Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 383 Pesticide

After ten days of hard work, the cotton aphid disease on the cotton plants has improved a lot. The killing rate of willow leaf agent on cotton aphids is about 70%.

However, there were still some cotton aphids on a small part of the cotton plants, which made the flower buds feel uncomfortable, so they went to Yuanying Village to find the wormwood they had exchanged.

Chop the wormwood into small pieces, add clean water in a ratio of 1:3, soak for two hours, then filter out the wormwood residue, add a large bucket of water to the remaining wormwood water, and spray the cotton crops for the second time. It took another five or six days to finally eliminate all the cotton aphids.

Hualei thought that the temperature was high now, and it was the peak period for aphids to occur in various vegetables and crops. So, he made a lot of willow leaf agent and wormwood water, and sprayed them on many crops on the farm that were prone to aphids. Then he made a lot of plant ash water and spread it on the fields to prevent insects and diseases on the crops.

Originally thought that after such measures, there should be no major problems, but perhaps due to the abnormal weather this year, Tian Changshui and his brothers at Yuanying Village also discovered that various vegetables on the village were infested with cabbage worms and cabbage borers, and they urgently needed pest control.

Tian Changshui had already asked some of the old people and children in the village to help catch cabbage worms with their bare hands. So Hualei rushed to Yuanying Village again.

The situation is just as Brother Tian Changshui said. The leaves and stems of many vegetables are already spotted, causing the vegetables to lose a lot of nutrients and water, and the leaves become yellow and shriveled.

In addition, the bite marks and feces left by cabbage worms on the surface of the plants greatly affect the quality of the vegetables. If they are sent to taverns and the canteen of the Imperial Academy, it is definitely not acceptable.

So, Hualei asked someone to pick a lot of neem leaves. After mashing the fresh neem leaves, he added water in a 1:1 ratio. After soaking for an hour, he filtered out the residue, poured in an appropriate amount of clean water, stirred evenly, and sprayed the leaves on various green vegetables, radishes and other vegetables to prevent and control cabbage loopers and cabbage borers.

Then they collected the corpses of cabbage worms caught by the old man and the little kids, mashed them into pulp, added clean water in a certain proportion and soaked them for twelve hours. The liquid was filtered out, and then two large buckets of water were added. An appropriate amount of wood ash was added and mixed thoroughly to make a special "medicine liquid".

If these "medicine liquids" are sprayed on crops attacked by the same pests, the insecticide rate can reach more than 90%. Even other different types of pests will refuse to eat and starve to death when they smell this odor.

The process of making medicine using cabbage worms is actually very disgusting, but the medicine produced is better than the juice from neem leaves.

In this age without pesticides, Hualei can no longer be sentimental. He just stepped aside when Tian Changshui and his brother were crushing cabbage worms.

After killing all the insects on the vegetables on the farm and their condition gradually improved, Hua Lei returned to the house with peace of mind and continued to read and rest at home. However, she was shocked to find that a book she casually pulled out from the bookshelf had a faint musty smell.

You know, my study room now can be regarded as a small library. The various books I bought from the printing house and the books brought back from various places by my own ships are so numerous that they have filled the six bookshelves against the wall.

The content is also varied and all-encompassing. From regional records to Shanhaijing, from documentary to mythology, from practicality to collection value, you can find them all on the bookshelf. And basically, there is only one copy of each book, and you can't find a second copy. If it is eaten by insects or mold, it will be a huge loss.

So, Hualei prepared to tidy up the study. She asked Qingying and Qinglian to move all the books to the yard and put them on bamboo plaques to dry them. Hualei sat aside and began to check the preservation of each book. After checking it once, it was not bad. Except for some books that had a slight damp and musty smell, there were no major problems with the others.

Then, all the bookshelves in the study were half wiped and moved under the sun to remove moisture, and lime powder was put in all the corners of the study to kill insects and remove moisture.

On the other hand, we also asked people to go to the wild to collect rue and prepare to make sachets to protect books from insects and mildew, as the sachets used last year had become ineffective.

Rue is also called stinkweed because its leaves emit a strong, unpleasant odor that many insects do not like. So placing it in the study can protect books from insects and mildew.

However, some people think that rue smells very good, strong, warm, and long aftertaste, and the buds are the latter. Now is the harvest season for rue, which is suitable for picking and collecting.

A few days later, fresh rue was delivered to the house. After washing the rue, I put it in the sun to dry completely, cut it into small pieces, and put it into the sewn cloth bag. To enhance the effect, I also put some strong-flavored wild pepper seeds in the flower buds, which I picked from the northern mountain.

Then he stuffed the sachets into every corner of the bookshelf. After he had tidied up his own study, Hua Lei also helped to tidy up Xiaoyuan's study and put away the rue sachets.

Of course, Hualei also checked other places in the house, especially the warehouse. Hualei took advantage of the fine weather to take out everything inside and dry them in the sun, then sprinkled quicklime powder in every corner.

There are no tall buildings or reinforced concrete like in the past, so it is easy for the room to get damp and moldy. There is no better way except to check more often and dry it frequently. After completing these, Hualei finally relaxed and continued to read and write leisurely in the study.

In this way, Hualei stayed at home every day, reading books, writing, and eating the nourishing medicinal food made by Aunt Song. She spent a long vacation unknowingly. When the weather was a little cooler, she was fully revived and started her busy life again.

At this time, the ponds on the west hill of Huangshan had been dug, and the windmill made by the Ministry of Industry had been installed. The weeds in the basin surrounded by several hills had been cleared, and a new round of busyness began.

Hualei had not yet decided what to plant on the West Mountain, but the ship returning from Mobei brought her another surprise.

When Tian Xiaofu put a sack of seeds in front of Hualei and showed it to her, Hualei realized that it was rapeseed. Rapeseed was not called rapeseed in the Great Sheng Dynasty, but was called "cold vegetable" or "tai mustard".