By C. V. Riley. Published by the Department of Agriculture.

Kerosene, or coal oil, swims on the top of water, and hence cannot be well used with a syringe as an insecticide, unless the operator is skilled in drawing the water and oil in together while using it, as some few can. Some years ago we noted that by using chalk or other substances there would be sufficient mixing to form a satisfactory emulsion which could be used to better advantage; but on the well-known slowness of any good idea to make way, little use seems to have been made of this hint. This work of Prof. Riley is founded on the same idea. Many different methods of preparing kerosene are given here. One, for instance, describes six pounds of the "coontie," or Zamia root, washed, grated, and boiled for an hour in three gallons of water, strained, and while hot mixed with four ounces of sal-soda. This emulsifies one gallon of kerosene. This solution is added to twenty-four gallons of water. Milk and other things are used for making an emulsion.

Though evidently very successful as applied to the insects specified, it must be borne in mind that it is not a universal panacea. The writer has seen some applied to the black aphis on cherry trees, without any beneficial results.