The Question Box. 399 



ture two or three years, I do not believe we would be troubled 

 with blight. For myself I would say I have never been troubled 

 with it much. 



Mr. Cook. — Bean blight is a specific germ disease and appears 

 on rich land just as often as on poor land. Such is the case on 

 Long Island, where commercial fertilizers are used very largely. 



A Farmer. — My experience is that blight has done the most 

 mischief on my richest land, therefore I do not believe that the 

 disease is due to poor soil. 



Mr. Cook. — Possibly spraying wdth the Bordeaux will prevent 

 the appearance of the disease, but it must be applied to prevent 

 its appearance, not to cure it. It will never do that, any more 

 than it will prevent potato rot if the vines are sprayed after they 

 have been attacked with the rot blight. We spray potatoes to pre- 

 vent, not to cure, rot. 



Will Mr. Van Alstyne say a word in relation to the elm tree beetle? 



Answer. — We have sprayed our elms with paris green — half 

 pound in 30 gallons of water. We have 175 elms which we 

 sprayed, two men doing it in three days. They climbed the trees 

 and used a hose among the branches. If you have elm trees, the 

 village board ought to look after them. Purchase a pump then 

 employ a competent man to do the work. The English elms in 

 some sections have been nearly destroyed by the worm, but the 

 natives, being stronger and having better foliage, seem to resist 

 its attacks. If one will carefully watch them, many may be de- 

 stroyed before they hatch, because the fly lays its eggs at the roots 

 of the tree, and when they have hatched, the worms crawl up the 

 tree and begin their work of devastation by eating the young 

 foliasre. 



•^e^ 



How shall we rid a field that we want planted with potatoes, of wire 

 worms? 



Mr. Litchard. — Begin long before you want to crop the field 

 with potatoes to frequently plow, and a rotation of crops will in 

 time rid the land of them. 



