A NON-POISONOUS INSECTICIDE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2240, 4 February 1897, Page 8

A NON-POISONOUS INSECTICIDE.

j Mr George Wilks, a well-known Feilding settler, was in town inst week, when he took out a patent for a new non-poisonous insecticide of which he is the inventor. With this insecticide he has almost completely vleaned hia 1 orohard of scale and woolly aphis. 'Xhe insecticide can be made in two forms — one a thickish j paste with vhich to paint the trees affected j with 'olighr, the other an emulsion for spraying ! purposes. In the course of a letter written to I an Auckland contemporary Mr Wilks gives the ', following interesting account of his experiences with the insecticide :—: — For about 12 years I have off and on made a study of the growing of fruit trees, their insect pests, and the various nostrums recommended for combating the latter. I have studied the American departmental reports of Professors Riley and Oornstock, among other works, giving j the moxfc likely remedies for trial ; and I set mv- [ self the task of trying to get a cheap, or fairly cheap, remedy that would do for every form of pest, fungoid, or insect, as the ordinary settler, ; with his 50 or 100 trees, cannot afford the time to bother with a dozen different remedies for a dozen different things. During the years 1894 *nd 1895 I neglected my orchard, and in coa-

sequence scale (Mytilapsis pomorum) and woolly aphis ran riot. In August last I made j a preparation consisting of one chemical mix- ! ture containing three constituents ; to this I ! added four other substances. This made a j thickish paste, which I painted over all the parts . of my tree? affected with blight during the first week in September, just before the buds began to burst. To date uo part that was carefully coated with the paint has been attacked by the 1 woolly apbis, and the eggs of the scale have been mostly devitalised or so sealed over that the eggs have not been able to hatch out. Instead of millions of fresh scale this year I "nave not more than a hundred ; and my trees j that were gradually dying have burst out into • foliage all over the stem', showing that my j dressing has not injured the trees, and also I demonstrating that, now 'he insects .s'e ' destroyed, the trees are flourishing ; and in j addition some of them are weighed down with , fruit, which the trees are holdiug not withstand- i ing the dry speU and the strong winds. My ' preparation keeps the trees free from mosses and lichens. Mr Kirk, the Government ' biologist, will examine my trees again in March, , when he will then report to the Government. My dressing can be made into an emulsion and sprayed, and vied for apple scab, codliu moth, &c, as well as killing the ground aphis. I A t present lam experimenting with the strengths of the spraying mixtures, and cannot, therefore, speak positively on this matter. I am, however, in a position to state that mussel and oyster scale cm ba eradicated iv two if not in one season by painting, which, though tedious,, is in tbe loDg run a cheaper process than constant spraying, which if not done two or three times when tbe insects are leaving their shells is of little or no good. I m*y add that tho dreasiug is non-poisouous, • nd yet at the same time kills eggs as well as injects, thereby destroying tho whole brood. If I can get it put on the market at 6uch a price that it will pay settlers to use it, j I \till do so. T v fact, I am taking steps in that direction now. Mr W. M. Maskell, whose book oa scale injects ought to brf in the hands of everyone troubled with scale blight-, wtifces 1 me :—"lf: — "If you have discovered something which may be relied upou in every instance and under ! all conditions, you have done something quite new and of immense vie." I We may add that Mr Wilks informs us that i he can guarantee his insecticide to be absolutely 1 non-poi»onous. This in itself is a great advan- ; tage. As proot of his contention that his j dressing doss not injure the trees, Mr "Wilts ! has shown us short branches treated with the j dressing some time ago, upon which a quantity of healthy new buds have since appeared. He . estimate) that he can place the insecticide on | the market at xbtfub 5s to 6« a gallon, and at , this price it will be much cheaper than arsenic ! and other insecticides, an a very little of it goes I a long way. Aftar Mr Kirk has examined Mr Wilka's o'cbard in March next we are promised a full report. Meanwhile Mr Wilks has fully protected his invention by patent. We wish i hiafl every success with his in-eefcicide, which • shonld prove a great boon to New Zealand j fruit-growers. — New Zealand Mail.