How To Destroy
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PRICE 3Q EKITS.
HOW
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jnseersf*
i) V
PLANTS AND FLOWERS
H O W
ESTROY INSECTS,
House-Plants, Flowers, Etc.
IN
WINDOW,
.THE HOUSE.
NEW YORK:
RALPH H. WAGGONER, PUBLISHER,
1892,
Copyright,
*y
HENRY T. WILLIAMS.
INTRODUCTION.;
HAT AILS MY PLANTS? is % a
question asked more than any
other by lovers of flowers and
window-gardening ; while bugs,
beetles, insects, worms, etc.,
l^vW^^^^T lun over their flowers and
^^JA^i' ^ plants, and appear and reap
s> pear so often that the cultiva
tor keeps asking all the year round: "How shall 1
kill these pests?"
To answer thousands of these . questions and help
every one out of their difficulties, this little hand-
book has been prepared, giving directions, short,
sharp, and decisive, how to overcome every insect
enemy that infests flowers and plants out-doors and
4 INTR D UCTION.
in-doors, which troubles window-gardens or plants;
which eats up the vegetables of the garden, which
devours the fruit-trees and shrubs and vines, and
fives in the homes of anxious, tired housekeepers.
And so it is presented to you, reader, as the result
of many thousand experiments and years of experi-
ence, of many cultivators, and in every particular its
directions have been made simple and practical.
PART I.
INSECTS IN THE WINDOW GARDEN.
RED SPIDER.
Water Remedy.
LOOK on the outside of the leaves of your plants
carefully whenever they seem troubled or diseased, and
underneath will be seen from one to an innumerable
number of insects, red spiders, which suck the juices
entirely out of the leaves of the plants upon which they
are allowed to remain.
They increase very fast in a hot, dry atmosphere.
Moisture is sure death to red spider.
The simplest and cheapest possible remedy is clear
water, forcibly applied to the foliage, more particularly
on the under sides, as often as necessary.
Syringe the plants freely in the morning before the
eun shines upon them, and in the evening after the sun
has gone off them.
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
Red Spider on Fuchsias Various Remedies.
Fill a barrel nearly full of water, slake in it about a
quarter of a peck of liuie, and let it stand until perfectly
clear. Hold the plants in the water (bottom up) for
about five or ten minutes, then wash them with pure
water.
Take two ounces of soft soap to one gallon of water
heated to about 140 degrees; dip the plants infested
into it for half a minute ; let them stand until dry, then
4ip a?ain in the mixture at a temperature of about 120
iegrees for a minute.
A little flour of sulphur dusted over and under the
leaves is also efficacious.
The red spider delights in the heat, and the dryer it
is the more it flourishes, and consequently the more
the plants suffer ; and their appearance is attributable
to having been kept in a place too dry and warm.
Separate those that are infected from those not touch-
ed ; do so at once you discover them. They will al-
ways be found on the under side of the leaves.
The plants should be taken from the window to
a place where water can be used freely. Lay each
on its side in the sink, and pour water over and
over upon it, and keep doing so as long as any red
(spiders can be seen. Doing this once or twice a
week thereafter will be a good preventive of their
return.
SOW TO DESTROf IXSSCT&. 7
Carbolic Soap-suds.
Some cultivators have succeeded in ridding their
window-plants entirely, without removal, by frequently
syringing the afflicted plants with carbolic soap-suds.
Hot and Cold Water Turkish Bath.
" I did succeed with the Turkish bath (as I called it)
in exterminating the pest and saving my plant ; but I
have come to this conclusion, that it is only with Gen.
Jackson's " eternal vigilance " that any louse, mealy
bug, aphis, spider, scale, or slug can be persuaded to
leave after it once gains a strong foothold. The bath
was administered in this way : When the thermometer
was several degrees below freezing, I took the plant (a
large scarlet salvia) to the doorstep, laid the pot on its
side carefully, so the soil would not fall out, then took
my sprinkler, full of water, so hot I could not bear my
hand in it, sprinkled it all over the plant ; then used
cold water to sprinkle it ; then set it in a dark cellar
twenty-four hours. This I repeated every few days,
and the object was gained. VIOLET."
THEIPS.
THIS is a very dangerous insect, and not easily dis-
cerned. ^ Is of a blackish color, with rings of a dirty
white color. They are found upon the under side of
the leaves, from which they extract their juice. The
8 SOW TO DESTR T INSECTS.
female, after laying her egg, dies, and becomes covered
with a white woolly substance as a protection to her
eggs.
Tobacco-smoke, if dense enough, will destroy thrips,
but they take more of it than the common green fly.
With only a few plants the trouble is to administer it
thick and long enough. In the greenhouse there is no
trouble, as the house is filled and the smoke left until it
finally disappears.
It probably will be more convenient to give them a
sprinkling or syringing with tobacco-water, made by
putting a few stems or other tobacco into scalding hot
water (enough of the former to make the liquid a light
brown), then add soap enough to make a strong suds.
This will, if administered as directed, finish the pests
in quick order.
THE APHIS, OR GREEN FLY,
Is larger and more easily seen than the red spider.
A good, simple remedy, sufficient for purposes of most
window-gardeners, is as follows :
Take some tobacco, put it in some water, and let it
eoak until it looks like strong tea. The proportions
may be about one-fourth of a pound of tobacco to three
or four quarts of water. This may be applied with a
syringe. A brush or a sponge may be dipped into the
tobacco-water and used to brush them off. Small
plants can be plunged into it, the top downward.
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 9
Doctor the sick plant with sunshine, charcoal, and
good drainage.
The aphis usually attacks those plants in some way
diseased, and when this is the case the plants must be
restored to perfect health again.
To Destroy the Aphia without Tobacco.
If the infested plant is small and short, take three or
four laurel leaves, beat them all over with a hammer so
as to thoroughly bruise them, then place them round
or under the plant, and cover ; a bell-glass does best.
Let all remain closed for a few hours, and the aph-
ides will be found dead, each hanging by its proboscis
only.
If this process is repeated within a day or two to
make sure, the plant will be perfectly freed, and in
some cases is not again attacked.
This way of killing aphides is particularly acceptable
to those who do not like tobacco-smoke; all danger
arising from an overdose of it to a very tender plant is
avoided, and the laurel is so generally grown it must
be almost everywhere near at hand.
Tobacco Powder
is an excellent preparation, and is applied by means
of a puff when the foliage is damp. It may also be p;
plied by a common tin box with a perforated ltd.
The plants infested with the green fly should be dust-
10 BOW TO DESTROT INSEVT8.
ed with the powder hi such a manner that every fly rd
ceives its share. Tlu powder must be washed off again
with the syringe in a^out twenty-four hours after ita
application, to prevent its injuring the foliage.
Quassia Tea.
A good insect remedy may be made by steeping
about two ounces of quassia chips in a gallon of hot
water. This is very destructive to green fly if th
plants are immersed in it.
Geihurt's Compound, an insecticide, is also very use-
ful.
A K*u> Way of Overcoming the Green my in riant-
cases.
" Mvxch the easiest and completes!; way of keeping
these sap-stealing and destructive vermin in check in
crowded plant-cases is to use the fumes of tobacco.
These will penetrate every crevice and reaf > every
hidden aphis without the handling ol a pot or a plant,
requiring only the use of a good syringe to shower anu
fVash the foliage after the fumigation.
" But in a small case it is quite difficult to get up
smoke of sufficient density to be effective, without
evolving a damaging amount of heat from the coals
which it is necessary to use as a few coals will not
sustain fire enough without flame, which is ueadly xo
the plants. And smoke from a fumigating bellow* is
no* sure to reach every insect, but is surf to anno" Jjie
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS, 11
operator and pervade the room with the unpleasant
odors of the burning weed. After two or three victor-
ies, bad as defeats, in campaigning against these ma-
rauders in the recesses of a plant-case, I caught a hap-
py suggestion about ' touch ' which opened the way to
full success by so simple and so beautiful an operation
that I now almost sigh for more aphides to conquer.
" I made some touch-paper by soaking soft, felt-like
wrapping-paper, or the thinner sort of blotting-paper,
in a solution of saltpetre, and then allowing it to dry.
Taking a strip of this, three or four inches wide and
twice as long, strewing shreds of tobacco all over it,
and rolling it up from one end into the shape of a giant
cigar-stump or a tiny roily-poly, I had a quasi-cartridge,
one of which proves sufficient to destroy every aphis in
a 6 by 3 feet window-case. A bit of wire serves to
hold it together and to hang it by. and there is nothing
more to do but to touch it with a light and to close the
window, laying wet strips of paper on the joint, if nec-
essary, to keep all smoke out of the room. The fumes
pour incessantly and copiously from the ends of the
cylinder, rise to the glass, and then fall cool among the
foliage sure asphyxiation to every one of the robbers.
" This is a peculiarly eligible method for a small case ;
but in a large plant-house hot coals can be used in suf-
ficient quantity to maintain dense fumes for half an
hour, if desired, without risk of burning the plants. <
" W,"
12 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
Persian Insect Powder.
A small quantity of this added to a solution of whale-
oil soap and hellebore will destroy the green fly, and
applied with a syringe will keep all rose-bushes free
from insects.
Another Method.
Take two ounces of Persian Insecticide, dissolved in
one-fourth of a pint of spirits and diluted in ten gal-
lons of water. Two or three applications at intervals of
every two or three days will destroy all insects.
Carbolic Soap for Green Fly.
An experiment with this in killing insects on hcuse-
plants was made by an editor of a horticultural jour-
nal, with notes and results as follows :
" The yrcen fly is, as everybody knows, a great pest,
and one not readily destroyed, except by fumigating
with tonacco, not always very agreeable.
" My first experiment with the carbolic soap was a
decided success, operating upon two hundred roses just
in blooii' and it was conducted as follows : Into a pail
of warm water 1 put a inmp of soap the size of a small
hen's egg. The soap was cut r :nto small pieces, and
the water agitated until it was aii dissolved, forming a
warm suds.
" The water should not be tuo hot, but if not above
^20 or thereabouts it will do no ham). Into this suds
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 13
each rose-bush was plunged (holding the pot inverted
in the hand), and kept there about a half-minute.
After plunging, the plants were set aside for a few
minutes, then dipped in the same way into clean water,
shaking them about thoroughly, washing the leaves, and
then returned to their former place in the house.
" Whether it was the soap or the warm water that
killed the green fly I will not say, but there is one
thing certain they are all dead."
Hot Water
will destroy aphis instantly, without injury to the
plant, if not too hot.
The maximum temperature may be as high as 156
Fahrenheit without any tear whatever, excepting upon
very tender plants.
As a general rule, moisture is death to insects which
infest conservatory and window plants.
While using hot water invert the pot, and hold the
earth from falling out with both hands under it, anci
dip the whole of the top of the plant into water heated
as high as 150.
lobacco-smotoe
is a certain cure. Put in a common flower-pot sau-
cer a few shavings ; on these, after you have set fire to
them, a small handful of tobacco-stems or leaves pr-
viously dampened ; place it close to the plant, in a
14 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
room not in use ; cover the plant and saucer of tobacco
with a cone made of newspaper, and smoke for fifteen
or twenty minutes or less it depends on the insects
and the size of the plant. If any of the aphis are found
lying on the earth of the pot, they should be removed
and destroyed, or they will recover and return to their
former haunts.
Fumigating.
The following device, BO far as the production of
smoke is concerned, is very satisfactory.
A common tin box, such as dry mustard is sold in, is
taken to the tinman, who cuts a hole about half an
inch across in the bottom, and solders on a tapering
tnbe something like the nozzle of an oil-can. In the
cover of the box he cuts another hole, and solders on a
tube flaring slightly outward, of a size to fit over the
nozzle of a pair of bellows.
TLe whole machine looks like one of the affairs which
dealors in magic cockroach-powders sell for the purpose
01 mowing the powder into cracks and crannies. The
box is filled with tobacco, and a live coal inserted just
under the cover. The tube is then placed on the bel-
lows and the latter put in operation. The result will
be a smoke such as no respectable insect will endure
for a moment. ,
Frame of Glazed Cloth. It is quite practicable to
emoke plants, both in doors and out, by using a light
SOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 15
frame covered with glazed cloth or other reasonable
smoke-proof material. This is made large enough to
put bodily over the bush. The nozzle of the smoke-
bellows may then be introduced through a suitable
aperture, and in a few minutes, or seconds, the smoke
inside will be almost thick enough to cut with a knife.
Cloth Eoll. " My way of fumigating plants with
tobacco is to take a long, narrow strip of cloth and
spread it out ; sprinkle tobacco the whole length, then
roll tightly, place on a stove-cover or an old plate under
the flower-stand, light the roll, and close all doors. It
generally proves effectual. M. C. A."
Tobacco in Small Dish. " Put coarse stems, smok-
mg-tobacoo, or cigar-ends on coals in a small dish, and
hold it under the plants, over which a. newspaper should
be thrown tc confine the smoke among them until the
lice are stupefied ; then shake the plants thoroughly,
and sweep away all the insects which fall from them.
After that sprinkle them thoroughly, taking care to
wet the leaves below as well as above."
Another Wait of Fumigating. A gardener in the
Hull Botanical Garden of London adopts this method
to clean green flies that infest his house-plants :
" Lay the plant on its side in a wash-tub, throw over
it a damp towel, or, better, a bit of glazed calico lining*
and then, through an opening at the bottom, have your
husband insert the end of a pipe, and through it IML
him blow tobacco-smoke until the plant gets a goof
16 MOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
fumigation. The flies will be found at the bottom of
the tub when the operation is finished.
" The pHnts should be perfectly dry when the opera-
tion is pert.'*i (fled, "but, if a towel is used, it should be
freshly washed and wrung out before using, and be
without holes. The p^pe-stem should reach to the bot-
tom of the tub.
" Be careful when a number of plants are in flower
in a greenhouse or conservatory; tobacco-smoke will
spoil the flowers."
Other Ways of Fumigation. Place the plants under
a barrel, together with a dish of burning tobacco-stems
and leaves, and the smoking will be effectual, closing
the career of aphis, mealy lug, green fly, and brown
scale.
The smoke will be strong enough to suffocate human
beings; and the plants even, on being confined in it for
an hour, will look pitiful enough, but washing with
clean water will enliven them quickly.
Submerging. Another cultivator prepares a quantity
of warm suds in a large, deep vessel, a bathing-tub or
something similar, then covers the surface of the soil in
the pot with a circular piece of pasteboard fastened on
with a stout cloth bandage to prevent dislodgment of
the soil by the water, and lays the pot lengthwise
therein. Every part of the plant must be completely
submerged and remain thus half an hour. Except in
the worst cases this effects a cure.
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. ' 17
THE MEALY BUG.
THE mealy bug is a very annoying iusect ; it ap-
pears like a white mealy spot, iut more tlua one-third
as large as a lady-bug, and ir'Jests the wotchets of
smooth-barked plants, and also gets into -,he cracks of
*ae bark of rough- barked plants; here it hatches its
nesta of young ones. The best way to destroy it is to
brush the stems with an old tooth-brush dipped into
'he strongest soap-suds you can make, with a little
soot added to the water, and then give the plants a
good sprinkling ; it can be scraped off with the finger-
nails, but the process is not an agreeable one.
S. 0. J.
Let it once get a foothold, and it is very difficult to
get rid of it.
They can also be kept down by frequent syringing
with warm, greasy water, to which a little sulphur
should be added ; but if full-grown, they should be
picked off by the hand or a small, sharp-pointed stick.
Alcohol is sure death to the mealy bug. It can be
removed from thousands of the most delicate plants,
without a particle of injury, by simply applying fre-
quently, for a few weeks, alcohol diluted with fi-jo per
tent, of water.
The most convenient way to use it is by a fine brujh
put through the cork of a wide-mouthed bottle.
Kerosene may sometimes be used, as appears by the
i8 ' HOW TO DESTROY INSECT&,
testimony of an Illinois window -gardener : " For more
than a year 1 have used kerosene to destroy mealy bug
and scale louse, and have found it a most convenient
and effectual remedy. I apply it to the backs of the
insects with a feather and brush lightly around the
axils of the leaves infected, und I have not found any
injurious effects of its use upon the most tender
plants."
Powdered white Jtellebore and whale-oil soap, dis-
solved and sprinkled through any sprinkler, will do the
work effectually.
THE SCALE.
THE scale or shield louse is a very troublesome peet.
While young they move about freely, but as they get
older they fix themselves permanently upon the under-
side of the leaves or stems, and by a secretion from the
body a scale is produced, under the cover of which the
insect lives, lays its eggs, and multiplies. These scales
are found more particularly upon oleanders, azaleas,
camellias, pine-apples, roses, cactus, .palms.
The most effectual remedy is to wash and sprinkle
the plant with a solution of Persian Insecticide or Gir-
kurt Compound.
Hub the infected parts with the hand, or pick or
scrape them off. Dip twice as many times as for the
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 19
Aid spider, in solutions specially intended for that in
ject, particularly that of soft soap.
Wkiie hellebore and soap will clear this pest. One
application, if thorough, will be sufficient, although a
second application twc or three weeks after may be
necessary to dispose of a new generation.
SLUGS ON BEGONIAS.
SLUGS are occasionally seen eating large holes or
aotches in the leaves of all succulents and begonias,
iaaking them unsalable and unsightly. They usually
feed during the night.
The best mode of ridding the house of these is to cut
potatoes, turnips, or some other fleshy vegetable in
halves, when they will gather upon them and are easily
destroyed.
BLACK ANTS ON PEONIES.
SPRINKLE guano on them or around their haunts.
WOOD-LICE.
WASH olf with strong scap-suds. or use a tooth-brust
fith bristles cut short, >r dip a iine brush in kerosene or
alcohol and touch them.
20 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
WHITE WORMS.
THESE white worms, which inlVst occasionally all
soils where plants are kept in pots, may be removed as
follows :
Lime-water may be sprinkled over the soil, or a lit-
tle slaked lime may be sprinkled also on the earth
and in the saucer of the pot.
Lime-water may easily be made by slaking a large
piece of lime in a pail of cold water, letting it settle,
and then bottling for use. Give each pot a tablespoon-
ful twice a week.
EARTH-WORMS IN THE SOU. OP POTS
OR LAWN.
a. TAKE corrosive sublimate, one ounce; common
salt, one tablespoonful ; boiling water, one pint. Stir
till dissolved. Pour the mixture into nine gallons of
rain-water, and water the lawn or the soil in flower-
pots wherever the worms are to be found.
lAme-ivater for Worms.
b. A cultivator says : " I have always had good sue
ress by using lime-water in the proportion of one pound
of lime to four gallons of water. Let it stand over
night till perfectly clear ; wet the eartli but not the
plant. I have never needed to sse it more than *,\vice,
and seldom but once."
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 21
For small quantities, dissolve a lump of unslacked
lime, as large as an English walnut, to a quart of water.
o. Another preparation, very good, is one ounce of
pulverized carbonate of ammonia to one gallon of
water.
d. Small bits of camphor, dug in the earth among the
roots of pot-plants, will effectually destroy earth-worms.
Has proved a complete success in many trials.
e. Take a turnip, cut in pieces, and place on the earth
at night; in the morning the worms will be at break-
fast on the turnip. Remove and kill.
/. Baking the earth in an oven will kill all animal or
insect life if other remedies prove unsuccessful. This
never fails, while with liquid remedies some will be
successful, others unfortunate.
One cultivator observed that in baking the earth it
burnt a little, and she noticed that her plants never
did better ; the petunias and pelargoniums that had
been repotted in it were splendid in growth and per-
fectly gorgeous in color.
g. Repot plants in fresh soil, if you do not wish to take
the trouble of other methods of destroying the worms.
h. An English lady flower-lover found that the water
the family potatoes were boiled in was a sure cure for
worms; put it cold or warm on the earth. It is a very
simple remedy, and others have tried it with success.
*'. Sprinkle wood-ashes over the tops of the crocks,
and also over the surface of the earth.
88 HOW TO DESTROY INSKCTS.
j. Put your plants into saucers filled with boiling hot
water j the heat will cause the tiny rnites to ascend to
the surface ; then pour warm water upon the soil, wash-
ing off every worm you can see by holding the pot so
as to let them run off. Now scatter red pepper thickly
aver the surface, and the worms will not trouble you
much.
Worms in, Pots.
a. A lady cultivator has destroyed these by weaken-
ing ammonia with water and pouring around the roots of
the plants. Put one ounce of ammonia into one gallon
of warm water, and water the plants with it once a
week ; they will be free from the worms and be beautiful
add green.
6. A successful way is to remove the plant, wash ita
Toots in warm water ; let it remain in water till the pot
is refilled with earth well heated, so as to kill all the
worms or eggs that may be laid within the soil. Wash
the pot in water warm enough to kill all that may ad-
here to it.
?. Take fine-cut tobacco, sp ^ad a thin layer on toj.
cf the earth around the plant when the earth is dry.
then water freely j repeat if needed and first applicatioj
i not thorough.
d. Pov.r a solution of tannic acid around the plant
md the worms will be brought to the surface, when th*v
* be easily destrovfld.
HOW TO DESTROY M SECTS. 2>
Worms in Flower-pots.
A cultivator, who had tried salt and lime-water on
pot-plaiits and soil to rid them of the worms, at last
tried another method.
Hot water was turned into the saucers of the pots,
and warm wood-ashes spread ovei the surface of the
earth and dug in with a hair-pin. The insects were
driven away, and the potash was good for the plants.
Wire- Worms.
Rape-cake placed about an inch underground will
attract them, and, burying themselves in it, .hey are
easily taken out. This is more effectual to attract them
than potato.
Wire- Worms in, Pots.
To kill wire-worms in pots use salt, sprinkled over
the soil, or a diluted solution, not strong.
The most effectual way, however, is to turn the
plants out of the pots and search for the worms.
GRUBS IN POTS.
The best way of dealing with soil infected with grub,
is to expose it to a fierce heat before using it. For
example, it may be put in the oven for a few hours.
Most preparations of a liquid nature, if strong enough
84 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
to kill the worms, are also strong enough to do damage
to the roots of tender plants.
An always safe way is to turn the plants out of the
pots and search for the worms, and replace the ball in
the pot again.
OLEANDER BUGS.
To destroy the little bugs that come on the oleander
take a piece of lime the size of a hen's egg and dissolve
it in about two quarts of water, and wash the stock aud
branches of the tree.
PLANT-LICE.
Take three and a half ounces quassia chips ; add fiv
drachms Stavesacre seeds, in powder ; place in seven
pints of water, and boil down to five pints. When
cooled the strained liquid is ready for use, either in a
watering-pot or syringe.
To Kill Green Lice on Flowers,
Take wood-soot or coal-ashes; where the soot has
burnt in the chimney, sprinkle on before a rain, make o,
tea of it, and water them.
This was tried for three years in a window garden
of tvv ? hundred plants, and with great success.
HOW TO DESTROY jWSECTS. 2
PLIES.
Flies do not in general injure house-plants, but any
fly, friendly or deadly, may be removed by liberally
sprinkling weakened ammonia-water.
SNAILS.
Snails are sometimes met with. A little air-slacked
lime thrown on t^, places they infest is the best pre-
ventive against their ravages.
Snails and Ants in Ferneries.
Cut potatoes or yellow turnips in halves, scoop out
the pieces, and lay them in the fernery The slugs and
nails will go to them, and are easily caught.
Sorinkle a little fine sugar through a dry, coarse
sponge ; the ants will go into the sponge, and are easily
destroyed by putting the sponge in hot water.
SCALE ON IVY.
Scrape off the scale with a fine knife, being careful
not to wound the bark of the plant. This is the tmly
efficacious thing, as even a faithful washing with a stiff
brush and water will not answer.
36 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
INSECT ENEMIES OP THE HOSE.
Rose-slugs,
The body of the slug is about one quarter of an naet\
long, green and soft like jelly. Slugs eat the upper sm
face of the leaf, leaving the veins and skin underneati
untouched.
They are most troublesome in June, and frequer>tl
reappear in August.
They increase very rapidly, and will destroy the
foliage of the largest bushes in a few hours.
The following are remedies used by various florists ?
a. Take white hellebore powder, mix with water, and
sprinkle over them.
b. Dust the plants thoroughly with powdered lime,
plaster-of-paris, or ashes.
c. Even road dust may 'be used instead of lime, and
be as efficacious ; repeat vigorously as often as may be
required.
d. Sprinkle the plants thoroughly with a strong suds
made of soft soap.
e. Whale-oil soap, whenever it can be obtained, /
the best of special insecticides. It is a powerful enemy
of all insect life, and is now for sale rji all agricultural
stores. Use one pound dissolved in eight gallons of
water, or a quarter of a pound t j two pails of water;
applied by means of a syringe every evening for a
week, it effectually destroys all trac of the nuisance.
HOW TO DESTR Y INSECTS. 2?
/. Another useful article for the destruction of rose-
, arid other insect enemies of the rose or other
garden plants, is found in the Persian Powder, sold by
most florists.
The powder should be applied three times to the rose-
oushes before the buds appear, for after the buds have
grown the powder mars the bud and the leaves.
g. Sprinkle sulphur on the rose-bushes early, when
the dew is on.
h. Paris green. A correspondent of the Floral
Cabinet used this remedy for two years with the best
success. " A small tablespoouful was mixed in a pail-
ful of water, and applied with a garden water-pot. If
used when the slugs first make their appearance, they
can be wholly exterminated before flowers or foliage
are at all injured. Last year we applied it to some
very choice roses, and in twenty-four hours after not a
dug could be found."
t. Take one ounce of carbonate of ammonia, dissolv-
ed in a pailful of water, and then sprinkle the plants.
Hose-bugs.
A very determined and obstinate enemy. It comes
svithout premonition, fliej directly into the fresh-open-
ing bud, and burrows a home in the middle of the blos-
soms of your most beautiful and carefully cherished
Soral treasure, and is as voracious as A .vbacco-worra.
38 &OW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
None cf the usual insect enemies conquer him, so 'the
war must be waged by hand.
Hand-picking is the only efficacious remedy. This
IA slow but sure. Begin early in the morning ; pick or
brush them into a vessel containing boiling water, after
which gather them together and burn them.
Jur-slacked lime scattered over the bushes wnile
wei with dew in the early morning is usually a suffi-
cient protection from them.
Red Spider.
This appears more oiten on window plants than
those out of doors. It is difficult to see when it first
appears, unless it is in considerable numbers, and may
be detected by the browned or deadened appearance
of the leaves.
M MS tare is sure death to it.
Sprinkle or wash with water frequently. If thj
plants are badly attacked, sponge the under side of the
leaves daily.
Green Fly.
If the aphis or green fly attack roses, an application
of tobacco-water will usually make an end of them, or
finely-powdered tobacco may be sprinkled on them from
an old pepper-box.
The green fly attacks the young shoots, and will first
be found at tha extremities of the branches. It feeds
TO DESTROY INSECTS. 29
3b the juicea of the plant, arid will soon sicken and
starve a whole bush.
The usual application of tobacco-smoke for half an
hour under a barrel will always kill them completely.
Mildew on Roses.
This is manifested by a whitish-looking mould 01
dust on the plants.
If plants are growing out of doors, stir the soil fre-
quently. If plants are growing in doors, sprinkle a
fine dusting of flour of sulphur over the whole plant.
In general sulphur will prove a good antidote to mildew
on any plant.
The Yellows.
If the leaves of your rose-bush turn yellow from
any cause, and it looks unhealthy, take up in the
morning, put in milk-warm water, and carefully wash
the roots j this will be found very beneficial ; it should
remain in water, sufficient to cover the roots, until
evening, and, after mellowing the soil, again set it out ,
shield from the sun a few days.
A weak decoction of soot-water is excellent ; but ii
must be applied very weak and not too frequently.
JParis Green.
& remedy is used by some with great care, as follows,
for all insect enemies of all plaits :
Mix paris green and water in the proportion of nov
30 HOW TO DESTROY TN8EOTB.
ounce to three gallons of water. Sprinkle over the
plants with a small broom.
It is sure destruction to all insects that eat leaves,
but it is a question whether it is not so dangerous aa
to be needful of great care to handle with safety, aa it
ia poisonous also to human beings. Keep the mixture
?yell stirred, as the green settles rapidly.
Scotch Snuff.
A lady who generally keeps off all her insects by
frequent sprinkling says : " Where any do dare to in-
trude, they get Scotch snuff to the right of them, Scotch
snuff to the left of them, and Scotch snuff all around
them, till the air, to them, is thick with Scotch snuff,
and they probably end their existence by sneezing their
little heads off. This I allow to remain a day or two
before sprinkling again."
Jtose-grubg.
It there are any grubs in stems of roses run a fine
wire into their holes and kill them.
Hose-sluys.
Add a teaspoonful of powdered white hellebore to
two gallons of boiling water. Apply, when cold, in a
fine spray, bending the tops over so as to reach the
under surface of the leaves. One application is usually
sufficient.
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 31
. Rose-slugs Wood-ashes,
An experienced cultivator, after trying picking off
the slugs by hand and burning them, also various
remedies, such as hellebore, pans green, etc., with in-
different success, at last found nothing that ivould so
thoroughly destroy rose-slugs as wood-ashes.
The ashes must be sifted on early in the morning,
while the leaves are damp, the branches being turned
over carefully, so that the under sides of the leaves, to
which the young again.
"On taking my plants to the kitchen a few days
since for their weekly ablutions, I discovered a fine
bouvardia literally alive with these disagreeable crea-
tures. Now, in previous years I have succeeded in
destroying the insect with tobacco, applied variously,
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 47
but then the plants died also ; so I concluded to prepare
some strong soap-suds ; then I thoroughly washed the
leaves with a cloth and plunged the entire plant under
water. At night I again examined my plant, and lo !
it was as thickly covered as before ; indeed, I believe
the insects enjoyed a good bath, and perhaps considered
it a special preservative treatment administered for their
own benefit. I became so much interested in this
amphibious creature that I concluded to examine it
under the microscope. I gently raised one of them on
the end of my finger and placed it under the glass,
when oh ! horrible, it changed from an inoffensive green
mite to a creature the size of a toad, with two most vil-
lanous, opaque-looking eyes prominent on each side of
its head, resembling very much the toad's, but its body
was beautifully marked with dark rings. On each side
were attached three legs, which were jointed and fur-
nished at the end with two claws, giving the foot the
shape of a hook. From each side of its head appeared
two long propellers (thus I term them, for they seemed
to be used in guiding the body). In the rear were two
more I might say legs, but they were stiff and only
half the length of the legs, so I concluded they were in
some manner connected with the proper engineering of
the body.
" The creature seemed frightful ; my inclination was
to take him up with the tongs and drop him out of the
window, but there was my poor plant covered with
48 HOW TO DESTKOY INSECTS.
these vegetable vampires, aud how was I to destroy
them and at the same time not sacrifice my plant ?
" A friend of mine tells me she kills them one by one,
but oh ! how slow."
Mealy-bugs.
SCENE A CONSEBVATOBT.
Spectators ensconced in dark corners of the cobweb
galleries plotting the destruction of some poor fly.
Also, parties of aphis are present, more intent upon
chewing geranium leaves than upon witnessing the per-
formances. There may be a toad or two in the pit, but
if so they were not sufficiently awake to cheer. Pussj
stood in the door winking and purring in anticipation
of a good fee in -catnip from a pot, in one corner.
The performances commenced with the Mealy-bug
March, closing with a tragedy, accompanied with the
Dead March in Saul.
The instruments used were a tooth-brush and small
syringe, winding up with a grand nourish from the
watering-pot.
Let me describe, not introduce, to you this same
mealy-bug. It is by no means an ugly-looking insect.
They remind me of guinea-pigs, oval in form, in color
white, a silvery white, with sometimes a bufl or a pink
tinge, as if the pink were seen through gauze, reminding
one of those pretty white shells with pink lining. They
are disgusting creatures to kill, and are very trouble-
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 4:9
some on some plants, particularly on bouvardias. I
have been fighting them on an ivy geranium for the
past two years. They move so unwillingly it is a mys-
tery to me how they get from one plant to another.
The Mealy-bug March is a very slow inarch. I wish to
put you on your guard against them. I had frequently
read of them, but did not make their acquaintance until
about three years ago. At that time I received from a
greenhouse two plants of bas'ella rubra, in fine condition
apparently. Not suspecting mischief, and being busy,
I merely watered the plants when necessary for some
little time ; but alas ! one day, on close examination, 1
found the stems covered with white insects. I find
them on the stems of plants, in the axils of the leaves,
on the under and sometimes on the upper sides of the
leaves. They infest bouvardias, coleus, cissus, discolor,
and one of my ivy geraniums. I cannot smoke them,
and I do not like to use tobacco soap or water, as I
think it poisons me, so I persevere in washing and
brushing. The best way to do is to " look out for the
engine before it comes." Sometimes they are not
larger than a small pin-head, and sometimes are half as
large as a water- bug. Look out for all little white
specks on your plants, for they often contain the germ
of a troublesome insect.
If a plant from a greenhouse looks fresh and flourish-
ing, do not take it for granted that it is going to be free
from insects, but examine it daily, and do not complain
50 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
of the florist who has sold you the plant, for if you can-
not keep half a dozen plants free from vermin how can
you expect him to do so with hundreds ?
MAY'S MIGNONETTE.
Potash for Ants, etc.
A lady troubled with ants and other insects says :
" Use from one-half to one ounce of potash in a pail
of water, and give the insects a shower-bath, and they
will go without even saying good-by.
" Near plants and roots I do not like to use this alkali,
neither do I like to destroy ants, as they are good
hunters after still worse insects. Then I use red pepper,
and create a flight that leaves not a soul behind.
" For or against rats, mice, moles, etc., I also use a
paste of potash, and put some of it in their holes or run-
ways where they have to walk. For cleaning trees,
shrubs, etc., I use soft-soap mixed with some potash and
water, and, with a garden syringe, a good washing
cleans every tree, shrub, and plant."
Red Pepper.
A friend has tried red pepper with good results, dust-
ing it over the surface of the soil, and also upon the
leaves and branches of plants infested with green spiders
and green flies. The pepper does not seem to injure
the plants, but in a day or two they should be placed in
a tub and receive a good showering of warm water.
In using red pepper it must not be put cu by the teaT
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 51
spoonful, but only dusted over the surface through a
pepper caster.
A Stimulating liquid.
" I am using a stimulating liquid composed of sul-
phate of ammonia, four ounces ; nitrate of potash, two
ounces ; add to them one pint of boiling water -, when
thoroughly dissolved, cork tightly, and put a teaspoon-
ful of it to every three quarts of warmish water used in
watering. A few drops of it added to the water in
hyacinth-glasses will stimulate the bulbs to much finer
growth and blossoms. This liquid seems to be obnox-
ious to the small white worms. C. .G."
Sulphur.
" I used sulphur on my rose-bushes early in the
spring; sprinkled them when the dew was on. It de-
stroyed the insects on the foliage ; they bloomed beauti-
fully. I tried it on a Jerusalem cherry-tree, for green
lice, with good success. Quassia-bark tea is excellent
for the same purpose/'
JAcf. on Rose-bushes.
"A good way to kill lice on rose-bushes is to take a
piece of whale-oil soap about the size of an egg to a
gallon of hot water (it dissolves better in hot) ; then
apply with watering-pot or syringe ; let it remain on
the bushes about ten minutes, then wash off with clear
water (for young bushes and for the new foliage make
52 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
the solution half as strong) ; repeat about twice during
the spring, and you will have fine roses."
Quassia for Jtose-bugs, etc.
" The Illinois Horticultural Society recommend quas-
sia as the best medicine for the insects that mutilate
rose-bushes and many other garden shrubs. Make a
strong tea of quassia- bark it costs ten or twelve cents
a pound wholesale and drench the bushes. The little
pests will not fancy the taste any better than sick chil-
dren do."
Mose-slug,
" I have tried many remedies (so called) without ef-
fect, but for the last two summers I have kept my roses
clear of them by the following wash : Two ounces
alum, one ounce hellebore, to one gallon water, applied
with a Byringe, once a week, during the season of the
slugs, commencing when the leaves begin to appear.
" MRS. J. C. O."
" Get white hellebore, one ounce, and dissolve in a
pailful of soft, cold water, the colder the better. Take
it on a sunny morning after the dew is entirely dried
off, put the mixture in a watering-pot, and give the
bushes a good showering, throwing it up under the
leaves as much as possible, wetting them all over thor-
oughly. It will not harm the bushes or roses in the
least ; but, I assure you, the worm that gets his share
of the dose will eat rose-leaves no more for ever. Please
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 53
tell the ladies of this, that they may save those beauti-
ful roses. MRS. H. F. W."
The Practical Farmer says : " We absolutely know,
and have proved, that carbolic acid soap-suds, injected
over the bush through a common syringe, is an effec-
tual cure for the. rose-slugs, and also death to cater-
pillars."'
White Hellebore " If your readers have been troubled
as I have been with the small slug which destroys the
leaves of the roses, they will be glad to know that a
decoction of white hellebore, sprinkled over the bushes
twice, is a successful remedy. I take a quarter of a
pound and steep it in a gallon of water, and when cold
apply with a whisk-brush. My rose-bushes are looking
finelv where the application wa- u nade, while others are
nearly mined.''
Insects on Rose-bushes Kennedy.
' I know one really safe and sure remedy to rid out-
door and indoor rose-bushes of insects of all kinds. It is
this : A sufficient quantity of blood-warm water made
into suds with common soft or hard soap. Wash the
foliage and branches thoroughly, allowing enough
drainage through the roots to destroy all insects upon
the surface or within the soil, and then carefully rinse
the foliage, branches, and roots with blood-warm, clear
water. Give pure air, warmth, and light. This is sure
and sate. AMI."
54 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
Salt for Jtosr*.
" I saw an account in a paper about three years ago
f the success of the Shakers at New Lebanon, N. Y.,
in raising fine foliage and flowers. This the brother in
charge attributed to the free use of salt as a top-dressing
for the soil of the beds. The salt kills rose insects of
every kind, and also improves the health and vigor of the
plants. I had been unable, previous to seeing this ac-
count, to have a single perfect flower, and as I thought
that salt could do no worse than slugs did, I would try
it. So to about half a dozen bushes I used a quart of
rock-salt, worked into the dirt about three or four
inches from the body of the bushes. This was done as
soon as I could work the ground in the spring. I had
some nice roses, and my bushes grew nearly a, foot
higher than they ever had before. The next spring I
did not work in the salt until the bushes had begun to
leave out. This did not prove as successful as the year
before ; so I think, in order to prevent the ravages of the
slug, you must work in the salt as early in the spring as
possible, BO as to hinder the insect from hatching.
"A. C. F.
SPECIAL FERTILIZERS, WASHES, AND
STIMULANTS
For Flowers and. House- Plants.
The following has been used with good success in the
health of greenhouse plants and out-of-door shrubs and
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 55
trees, as well as indoor plants, in preserving in good
health from mildew, scale, red spider, etc.;
Flour of sulphur, two ounces, worked to- a paste vrith
a little water ; sal- soda, two ounces ; cut tobacco, half
an ounce ; quicklime, the size of a duck's egg ; water,
one gallon! Boil together and stir for fifteen minutes,
and let cool and settle. In using, dilute lightly if plants
are tough and hard woods, but dilute much if plants
are tender, and then syringe with water after each ap-
plication.
A. Good Wash and Preventive of Insects.
A lady thus describes how she prevents insects from
troubling her plants :
" I take one ounce of carbonate ot ammonia and a
half ounce of sulphuric acid, and mix together (which
forms the same as sulphate of ammonia), to which I
add one drachm of creosote, and put all into two-gallons
o.'.' rain-water. I then pour into each pot about a gil 1
once a month. This keeps the insects from the roots,
besides being a good manure. Once or twice a week I
give the plants a thorough drenching with lukewarm
water, which keeps them from the leaves, besides wash-
ing the dust off the leaves, which is sure to accumulate
on all plants kept in the house/'
.. " I read so much about carbonate of ammonia in the
Cabinet that I procured some and went to showering
my plants with it. I can testify that it is not over-
56 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
rated. My plants, after the first bath, showed its good
effects. It causes them to look so healthy, and gives
them such a lovely green, I would not do without it.
Then its good effects do not end here. You may talk
about water and cleanliness to keep off the green lice.
I have watered, and brushed, and sponged, but they
only seemed to come the more, until I commenced
showering them with carbonate of ammonia in the
water; then they disappeared, and their hateful
presence torments me no more."
Epsom, Salts
have been used by some amateurs with good success
iu ridding their plants of insects. Dissolve in water
and sprinkle both leaves and soil.
flaster-of- Paris.
The green slug, or rose-leaf-eater, has often been
conquered by dusting the bush freely with plaster-oj'-
paris early in the morning before sunrise, when the
insect is freely at work, and when the foliage is wet
with dew to mingle and hold the plaster.
Water slightly sprinkled with coal-oil (to give it an
odor only) may be used directly on the leaves when
bugs or worms are found.
PART II.
INSECTS IN THE GARDEN.
SLUGS.
Penr-sluffs.
THIS insect, wnich plays such sad havoc wivh pear-
rees, and sometimes vrith the foliage of plum and
cherry-trees, is destroyed in a variety of ways :
* 1. By taking shovels, and shovelling up the Jignt
urfco&-dtut of the soil around the tree, and throwing'
up into the air over the tree, so that in falling it Avill
fall on the upper side of all the leaves of every ^ree
where the slug is eating. The dust falling upon the
slugs stop'" all their pores and breathing apparatus, and
in a lew minutes or hours they will curl up and fall off
dead.
Any description of fine di.st, lime, or powder thrown
over them is sure death. The surface-d'ist of th.
earth is the ch^iest, speediest, nod most efficacious
Temedy knowt>
58 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
There must be no delay the moment the slugs are
seen ; a single day may be enough for the slugs to do
incalculable damage, as if any leaves are eaten off a
tree it is injured and the next crop is practically
ruined.
2. Frequent applications of a mixture of lime, soot,
and soap-suds may be made over the trees by means
of a garden syringe.
The mixture is made by adding to twelve gallons of
cold water one bushel of soot and half a peck ot un-
slacked lime, allowing it to stand one day to settle,
after which is added one pound of soft soap dissolved in
warm water.
Slugs on Currants.
* Take whale-oil soap, a solution of one pound to five
gallons of water ; sprinkle over the leaves from a
watering-pot with a fine hose.
Slugs on, Cabbages.
Quicklime dusted on the ground in early morning is
a good remedy, but to be effectual it ought to be
repeated within an hour, because ths slugs have the
power of casting their skins, and, after getting rid of the
lime, will seek shelter.
Slugs on Cherries* years, etc.
Take dust, even road-dust or surface-dust of the
garden, and throw over the leaves where the slug is eat-
ROW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 59
ing, and it will adhere to the slimy surface of the insect
and choke him, so that he will fall off and die.
All slugs of a slimy nature are killed with dust or oil.
Pear-sluy.
Destroy with lime, road- dust, and solution of white
hellebore, quassia, Paris green with water, whale-oil
soap, carbolic acid, or coal-oil.
Apply the last very weak or trees will be injured.
The Plum-slug.
Dust the leaves wiieu damp, for several days in suc-
cession, either with ashes or road-dust. Another me-
thod will be to syringe the trees with suds made of
whale-oil soap, two pounds to fifteen gallons of water ;
this has usually proved very sure.
Dusting with white hellebore will kill more surely
than either of the other remedies, but is more costly.
Slugs in the Garden.
Gas-tar water, diluted to the color of weak coffee, ia
an excellent preventive to the ravages of slugs on all
garden crops. Apply by night from an ordinary water-
ing-pot, and half the slugs will be killed and the rest
much weakened. A second dose after an interval of u .
week is sufficient to banish them altogether. Slugs may
be collected by a little bran placed under some cab-
bage-leaves, or pieces of bark with the hollow side down,
which is also a good trap for wood-lice.
60 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
Slugs on Jessamines.
Lay cabbage-leaves around the plant; the slugs will
go under them, and can be easity caught and destroyed.
Raw potatoes hollowed out serve the same purpose.
CATEEPILLARS.
Caterpillars on Berry-bushes or Shrubbery.
Where berry-bushes or shrubbery or young trees are
attacked by caterpillars, two dustings of fresh lime
over them in the morning, while the leaves are wet
with the dew, will kill them all. It will do the same
with large trees that are infested, but it is difficult to
dust them all over.
Caterpillars on Cabboyes.
The fronds of the common bracken (Pteris aquilina)
will drive away the caterpillar. Upon a trial of this by
* *end, in less than an hour after the bracken fromla
were laid on not a caterpillar was to be seeu. Elder
leaves are said to be equally efficacious.
Caterpillars on Z,aivn or Shade Trees.
Daub the stems of the young trees near the leaves
with coal-tar every two years. The coal-tar is laid on
in a narrow ring around the stem, and a tree thus
treated is considered to be safe for two years at least.
Various Recipes for Caterpillars.
Get a quantity of elder leaves, and boil them in as
much water as will cover them until the liquor becomes
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. ol
quite black ; then clear and cool it, aud to every gallon
of this liquor add one gallon of tobacco-water. When
the trees are quite dry lay it on with a fine rose water-
pot, and in about ten minutes the caterpillars will fall
off dead.
An excellent remedy consists in a dilute solution (one
part in 500) of sulphide of potassium, the infested tree
being sprinkled with this substance by means of a small
hand-syringe. This method has been successfully used
on a large scale in Southern France.
To Destroy Gooseberry Caterpillar. Take one
ounce of hellebore powder and two ounces of powdered
alum ; dilute these first in a small quantity of water, so
as to get them thoroughly mixed, then add a gallon of
water ; apply the mixture to the bushes affected, either
by wetting them with a syringe or water-pot on the
upper surface of the leaves. The caterpillars will drop
off soon after feeding upon the leaves.
Hellebore powder, if dry, will destroy the pests, but
cannot be applied as regularly as if diluted. The
principal use of the alum-water is to cause it to adhere
to the leaves.
One gallon will do for ten to twelve full-sized bushes.
Apply this as soon as the insects are observed.
The following is an excellent remedy, which has
been used on a large scale in Southern France . Take
a dilute solution of sulphide of potassium, at the rate
of about one part in 500. The infested plants are
62 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
to be sprinkled with the decoction by mean* ot a
garden syringe ; the vegetation is not in the least in-
jured by its application.
Hellebore for Caterpillars. Water the branches
affected, and while wet sprinkle some freshly-powdered
hellebore over them. In a few minutes the grubs will
have made themselves scarce and will not return.
Hemp for Destroying Caterpillars. A French gar-
dener describes a mode of destroying caterpillars which
is quite unusual :
" Many years ago I saw an individual sowing broad-
cast a coarse, gray powder on beds of cabbages which
were almost devoured by legions of caterpillars.
" On enquiry, I found that this was nothing else
than the refuse of beaten hemp, and consisted of frag-
ments of the dried and broken leaves, and particu-
larly of the crushed seed-vessels. In half an hour
all the caterpillars had fallen down dead as if suffo-
cated."
Probably watering cabbages with water steeped in
hemp would be equally beneficial.
Tent-Caterpillars. 1. Kill by hand, with covering
of a- glove to protect the hand.
2. Apply strong soap-suds.
3. A weak solution of petroleum, applied with a
wab or long pole.
4. Plant cherry-trees around all orchards ; they will
attract all the caterpillars, and the orchard will be.unr
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 63
touched. The leaves of cherry-trees are preferred by
them to all other fruit-trees.
Coal-tar a Remedy for Caterpillars. Wherever
these get on or under the bark of trees they may be
prevented as follows : Sub the base of the young trees
every two years with coal-tar. A ring of this liquid
painted on each tree will have the desired effect, as the
caterpillars dread it like the plague.
THE green cabbage-worm can be successfully de-
stroyed with hot water.
Heat to a temperature of 200 or more, and apply
through the rose of a common watering-pot, and the
worms will be crucified. A temperature of even a few
degrees lower will still destroy the worms and not injure
the plants.
This method of destruction is easier and more
efficient than the use of salt, carbolate of lime, and
other substances usually employed.
A Pennsylvania ladv having heard of the noxious in-
fluence of carbolic acid on various species of insects
that infest gardens, she was induced to try its effects
upon the eabbaye-worm.
For this purpose she procured a cake of soap that had
been strongly scented with the acid, and, having made a
quantity of suds therefrom, she transferred it to a water-
ing-pot, and in the early part of the day, when the
64 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
f/reen worm is most vigorous in its movements, she
gave several garden-plots of cabbage a sprinkling.
These were examined soon after, and a number of
dead worms were picked from the leaves. The opera-
tion was repeated next day, and, after careful observa-
tion, wherever the solution was tried the leaves of the
plants were cleared of these pests.
Sot Water for Cabbage-ivorms.
A gardener who had tried a number of remedies for
the cabbage -worm found that sprinkling of red pepper
did well, but the best, simplest, cheapest, and most
efficient was applying hot water. It may be wrongly
applied, to the injury or destruction of the plant, and it
may be properly applied, doing no injury and killing
the insects. Fill a watering-pot with boiling water and
sprinkle the infested leaves only for a second or two.
It does its work very quickly on the worms, but the
leaves, being thick, are not heated or injured. The
older the heads become the less the danger. The
operator must practise and spoil a few plants to save
the rest. The water, by the time it reaches the plants,
will be several degrees below boiling. He must deter-
mine by trying how long the hot water will do its work
before becoming too cold. At the same time he must,
ascertain by experiment how long he can contrive to
apply the hot water before the leaves are injured by it,
A very little time will determine these points,
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. &>
Remedy for Cabbage-worms.
Buckwheat flour, sifted through a sieve early in the
evening or in the morning while the dew is on, will
effectually eradicate them. Two applications (and
often one) will do the work. It is preferable to helle-
bore, or any other article, for the purpose, and has the
advantage of being harmless.
WORMS.
Wire-worms
are very frequent in fields once in grass and just con-
verted over into gardens. Cultivation will eradicate the
pest in time, as every time the land is dug the birds
will make a feast of the vermin, and the use of lime
and salt on the land when newly dug up will contrive
to thin them.
But there is another very successful way : sou? car-
rots in short rows in all the garden-beds occupied with
lettuces, onions, and other things that they usually de-
stroy.
As long as they can find their way to a feed of car-
rots they will desert everything else, just as slugs anu
snails will quit everything else for lettuces.
Sow the caiTots quite thick, if broadcast; if in gar-
den-beds, sow at intervals of about two yards across
every four-feet bed, and they will catch many vermin,
when you can drown them and dispose of them.
66 HOW TO DESTROY IS SECTS.
Alternate rows of onions, lettuces, etc., with carrots
may be sown, and tiie worms will leave all to go to the
carrots for food.
Wire-worms in Turf I/and.
A cultivator who for several years had been dread-
ful^ pestered with wire-worms, and his potatoes, tur-
nips, carrots, and other roots were pierced through and
through with this pest, had a thought occur to him of
and-forcing pump, through a rose having two or three
dozen perforations a tenth of an inch in diameter. The
Paris green must of course be kept well stirred to pre
vent its settling to the bottom of the ^essel of water. A
convenient method is to place a barrel of water in a
wagon, with a pail for making the mixture, and a
supply of the poison ; and then mix and use as needed
\rhile driving through the orchard. The application
being made early in the season while the youiig fruit
is quite small, all vestiges are washed off by rains long
before the fruit ripens.
Xomnto-worma.
Hand-picking is the only effectual remedy.
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 69
The Onion-maggot.
Sow broadcast lime and ashes in the proportion of one
of ashes to three or four of lime. If onions show signs
of yellows or withering, apply specially in their rows a
peck of air-slacked lime to every two hundred feet of
length of row.
Currant Measuring Worm.
Use hellebore.
PLANT-LICE.
Currant-louse.
Hellebore is not only the most effectual but, when
properly applied, the cheapest remedy known. A good
method of using it is to place it in a wide-mouthed jar
with a lip around the edge, over which can be tied
one or two thicknesses of fine muslin. The hellebore
can then be shaken through the muslin directly where
it is wanted, with very little waste, and, it of good
quality, is certain death to every worm it touches.
on Fruit-trees.
a. A. decoction of tobacco is sometimes successful.
6. A wash composed of three pounds of sal -soda.
dissolved in a pailful of water, is another remedy.
c. Three ounces of whale-oil soap to a pailful of
water. Apply upon the first indications of the lice.
The trees will be injured if much soap is used.
70 BOW TO DESTROY JMSEOT&
Wood-lice.
If they are so abundant as to be easily reached, pour
boiling hot water on them and into their haunts.
They have a great partiality for potatoes, and by
scattering these around they will be attracted to them,
when the hot water can be vigorously used.
Flower-pots filled with hay have been used, and with
such good success that thousands have been killed.
The pots are laid on their sides, and once a day the
hay is lifted out of the pots ; then shoot the wood-lice
into a pail of hot water.
Borer and Bark-louse.
Apply soft-soap and water to all fruit-tress in the
first week ol June. It not only exterminates the sap-
pers (bark-lice) but banishes the miners (borers).
Scrape the trees early in spring ; apply the soft-soaj
first ol June, and again the first of July, and do no 1 ,
forget to adjust the cloth bands by the last of June.
Bark-louse.
This may be destroyed in spring, just after hatching,
by the application of alkaline washes, such as lye, soap-
suds, or whitewash.
The eggs under the scales may be killed during win
ter by washing or syringing the trees with coal-oil di-
luted with three parts of water.
Carbonic acid gas, applied by the use of any vapor-
JTOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 71
fire-extinguisher directly to the trees, has been
tried and proved a sure remedy.
Wood-lice
may be destroyed by placing potatoes cut in halves
about the plants, which should be examined every day
til] they disappear.
GRUBS.
Rose-grubs.
Picking off by hand is the only practical remedy
when other plans fail or washes have no effect.
Grubs in Flower-gardens and nmong Bulbs.
Portions ot carrots of last year's growth placed an inch
below the surface, between tlie rows of vegetables or of
flowers, will draw all the grubs, and they can be taken
up now and then and be captured and destroyed.
Gooseberry -griibs.
Brine, tobacco-water, and snuff-water are efficient to
kill after the grub has been captured. Hellebore is ex-
cellent.
The gi-ound underneath the bushes may be trodden
hard, and when the bushes are well shaken they fall,
and are easily discovered and killed.
fS HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
BUGS, BEETLES, AND MOTHS.
JHealy-btiys.
The following remedy has been tried on grape-vines
with complete success, being an experiment in a cold
giapery in Glasgow, Scotland :
The walls of the houses were given two coatings of
lime-wash and glue, adding half a pint of turpentine to
each gallon of the mixture.
The rafters and glass were also given at intervals
three washings of turpentine, and finally the vines
themselves were given a good coating of the following
mixture:
Three ounces of soft-soap, three ounces of flower of
sulphur, one pint of tobacco-water, two wineglassfuls
of turpentine, one gallon of hot water, and clay enough
to give it the consistency of paint. The result was
healthy vines and a fair crop of grapes, cleiin and tree
from mealy-bugs.
Squash- bugs.
Place small pieces of boards, chips, or even green
leaves on the ground close around the vines. The
bugs will choose these as hiding places during the
night. In the morning visit them before their eggs are
laid, and gather and destroy them all.
A gardener near Washington, D. C., uses the follow-
ing remedy :
*' To two- quarts of gypsum put one tablespoonful ol
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 73
feerosene-ou this, sprinkled on the vines when the
dew is on, will generally answer for the season. If the
bugs return repeat the operation.
" I applied it this season on several thousand hills
ot melons, cucumbers, etc., after the bugs had com-
menced operations, and have not since had a vine de-
stroyed. I have used it for several seasons with the
same result. This is safer and cheaper than Paris
green."
May -bugs.
A successful experiment was tried in Germany for
destroying May-bugs on a large scale.
It is known that these bugs always select warm and
loose ground for the depositing of their eggs.
Consequently seventeen artificial breeding places
were prepared by covering fresh cow-dung with fine
earth, and by the middle of July they were found full
of eggs or grubs.
After collecting these eggs, etc., they were burnt
outside the forest.
Aster -bugs.
Plaster sprinkled over the plants while wet with the
dew will put them to flight. It is also an efficacious
remedy for the rose -slug.
Quassia-tea will also keep bugs from eating aster
flowers.
74 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
Ike Striped Bug.
An Illinois gardener, after using ground or calcined
plaster as a remedy for striped bugs, at last improved
upon it.
" I used Paris green and calcined plaster, in the
proportion of one of the former to fifteen of the latter,
as a destroyer of the potato-bug, mid also I tried it on
squash and vnelou and cacuraber vines, with good suc-
cess.
" The mixture was dusted on from a common dredg-
ing-box, and has proved equally effectual against the
Colorado potato-beetle and the striped bug.
" On squashes of the tenderest variety of foliage, like
the HubbarJ, for instance, and on the hardier, like
Cmylin and the winter crookneck, this mixture may be
put on while the plant is wet or dry, and does not in-
jure them ; and so of musk-melons and cucumbers. But
on water-melons the mixture must be used with care."
Cucumber-bug.
Mix hellebore and flour together and scatter over the
vine and insects.
Colorado Potato-beetle.
Paris green is sufficient. Mix with very fine ashes
in the proportion of twenty to one. Take a tomato-
can, with holes in the bottom like a grater and a cover
on the top, attach to a long pole, and dust the plants
with the powder. A few hours will be sufficient to go
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 75
over an acre. One or two applications, even when $hs
vines and ground are swarming, will rid the pest
thoroughly.
Cucumber-beetli.
Use Paris green in the following proportions: One
part green to six parts flour. Apply when the vines
are dry, and scatter just a little over the vines. If
too much is spread over, the vines are sure to be killed.
Codling-moth.
The following method, suggested by I /of. A. J. Cook,
of Agricultural College, Michigan, is the most success-
fnl and effectual that can be adopted :
"Place around the trunk of every bearing tree, midway
between the ground and branches, a woollen cloth about
five inches wide, and sufficiently long to pass around
and lap enough to tack. This may be fastened with
one or two tacks. I have usually found one placed in
the middle to be quite sufficient. The tack should not
be driven quite up to the head. Before this cloth band
is adjusted the loose bark should be scraped off. This
may be done earlier in the season when time will best
permit. The bands should be adjusted by June 20.
Under these bands the ' worms ' will secrete them
selves. By July 7 the bands around the earliest apple-
trees should be unwound and examined, and the larvae
destroyed. This can be done by passing the bands
s "irough a wrinirer, or by unwinding and crushing with
76 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
the thumb. Every ten days after the first round
every nine days if the weather is dry and warm the
work should be repeated till the last week of August,
and again at the close of the season after the fruit is
gathered."
Throw lime on the trees when the dew is on, or just
after a rain, and after the fruit is set ; a bellows is good
for scattering it. The insects will not go where the
lime is scattered ; they will go away.
ANTS.
Recipes for Destroying Ants.
1. Take four ounces of quassia-chips; boil for ten
minutes in a gallon of water, dissolving in the liquid
while cooling four ounces of soft-soap.
2. Take one pound of black soap, dissolve it in four
gallons of water, and sprinkle the solution through a
fine rose over the runs and nests, taking care, however,
not to water the roots of the plants with it.
3. The following is a successful poison : ferrocyanide
of potassium, one drachm; raspings of quassia, one
drachm ; sugar in sufficient quantity to form a syrup.
The ants are said to devour this greedily and die almost
immediately.
4. Fresh Peruvian guano will drive ants from any
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 77
spot, however firm a hold they may have obtained
on it.
Paraffine and benzoline oil are said to have the same
effect.
Turpentine, gas-water, flowers of sulphur, lime-water,
a decoction of elder leaves, chloride of lime dissolved in
water, and camphor have all been used.
5. For ants in a lawn put a large flower-pot over
their hole or place of operations. The ants will build
up into the pot, and in a short time it may be lifted up
and carried away and dropped into a vessel of water,
which will be the end of them.
6. For ants on fruit-trees put a line of gas-tar all
around the tree, and that will stop their progress.
7. Ants in flower or garden beds may be destroyed
as follows :
Take two ounces of soft-soap, one pound of potash,
and about two and a halt pints of water. Boil the
whole together for sor.ie time, stirring the ingredients
occasionally. The liquor may then be allowed to cool.
With a pointed stick, or dibble, make holes wher-
ever the soil is infested. Drop the mixture, filling the
holes full once or twice.
Fill small vials two-thirds with water, and add
sweet-oil to float on the water to within half an inch
ol the top. Plunge these upright in the ground, leav-
ing only half an inch standing out, near the nest or
runs of the ants. The ants will come for a sip and go
r8 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
home to die. No insect can exist with oil stopping; ij>
Its spiracles, or breathing pores.
Boiling water ami urseuic are iatal ; coarse spocg?
dipped ia treacle- water, and afterwards dipped in
scalding water, will catch thousands.
May be destroy: d by a few fresh, unpicked bones
being placed for them, or sponges wetted and filled
with sugar, or treacle in bottles or pans.
VABIOTJS INSECTS.
Wiggle-tails.
Wiggle-tails sometimes get into a tub of plants. A
Bmall fish, say perch, caught in any stream or pond
will keep the water entirely free from this pest, and
mosquitoes will nofc bother.
Keep the tub full as it evaporates. Just fill tip "with
fresh water ; no need to bail the water. A lady kepi
a perch in a tub of water-lilies, and the tub was
free from all pests of the kind.
Gooseberry Saw-fly,
Dust white hellebore over the leaves in same manner
as Paris green is dusted over the patch. It is sure
destruction. If mixed with water there will be no
danger from the inhalation of the powder. An ounce
to a pailful of water is a good proportion.
TO DESTROY INSECTS. 79
Hose-chafer.
Spread sheets under plants attacked. Shako well;
tho insects will fall and may be quickly destroyed.
JRadisJi-fly.
Hot water has been used with some success.
Cockroaches, Crickets, etc.
Place bell-glasses, bottles, smooth or glazed pans,
so that the sides are in a slanting position, and fill
them witli treacle and water, in which the insects
drown themselves.
Cockroaches may be destroj'ed with certainty by
using a mixture of one part arsenic, one part white
sugar, and one part lard, all the three to be white. It
is essential that the arsenic be white/ or failure will re-
sult.
Destruction of Cockchafers.
A French gardener adopted this ingenious method :
" After sunset I place in the centre of my orchard an
ol<' barrel, the inside of which I have previously well
tarred. At the bottom of the barrel f place a lighted
lamp. Insects of many kinds, attracted by the light,
Jiake for the lamp, and while circling round it strike
against the sides of the barrel, where, meeting with the
tar, their wings and legs become so clogged that they
fall helpless to the bottom. In the morning I examine
the barrel, and frequently take out of it ten or twelve
gallons of cockchafers which I at once destroy. A few
80 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
cevfli' worth of tar employed in this way will, without
any further trouble, be the means of destroying innu-
merable numbers of these insects, whose larvae are
amongst the most destructive pests the gardener or
farmer has to contend against."
Zo Destroy Blnck Beetles.
A certain remedy is to procure some bracken, Pteris
aquihna, or common fern, plentiful on commons, and
put it down about the house at night. The black
beetle will eat it ravenously and POOH die. It is com-
monly used in the north of England.
Insect Enemies of the Cabbage.
jl small black flea in great swarms eats the leaves of
cabbage-plants, after being set out in the open ground
from hot-beds. A slight dusting of fresh -slacked lime
over the plants in the morning, while wet with dew,
will drive them oft or kill them. Dust the plants one
morning, and again the second morning after that ; then
the job is finished. The flea is mere fond of pepper-
cress than cabbages, so that if the cress is sown thinly
along with the cabbage-seed it will save the cabbages.
Lice on Cabbages. A greenish, mealy louse, in vast
numbers, attacks cabbages when nearly full grown.
Two dustings of fresh lime will kill them.
Grubs. A black grub, which lodges in the ground,
eats through the stems of young cabbages after being
transplanted, causing the heads to drop off. Whenever
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 81
that is observed, search around the plants cut off, and
find the grub and kill it. It is only a quarter of an
inch under the surface. After it eats off one plant it gets
to another ; so that you must search among the neighbor-
ing plants, if not found where it has been devastating.
Cabbage-lice. As soon as the plant begins to head,
or as the louse makes its appearance, open the leaves
carefully with the fingers, and sprinkle common sak
between them. This has been used with such success
that many gardeners consider it infallible. Plants used
in this way produce larger and more solid heads than
those left to themselves.
A California gardener used two tablespoonfuls of
kerosene mixed with a pint of water, and applied by
rubbing it on the outside leaves. A couple of applica-
tions is usually sufficient.
Cabbage-fly on Flowers. The cabbage-fly sometimes
infests the sweet alyssum and other sweet-scented
flowers.
A syringing with water in which a few drops of
coal-oil has been spread will soon dispose of him.
Cabbage Cut-worms. Put fresh-cut grass, cornstalks,
*tc., in heaps here and there in the cabbage- patch,
inuring the night the larvae will find and crawl within,
und are easily captured and destroyed.
Another method will be to wind sized paper closely
*i/und the plants, banking it slightly with a little loose
earth. Nothing can climb up this smooth surface.
82 SOW TO DESTROY INSECTS,
MILDEW.
JiXildetv on Hoses.
Carbolic soap, veil diluted in water, will destroy
mildew on roses. It is to be applied \>y sprinkling.
A good wash to prevent miklew is with a sponge and
soft-soap water, made with three or four ounces of soft-
soap to a gallon of water j the soap should be dissolved
in cold water.
VARIOUS WASHES FOB TREES AND
SHRUBS.
Throw slacked lime as a dust over trees and bushes
when the foliage is wet.
Syringe with soap-suds, or tobacco-water, or a strong
decoction of quassia with soap-suds. Chloride of lime,
a weak solution, will preserve plants from insects j
sprinkle well over them.
Red Spider on Currant and Gooseberry Bushes.
A gardener has used soluble sulphur in large quanti-
ties for the destruction of red spider on gooseberry and
currant bushes, nnd prepares it as follows : " I slack
some quicklime, and mix it with about half its weight
of common flour of sulphur in a heap, with a little
water, as in ranking mortar. After lying a few hours I
boil it for twenty minutes in a large boiler of water in
SOW TO DESTROY TNSKCTS. 83
about the proportion of one gallon to one pound of the
mixture. This produces a sulphurous liquid, about the
color of porter, two or three pints of which to a two-
gallon bucket of water is strong enough for syringing;
but \ve test the strength by dipping a spray into the
bucket, and get tho, liquor just strong enough not to
damage the leaf; it too strong the leaf withers in an
hour or two."
Washes for Fruit-treea
Lime and &u7jp7tur. Take of quicn or unslacked
lime four parts, and of common flour of sulphur one
part ; break up the lime in smali pieces, then mix the
sulphur with it in an iron vessel ; pour on them enough
boiling water to slack the lime to a powder ; cover the
vessel close as soon as the water is poured on. This
makes a most excellent whitewash for orchard trees,
and is very useful as a preventive ot blight on pear-
trees, to cover the wounds in the form of a paste when
cutting away diseased parts, also for coating the trees
in early spring.
It may be considered as a specific for many noxious
insects and mildew in the orchard and nursery. Its
material should always be read)* at hand; it should be
used quite fresh, since it soon loses its potency. This
preparation should be sprinkled over the young plant
as soon or before any trouble from aphides, thrips, or
mildew occurs, early in the morning while the dew is
84 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
on the trees. This lime and sulphur combination is
destructive to these nests in this way, giving off gaseous
sulphurous compounds, which are deadly poison to
minute life, both animal and fungoid ; while the lime
destroys by contact the same things, and its presence is
noxious to them. In moderate quantities it is not in-
jurious to common vegetable life.
Another recipe for a wash for orchard trees is to put
one-half bushel of lirne and four pounds of powdered
sulphur into a tight barrel, slacking the lime with hot
water, the mouth of the barrel being covered with a
cloth ; this is reduced to the consistency of ordinary
whitewash, and one-half ounce of carbolic acid is added
to each gallon of liquid at the time of application.
Apply to the trunk ; it will not hurt the branches or
foliage if applied to them also.
An experienced fruit-grower recommends the use of
the following simple method : He takes lye from wood-
ashes or common potash, mixes a little grease with it,
heats quite warm, and with a little syringe throws it up
into all parts of the tree, branches and trunk. It will
effectually kill all kinds of caterpillars and worms that
are infesting the tree or running over the bark. Trees
treated in this manner are exceedingly healthy and
vigorous in appearance, possessing a smooth, glossy
bark.
An Excellent Wash for Garden Trees for the de-
struction of Moss. Take sal-soda, which costs at retail
HOTT TO DESTROY IXSXCT& 35
from three to six cents per pound ; place it in a skillet
on the fire ; ; t will soon ^o to what seems water, then
evaporate a ., I leave a white powder j keep it on the fire
till it becomes a light brown, when it is done. Use a
fourth of a pound, or, if the trees are much covered
with moss or are very dirty, use half a pound to the
gallon of water. Wash the trunks and large limbs,
using a sponge or cloth. It can be used at any season
of the year, but winter is preferable. This wash will
not injure the foliage ef the most delicate plant. In a
few weeks after usinj", the trees will look as clean and
sleek as thoup-b they had been varnished, and their
growth and healthy appearance will be most astonish-
ing. This is probably the best and cheapest wash for
this purpose for garden use that can be suggested.
Experiments vAth Carbclic Soap.
An Ohio horticulturist succeeded in various experi-
ments with carbolic soap as follows :
Citt-iconns. " For cut-worms I made the 8oap-suds
pretty strong two gallons of water to half a pound of
soap and with it saturated a bushel of sawdust, then
placed a little around the stem of each cabbage and
tomato plant, using a handful to eight or ten plants
adding a little more after two or three days when tin;
odor seemed gone. This was completely successful in
ground where the worms were quite plenty, and where
plants not protected were speedily cut off by them. It
8B HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
*-
fs the cheapeot and most easily applied remedy for gar
den insects that I have y^t seen."
Striped Buys, " For striped bugs on melons aca
cucumber-vines I find the same method of using the
soap quite effective, if the sawdust is sprinkled on the
plants every day, which is very little trouble; but the
plants may be wet directly with weak suds, made ot ten
gallons of water to half a pound ot soap."
Aphis Plant-lice. " For aphis or plant-lice on
cherry-trees and the like a sprinkling or two with the
suds by means ot a sponge, or bending the ehoots so as
to dip them into a pail or basin, is speedy death to the
bugs. Care must be used not to have the euds too
strong when applied to tender plants or young shoots
of trees."
Grape-vine Wormt, Carbolic-acid washes are cer-
tain death to worms that infest the leaves of grape-
vines. A pound of the article dissolved in fifteen or
twenty gallons of water will form a large quantity,
which can be forced bj* a syiinge over the entire vine,
one or two applications drive away everything of in-
sect nature.
Wash for Peach-trees, etc. For all garden fruit-
trees use it in the proportion of one pound of soap to
ten gallons of water ; sprinkle well over the bark, and
ants, worms, borers, flies will all flee.
Experiments on Garden Trees, Shrubs, etc., with
Carbolio Soap. The editor of the Horticulturist, after
UOW TO DESTROY WSECTS. 87
various experiments, says : " We found that for the
large measure-worm, which so often infests our city
trees and grape-vines, a decoction of the Carbolic
Plant Protector, sufficiently strong to kill or dislodge
the worm itself, was strong enough to scorch and injure
the leaves of the vines also. But for bark-lice and
more tender worms and insects it was a mo.st beneficial
agent. It is especially useful and preventive against
future attacks of insects. If plants are syringed freely
once or twice a week the o.ior alone will repel insects,
while there is no doubt the eggs of future progeny are
destroyed also. Our first application to the grape-vines
destroyed the worms, but scorckad the leaves and re-
tarded the ripening of the fruit. This was the effect,
probably, of being too strong. The odor, however,
remained in the garden and on the groin. ' for several
weeks, and there was no attack of insectt. thereafter.
Some caterpillar-nests were also discovered, but a
thorough soaking soon placed them all out of danger.
" For clearing the barks of any trees infested with
lice or scales, or to keep off worms or borers, it is most
excellent. We have seen worms writhe : u agony when
under the fumes of the acid, and a single touch of the
raw substance upon their backs has killed them in
thirty seconds, the effects upon the skin being like that
of red-hot iron scorching."
This experience has been confirmed by a Pennsyl-
vania gardener, who says :
tiS HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
" I have tried it upon various species of plants, and
it has proved as efficacious in destroying insects and
preventing their ravages upon plants as whale-oil
soap, when properly applied. When syringed upon
the plants, a pound to twelve or fourteen gallons of soft
water has proved effective and safe ; but to wash the
stems of trees, make it doubly strong say, to trees two
inches in diameter, one pound Protector to six gallons
of water ; and tree-sterns eight inches in diameter, four
or fivo gallons of water to one pound of potatoes, and so
on. It is an excellent thing to eyringe plum-trees before
they expand their bloom and after their fruit is set.
" It will also prove a capital safeguard against the
various specie.} of tree-borers and the peach cut-worm ;
but it must be used with caution, as it is very strong.
Cultivators should weaken it well for first trial, and in-
crease its strength gradually until they see its beneficial
effects upon different species of plants.
" Habbits in winter will hardly attack trees strongly
coated with the Protector if they can get any other
food."
Pheaphorrta Soap.
A cultivator who had not been successful with any ol
the common remedies in destroying insects at las.
found phosphorus soap super- excellent for both housc j
green-house, and garden.
wi. tablespoonful dissolved in a gallon of water, ap
HOW TO DESTROY TN8ECTS. 89
plied with a watering-pot or syringe, will completely
clear the plants of insects. It is abo a v<.luabl; fertil-
izer for all kinds of fLwers
To Destroy Moss an/* Insects on Fruit-trees.
One year somo fruit-trees in the grounds cf an ama-
teur horticulturist in France were covered with moss
and insects= Tho next season the same trees could
hardly be recognized, their barks being smooth, glossy,
and healthy c Th " recipe is as follows :
" Boil two gallons of barley in water, and then take
out th barley, which can be given to the fowls. In
this water dissolve ttire" gallons of quick-lime. When
it is cold mix two pounds zf lamp-black, stirring it i'^r
a lonp 1 time with a stick ; then a pound and a half of
flowers of sulphur (brimstone) and a quart of alcohol.
Daub th" trees with thi by means of a paint-brush,
after having scraped off the moss with a rough hrnsh.
This composition destroys the coccus, the grub, moss,
and insects, gives strength u,nd suppleness to the bark,
and certainly revives the r.spest of fruit-trees."
Gas-tar Water for Garden Insects.
Insects, worms, etc,, on melons, jucumbers, Cab-
bages, etc., may be destroyed by gas-tar water as fol-
lows
"Get a barrel with a few gallons of gas-tar in i* ,
pour water on the tar, always have it :;eady when
90 SOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
needed, and when the bugs appear give them a liberal
drink of the tar-water from a garden-sprinkler; if the
rain washes it off and they return, repeat the dose."
It has also in sonic '"i=es disposed of the Colorado
potato-beetle.
Plant Kennedies for Insects.
The seeds of the absinthium maritimum are deadly
to the flea,
The odor of the alder is very obnoxious to moat in-
sects,
On a hot summer day cattle may be seen clustering
around the alder bushes, whs/ever in their fields, for
protection against the stings of fj.es.
The perfume of the chamomila is destructive of the
acarns scabici, and it is used ja. many pomades for the
treatment of scabies.
An infusion of chamomile flowers has been recom-
mended as a wash to the skin, for the purpose of pro-
action against gnats, v ho shun the traitorous pe'^iime,
To Prepare Lime-dust.
Take a peck of fresh or sharp lime, broken up into
small pieces, then add four pounds of flowers of sul-
phur, or in like proportions if in smaller quantity.
Add one-third as much boiling water, or just enough
to slack the lime to dry powder, and cover the vessel as
Wi? is the water is poured on. By adding water it
BOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 91
may bo made into an excellent whitewash for trees, the
sulphur increasing its efficacy.
Ground, Aphis on Verbena,?.
The ground aphis sometimes preys upon the roots ot
verbenas, causing th^ plant to appear as if mildewed.
These insects arc destroyed by washing the soil with
a tepid decoction of tobacco, about the color of strong
green tea, every day for a week or ten days.
Moles in Flower-beds.
a. Catch in traps.
60 Destroy by placing pieces of raw meat rubbed
with stick phosphorus in their runs.
c. Plant the ricinus, or castor-oil bean, in thug-round
where they make their runs. This is called the mole-
plant, because cf this peculiar property,, Those who
have tried this remedy have found it unvarying in its
success.
Traps.
Get some cabbage-leaves, warm them in an oven till
hog's lard will spread on the surface ; place them ovei
night near your favorite plants, and almost every slug
will bo found under them in the morning. There must
be DO salt in the lard.
PART III.
INSECTS IN THE HOUSE.
ANTS.
a. A SMALL bag of sulphur kept in a drawer or cup-
board will drive away red ants.
b. Scatter branches of sweet fern where they congre-
gate.
c. Place half-picked bones of meat here and there on
the shelves and wherever the ants resort, and on visiting
them an hour afterward they will be covered with ants.
Have a bucket of scalding water in hand, and drop the
swarming bones into it. Many thousands may be de-
stroyed by this plan.
d. Pieces of coarse sponge dipped in treacle (molasses)
water will do as well as the bones.
e. Sugar-boxes and barrels and anything in the house
can be freed from ants by drawing a wide chalk mark
jufct around the edge of the top of them. The mark
98
SOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 93
must be unbroken, or they will creep over it, but a con-
tinuous chalk-mark half an inch in width will set their
depredations at naught.
/. A house that was infested with ants by the myriads
was thoroughly cleansed as follows :
Baits of raw meat were laid, which were speedily
covered with them. These were rinsed in hot water
and relaid.
Two men were thus engaged for two days actively at
work, and no apparent diminution. All the woodwork
of kitchen, cellar, and scullery was examined. All the
woodwork and walls were covered with a good dose of
fresh hot lime-whiting, and afterward these places were
fumigated with sulphur for three or four days.
All the nooks, corners, chimneys, fireplaces, mantels
were examined, and every crevice, haunt, etc., dosed
with quicklime. Then the pest ceased, and never
gave trouble again.
y. Take naphtha and scatter on them or around
where they gather.
BEDBUGS.
a. Powdered alum or borax will keep bedbugs or
chintz-bugs away, and travellers will find it very ad-
vantageous to carry a bundle of it in their hand-bags to
scatter under or over their pillows or beds in hotels. A
gentleman who used it says: " While staying at a hotel
94: SOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
once with a party, most of whom complained sadly of the
nightly attacks of these disgusting insects, I was able to
keep them entirely at bay by its use, and I distributed
the contents of my bundle among the party, to their
great relief."
b. Scald with hot water every crack where they find
refuge. Be careful not to let the vuter touch the var-
nish. If it should by accident, it may be restored by
rubbing immediately with a rag wet in turpentine or
oil.
c. Fill crevices with salt, and wash bedstead with
brine, or use kerosene in same way.
cl. Paris green and mercurial ointments are deadly poi-
sons to the bugs, but are dangerous to use in the house.
c. One part quicksilver to twenty parts white of an
egg, applied with a feather to every crack and crevice
in a bed-room, will kill them.
/. Mix together one ounce cf corrosive sublimate,
one of gum camphor, one pint of spirits of turpentine,
and one of alcohol. Put the mixture in a bottle and
apply with a feather ; but be very careful, for it is rank
poison. They can also be destroyed by an ointment
composed of quicksilver and benzine.
The proportions of the mixture may be varied as fol-
lows: one quarter pound of corrosive sublimate, one
ounce of camphor gum, one half gallon of benzine, one
half gallon of hot water ; paint witu a brush every crack
and device, bedstead, etc.
BOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 95
fj. Dust well the bedstead, crevices, ixnd niches where
they are with cayenne pepper.
COCKROACHES.
a. Gum camphor is one cf the best things ever found j
they always take quick leave where that is introduced.
Scatter it upon the shelves, and in the corners of the
pantry, and through closets, and these vermin will leave.
The only trouble is that it evaporates so soon that it
needs renewal every week. Spirits of camphor, although
more evanescent than the gum, will hasten their depar-
ture more speedily.
b. Powdered borax, sprinkled around infested places,
drives them away at. once.
c. Sweetened vinegar and strychnine will destroy any
house-bug.
d. The small land terrapin, commonly called " center,"
wages unrelenting war against them if placed where
they frequent. He is more successful than any of the
powders.
e. " The best thing I have ever tried is a quantity of
red wafers, such as were used to seal letters in old times.
thrown where the roaches mostly hide, under the floors
or in the bottom of pressesin fact, anywhere they can
be safely put out of reach of children.
f. " I give a recipe to your correspondent who wishes
to know how to get rid of the insects he calls cockroaches,
96 HOW TO DESTROY IX SECTS.
although I think he misnames them. Let his wife finish
making peach preserves late at night in a smooth, bright
brass kettle j then persuade her it is too late to clean
the kettle till morning, but set it against the wall where
the insects are thickest, and retire to rest. In the morn-
ing he will find the sides of the kettle bright as a new
dollar, but he will find every insect that was hungry in
the bottom of the kettle, when, if he uses the recipe as I
did, he will treat them to a sufficient quantity of boil-
ing water to render them perfectly harmless. As I
thought molasses cheaper than peach-preserve juice, I
ever afterwards baited the same trap with molasses, and
I caught the last one of millions. I pity any person
troubled with them. I have lived thirty years since
making the discovery (accidental), and have never had
to repeat it. UNCLE JOHN.''
fj. Sprinkle the floor with hellebore at night j they will
eat it and be poisoned.
MOTHS.
No. 1. Make a solution of one ounce of gum cam-
phor, one ounce of powdered red pepper, in eight
ounces of alcohol ; let stand for one week, and strain.
Sprinkle the furs or cloth with it, and wrap in cloth or
strong paper.
To keep them out of carpets wash floor with turpen-
tine or benzine before laying them.
HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 97
No. 2. Dust fars with powdered alum, working it in
well at the roots of the hair. Do not air woollen
articles aud furs in the summer sunshine. They should
he put aside in the early spring, and left untouched
until October.
Moths in Carpets, Woollens^ etc.
a. Several pieces of camphor gum, as large as hick-
ory-nuts, should be packed in with all woollen garments
and furs. Infested garments or furs should be put iu
a tight sack or trunk, and, after adding a half-ounce of
chloroform, the sack or trunk should be closed as nearly
air-tight as possible. The vapor will kill the insects.
I. For furniture and carpets, heavy paper, wet with
carbolic acid or spirits of turpentine, will kill larvae
already at work. This should be placed under the edge
of the carpet where the mischief is generally done, aud
in furniture crowded back in the deep folds. Russian
leather, cedar bark or boughs, tobacco-leaves, and even
red pepper, are said to prevent the moths from laying
eggs-
c. Another way of destroying moths in carpets is to
take a wet sheet or other cloth, lay it upon the carpet,
and then run a hot flat-iron over it, so as to convert the
water into steam, which permeates the carpet beneath
and destroys the moth and her eggs. It can be done
without taking up the carpet, and has proved, after
trials, remarkably efficient.
98 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS.
d. To prevent moths, use camphor, Persian powder,
or benzine freely. Wrap clean woollens carefully in
paper or cotton cloths, and they will be secure unless
they are soiled; moths will attack soiled places. If
moths are already in your carpets, wring a coarse cloth
out of clean water, spread it smoothly on the part of
the carpet where the moths are, or are suspected to be,
and iron it with a pretty hot iron. The steam will de-
stroy both the moths and eggs. Also, take boiling-hot
alum-water and dip cloths into it, and saturate the car-
pets with it. Moths deposit their eggs in the early-
part of the spring, and that is the time to attend to
furs. Beat the furs with a light rattan, and air them
for several hours; then carefully comb them with a
clean coarse comb, wrap them up in newspapers per-
fectly tight, and put them away in a tight linen bag or
a chest. Examine them several times during the sum-
mer, and repeat the combing process.
Woollen articles can be kept from moths by dusting
them over with red pepper or putting camphor gum
among them.
FLEAS.
Coal-oil will kill fleas either on animals or in the
house. The addition of a small quantity of oil penny-
royjil improves it. Another effectual exterminaton
which can be used on house dogs and cats without
BOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 99
causing any inconvenience ia the Persian insect powder
(flowers of the Pyretlimm carneum), growing upon the
Caucasian mountains, and imported into this country
and used extensively for the above purpose, and sold
by druggists in the form of Lyon's, Drake's, and other
insect powders, in small bottles, retailing for twenty-
five cents. Any druggist can order it in bulk, costing
from 75 cents to $1 per pound. Better to get the
whole flowers and powder them yourself, as it is often
adulterated with chamomile and other worthless flowers.
This is very sure death to fleas, and the writer has
collected a tablespoonful of fleas from a small dog in a
few minutes after use. Sprinkle the powder over the
animal and see that it comes in contact with the ver-
min. It is perfectly harmless, and also said to be cer-
tain death to bedbugs and roaches.
Sprinkle about a few drops of oil of lavender.
FLIES.
Paint walls or rub over picture-frames with laurel-
CONTENTS.;
PAGE
PAGE
32
Cockchafers
79
Alum-w y ater
Ants
76
Cockroaches, etc
Ants in the House
. 92
. 95
Ants, Black, on Peonies
.. 19
Codling Moth
. 75
Ants, Potash for
. 50
Cold Water
. 46
Aphis 8,9,12,86,91
Colorado Potato-beetle
. 74
Aster-bugs
. 73
Cucumber-beetle
.. 75
Bark-louse
. 70
" bug
.. 74
Bed-bugs
. 93
Currant-louse
.. 69
Black Beetles
. 80
worms
.. 67
Borer and Bark-louse
.. 70
" "
.. 66
Cabbage-lice
.. 81
Earth-worms
.. 20
Cabbage-fly
. 81
Epsom Salts
.. 56
" Cut-worms
.. 81
Fertilizers for House Plants
.. 54
" Insect Enemies
.. 80
Fleas
.. 98
Worms 63,
64,65
Flies
.. 25
Canker-worm Remedy
.. 68
"
.. 98
Canker-worms
.. 68
Frost-bitten Plants
3*
Carbolic Soap-suds
5 | Fumigating 14,
15, 1C
.. 12
Gas-tar Water
.. 89
" Soap
.. 85
Good Wash for Plants . . . .
.. 55
Caterpillars
.. 60
Gooseberry -grubs
.. 71
" on Cabbage, etc.
.. 60
Gooseberry Saw Fly
.. 78
on Gooseberries.
.. 61
Grape-vine Worms
.. 86
Coal-oil
. . 31 Green Bugs
45, 46
.. 56 " Fly ..' 8
12,28
CONTENTS.
Green Lice
PAGE
... 24
Quassia-tea
Radish-fly
PAGE
.. 10
.. 79
.. 67
. 50
',28,82
.. 27
.. 79
.. 30
.. 71
26
Grubs in Flower-gardens. .
" in Pots
.... 71
. 23
Hellebore for Caterpillars
House Insects
Insects on Rose-bushes. . .
Kerosene
Leaf -lice on Fruit-trees. . . .
Lice on Rose-bushes
... 62
... 32
... 53
... 31
.... 69
... 51
... 90
... 20
... 37
... 73
17
Red Pepper
Red Spider, Remedies. 5, 6, '
Rose-chafer
Lime-water for Worms. ..
Manure- water
May-bugs
Mealy-bug
" slugs *...
Salt and Hot Water
. . 52
31,30
44
Salt for Roses
Scale
.. 54
18
39
" "on Grape-vines
Mildew on Roses
.... 48
... 72
.. 82
29
39
" on Ivy
Scotch Snuff
Slugs on Begonias
... 25
.. 30
.. 19
.. 58
... 58
60
... 58
... 26
25
Moles in Flower-beds
Moles, Traps
... 91
... 91
... 89
... 96
.... 97
... 24
.... 69
... 29
. .. 57
. . . . 12
. .. 88
... 24
... 36
... 90
.... 56
... 59
... 52
" on Cabbages
" on Cherries
" on Jessamines
" on Currants
" Rose
Snails
Moths
Oleander-bugs. . .
Onion-maggot
Paris Green
Pear-slugs
Persian Insect Powder
Phosphorus Soap
Plant-lice
Plant Parasites ..
... 37
Squash-bugs
... 72
. .. 51
... 74
Striped Bug
86
Submerging Plants
Sulphur
. .. 16
... 7
Plaster-of-Paris
Plum-slugs
Quassia for Rose-bugs. . . .
Tobacco-powder
inDish
.. 43
... 9
.. 15
CONTENTS.
PAGE |
PAGE
Tobacco-tea 34 . White Spots on Window-sills. 36
for Green Bugs . . .
" water
Tomato- worms
Verbenas, Aphis
Verbena-rust
Wash for Garden-trees
Washes for Fruit-trees
Whale-oil Soap
White Hellebore....
45 " Worms 20
32 Wiggletails 78
68 , Wire-worms 65
91 Wood-lice ... . . 70, 71
41
" 19
Worms on Honeysuckle Vinos 67
on Lawns 67
" in Pots 30, sil, 22.23
Yellows.... .. 29
9
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-
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