derc., 1897. 
Report on Insecticides Exhibited at the Conference of 
Australasian Fruiterowers, Brisbane, June, 1897. 
Tue following report of the judge of insecticides has been handed to the 
Under Secretary for Agriculture by Mr. William Soutter, Curator of the 
Acclimatisation Society’s Garden :— 
JOHNSTON’S SPECIFIC. 
This specific has a great advantage over the competing compound, in so 
far as it requires no heating to render it soluble. 
EXPERIMENTS. 
1. One application on peach-trees badly affected with Green and Black 
Aphis. The result was completely satisfactory. 
2. One application for White Scale on roses and on the Rubus family made 
a great impression. A second application had the effect of killing nearly every- 
one of these insects. The same result was attained on orange trees after the 
third application. 
3. One application for Fern Weevil and Wire Worm had beneficial 
results, 
4. Red Spider and Thrip readily fall victims to the insecticide. 
5. The Caterpillars, which so badly affect the edible fig, were all killed by 
one spraying of a weak solution. The Beetle, of which the caterpillar is the 
progeny, was also killed by one application of a stronger solution. 
6. Wax Scale.—A considerable amount of attention was directed to this 
pest, and four applications, at intervals, were made. The first spraying had no 
visible effect. The second resulted in the scales (wax) changing colour from a 
rose shade to a dull white. At the third application the whitish appearance 
was intensified. As a result of a fourth spraying, about 80 per cent., at 
present, of the scales are dried up and dead, while the remainder are still alive, 
although not so red in colour as those on plants not sprayed. I believe that 
three or four sprayings during November, December, and January would go 
far towards cleaning trees of the Wax Scale. The result with this scale may 
therefore be said to be fairly satisfactory. 
With flying insects, few opportunities have been afforded during the 
winter to try the effect of the compound. 
The result of the experiments, though spread over a period of nearly six 
months (too short a time to give any insecticide a full trial), has proved that a 
summer trial would, in my opinion, be much more interesting, and give much 
more marked results, as during the summer months most of the insects are 
much more active than during the winter months. 1 place Johnston’s specific 
first, for the following reasons :— 
1, The facility with which it can be mixed ready for use. 
2. The rapidity of its killing action. 
3. The soluble nature of the compound is such that it can be used with 
the fruit spray distributors. ‘ 
DAVEY’S SPECIFIC. 
This, although an excellent insecticide, is too cumbersome in its present 
form to handle; and the necessity of heating the same before mixing, and 
applying it hot to the plants, renders the work too laborious. The nozzle of 
the spraying pump is liable to choke as the compound cools. Get rid of these 
two objections, and Davey’s insecticide might hold its own with most specifics. 
