Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-04-10
AGRICULTURAL HINTS.
KEROSENE.

It Should. However, Be Used by Horri-
| cuiturists rs an Emulsion.
Insects can be readily destroyed by
the application of kerosene to their
bodies; but. unfortunately, this sub
stance is equally destructive to many
kinds of plants. Consequently, says a
writer in the New York Ledger, kero-
sene is not as available for the destruc-
ton of insects as we might wish. One
must always, in proposing an insecti-
eide which is to be applied to plants,
take into consideration the effect of the
substance upon the plants
The effect of kerosene upon plants is
q pulling matter. and one about which
we are not able to make generaliza-
tions. We are able to freely wet some
plants with undiluted kerosene without
any appreciable injuries resulting to
them, while, on the other hand, a small
quantity applied to other plants will
usually destroy them. The matter is
more puzzling when we find that certain
of our hardy forest trees are easily in
jured by kerosene, while certain deli
cate, tropical herbaceous plants are not
injured by it.
If kerosene could be easily diluted
with water its use as an insecticide
would doubtless become much more gen.
eral; but it is so much lighter than wa
ter that, in any attempt to mix the two
substances. the kerosene quickly sepa-
rates from the water and floats upon it.
During recent years considerable at
tention has been given to making emul-
sions of kerosene which can be diluted
to greater or less extent. 1t is claimed
by those who have had much more ex-
perience in the matter than /, that
these emulsions can be readily made,
and dilutions of them safely employed
in many cases.
Kerosene emulsion is made by churn-
ing together milk and kerosene, in the
proportion of one part of milk and two
parts of kerosene. The best way to do
the churning is to use force-pump and
spray-nozzle, and to pump back into the
vessel containing the mixture. In this
way, the churning can be done very
thoroughly in short time. It is said
that the emulsion is formed not grad
ually, but suddenly; in short, to use a
familiar phrase, sit comes" like butter.
The emulsion, if perfect. forms cream
which hardens on cooling and should
adhere without oilineSS to the surface
of glass.
In regions where it is not easy to get
milk. solution of soap made by dis
solving one pound of soap in two gallons
of hot water may be used as a substitute
fo- milk. This solution should be add
ed to the kerosene, boiling hot, and then
the mixture churned until the emulsion
is formed as described above. For Or
binary purposes, in using kerosene
emulsion, it is diluted with nine times
its bulk of water. In this case one
pound of soap and four gallons of kero-
sene make sixty gallons of wash.
In using kerosene in this way, great
pains must be taken to have the emul-
sion perfect one; otherwise the kero-
sene will quickly break from it when it
is diluted with water. Even then, in
making the application, the wash should
be frequently stirred, especially if there
is the slightest Indication of the separ
alton of the emulsion from the water.
In using either strong alkaline solutions
or kerosene emulsion. 1 advocate the
making of preliminary experiments
upon few plants, and carefully noting
the results, also the putting of the
remedies only in the hands of reliable
workmen; otherwise, through some
mistake or carelessness. great amount
of injury may be done.