1C6 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



In some seasons conditions are favorable to growing more than one 

 crop on the same piece of land. Some time ago I gave my system of com- 

 panion cropping in the Nebraska Farmer. Crops that mature at different 

 times may be planted together. This system gives the largest returns 

 from the soil if it is rich enough and there is plenty of water to draw 

 upon during the growing season. Weeds have no chance to get a foothold 

 under this system, and it makes a man believe that Nebraska is as good 

 as any place. 



If each vegetable has its own peculiar enemies, and the insects on 

 the different vegetables are enemies to each other, which I know from 

 observation to be true in many cases, then if we can find out what insects 

 are enemies to each other and group the plants on which they live, insects 

 could fight out their own battle. 



For instance, on early turnips we always find a great many lady- 

 bugs. You may plant a row of cucumbers next to the turnips. When 

 the cucumbers come up the yellow-striped cucumber bug makes his home 

 there; likewise on watermelons, muskmelons, and squashes. If these 

 striped bugs leave any of your vines, then the lice will come and enter 

 the leaves of the vine crops and get away with a few more plants if they 

 are left alone. Now, I have to take care of the yellow cucumber bug; 

 but the lady-bug will get away with the lice so long as any turnips are 

 grown nearby. 



How about the squash vine borer? He does his work after the cu- 

 cumber beetle gets through. He lays his eggs in the vines right above 

 the surface of the ground. The vines will grow from five to ten feet and 

 young squashes may be formed; then we notice the vines begin to die 

 when the squash is half grown. On pulling up the vines we find a large 

 worm in the stalk. 



How are you going to get the bug that lays the egg which produces 

 the worm? You can't always kill him, but you can fool him providing 

 you get acquainted with him to know how he looks. You will find him 

 around the vines when the young plants have their second pair of leaves. 

 Kill him then. Spraying don't always get him. If you want to scare 

 him place some cotton saturated with carbon bisulphide around the 

 young vines and repeat it whenever needed. If you want to fool him 

 plant the squashes among the pumpkins, then remove the pumpkin vines 

 afterwards. Again, you can foil this worm by covering the vines with 

 some soil so the vines will have a chance to make new roots and bring 

 the fruit to its maturity in spite of the worm in the main stalk. 



What an acre of land will produce in financial returns depends a good 

 deal on where it is located. The home market is the best market in the 

 world if one can be established. Farther away from the railroad and 

 markets the products have to pass through the hands of express com- 

 panies and middlemen, and the producer's profit is largely absorbed. An 

 acre of land distant from the market may outyield in quantity and quality, 

 and yet give returns of only $50, where an acre close to the market gives 

 a return of $400. 



