Arsenate of Lead.

This is now sold ready for use, by adding the requisite amount of water, by a number of manufacturers. It is probably our most effective stomach poison, for though costing more than paris green, it remains on the plant where it has been sprayed a much longer time, and is less liable to burn the foliage. Unless large quantities are to be used it is better to buy it than to make it, but if directions for making are desired, these will be supplied on application to the Agricultural Experiment Station of any state.

Ordinarily about three pounds of arsenate of lead should be mixed with fifty gallons of water to spray, but for the gypsy moth, brown-tail moth and elm-leaf beetle, five pounds should be used instead. In spraying it is necessary that the sediment should be constantly stirred, in order for it to be carried out through the pump and be evenly distributed.

Paris Green.

This material is rarely as effective as the last, and is only mentioned because it may in some cases be difficult to obtain the other. One third of a pound of paris green should be mixed with half a pound of quicklime which has just been slaked in some water, and water should be added to make a total of about fifty gallons, and the whole well stirred while spraying, for the reason stated above.

Soap.

Plant lice, leaf hoppers, etc., may generally be destroyed by spraying them with one pound of any common laundry soap dissolved in four or five gallons of water. Extreme thoroughness of application is necessary, as only those insects actually touched by the spray are affected.

Kerosene Emulsion.

This material is more effective than soap for sucking-insects, but is more difficult to make. To prepare it, take half a pound of any hard soap shaved fine, and dissolve in a gallon of hot water. Then remove from the fire and add two gallons of kerosene and churn with a spray pump, turning the nozzle of the pump back into the mixture, which should soon become thick and therefore difficult to force through the pump. When this condition has been reached, take one part of the mixture or stock material and add it to nine parts of water, if for use on plant lice; or to six parts of water for leaf hoppers; mix well and spray. If the water is hard add some borax or soda to soften it.

Many other kinds of insects frequently attack our shade trees and shrubs, and in case of doubt as to their identity and the appropriate treatment to be given, specimens of the insect or its work can be sent to the Agricultural Experiment Station of the state in which the person desiring assistance resides. Information and advice as to the best methods of treatment for different insects are supplied by the officials of these stations, without charge.