The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1912-06-21
TOBACCO SPRAY FOR
THE WOODY APHIS
Is Recommended by Professor of State
College for the Insects Which are
Common in This Section

Professor A. L. Melander, Entomo-
logist of the State Experiment station,
gives the following information about
tobacco sprays.
For such insects as do not actually
chew and swallow particles OF leaf
matter, in this class, particularly the
various species Of aphis, there is no
better spray than the Tobacco prepa-
rations. 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 max
ing 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 tabacco 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
five to one hundred parts of water.
The black leaf is thick, sirupy, black
substance 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 leaf. AS
this dilution does not stain the fruit
and, therefore, may be used on fruit
about to be harvested and on vegeta-
bles 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 "lysop' or ere
SOL" have the property of liberating
nicotine. If they are added to the
tobacco sprays they will permit
greater dilution of the tobacco. How
ever, in the case of black leaf-40,
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
tobacco 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 in
sect's 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 ex-
tremery valuable for all kinds of aphis,
including those species affecting house
plants. The woolly aphis, black cherry
aphis, the various species of green
aphis, the leaf-hopper, red spiders, flea
beetles, and the young of scale in
sects, 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 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 leaf it is difficult to control
it with kerosene emulsion, for the
curled leaf keeps the spray from touch
ing the aphis' body. A drop of to-
bacco spray, however, in 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.