The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1912-06-21
In Orchard and Field
qHappenings Of Moment to the Man Behind the Plow
TOBACCO SPRAYS

~O"SSO W univ
Professor A. L. Melander, Ento.
mologist Of the State Experiment
Station, gives the following infor.
nation about sprays.
For such insects as do not &C.
tually chew and swallow particles
OF leaf matter; in this class, par.
ticularly the various species of aphis
there is no better spray than the to.
bacco preparations. The sprays
may be made at home by sleeping
cheap tobacco with water from
thirty minutes to one hour. The
decoction should not be boiled but
kept just under the boiling point.
Tobacco scraps may be used in
making this decoction at the rate OF
one pound of leaves to every four
gallons of final dilution, or two
pounds of stems to make the same
amount.
Extracts of tobacco are now on
the market which do away with the
trouble of preparing the decoction.
They are highly concentrated and
should be used according to the
directions on the containers. The
best known of these is now sold in
| Washington by the carload and is a
product of the Kentucky Tobacco
Products Company. 1t is known as
Black Leaf" and may be used one
part added to from sixty-fve to one
hundred parts of water. The black
leaf is thick, sirupy, black SUBJ
stance which may soil the fruit. A
/ new form of the spray is called
Black Leaf-4O." This is nicotine
sulphate and is so concentrated that
it will 60 ten times as far as the old
black leaf. At this dilution it does
not stain the fruit, and, therefore,
may be used on fruit about to be
harvested and on vegetables such as
lettuce, peas, etc.
Any tobacco spray has its effect
greatly increased by the addition of
soap. Soaps made of cresylic acid.
sold on the market as "lysol" or
'cresol,' have the property of lib
Grating nicotine. If they are added
to the tobacco sprays they will per-
NIT a greater dilution of the to-
hacco. However, in the case of
black leaf-4O, which is nearly pure
nicotine. they are no more valuable
than ordinary soaps. Fish oil soap,
whale oil soap, common laundry
soap, or even washing powders may
be used in combination with the to-
bacco sprays at the rate of about
one pound of soap to every fifteen
gallons of the spray. Most insects
have a greasy body. The tobacco
spray should wet them in order to
kill them. A water spray will not
adhere to the insects body, but the
addition of the soap makes the spray
adhesive and also makes it have
greater penetration.
The tobacco spray is particularly
adapted as summer spray. 1t is
extremely valuable for all kinds of
aphis, including those species af-
fecting house plants. The woody
aphis, black cherry aphis, the vari-
Gus species of green aphis, the leaf
hopper, red spiders, flea beetles,
and the young of scale insects, all
can be controlled by this spray.
This makes probably the best spray
for oyster shell bark louise and should
be given for that insect as soon as
the young hatch, which is usually
about the first of June.
Although primarily a contact
spray, the tobacco kills partly by
suffocation. For this reason, it
surpasses the other contact sprays,
like kerosene emulsion or whale oil
soap. After an aphis has curled a
leaf it is difficult to control it with
kerosene emulsion, for the curled
leaf keeps the spray from touching
the aphis' body. A drop of tobacco
spray, however, i'll the leaf will give
off fumes which will prevent the
breathing of the aphis and thus can
be depended upon even though the
tree may have its leaves badly curled.