PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 275 



aphis or plant louse. • The same causes that broug-ht this insect into being 

 will produce it again. These insects have a number of enemies — the 

 ichneumen and the lady bug destroy them. The hot sun and severe showers 

 of rain will also destroy them. They make their appearance in places 

 where they were never seen before, and they multiply with astonishing 

 rapidity, and sometimes disappear very suddenly. Some men act as though 

 their mission on earth was to war npon insects, and they are just as likely 

 to kill their friends as enemies. They do not know that the natural food of 

 the lady bug is just such insects as this oat aphis. 



Wild Buckwheat. 



Mr. 0. Bridgeman, of St. Cloud, Minnesota, wants to know what to do 

 with prairie land which has been cultivated a few years, and then becomes 

 so infected with wild buckwheat as almost to destroy the crop. How can 

 it be eradicated ? AVhat will the effect of clover be on such land ? What 

 is the best time to sow it, and how much seed per acre ? Our soil and cli- 

 mate are better adapted to small grain than Indian corn, so we cannot hoe 

 out this pest. 



Mr. Robinson said he could not tell what Mr. Bridgeman means by wild 

 buckwheat, without the botanical name, which should, if possible, be always 

 given. 



Dr. Trimble. — I presume it is a very common, tangling vine, which bears 

 a seed exactly like buckwheat, which quails are very fond of, and live upon 

 in winter where it abounds. 



Prof. Mapes. — Nothing but clean culture, with some hoed crop, will rid 

 the land of this and all other weeds. It always pays to keep land clean, if 

 it is done by horsework instead of handwork, and the best implement for 

 weedy ground is the one known as the carrot-weeder, which cuts up and 

 combs out the weeds. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The best time to sow clover is early in the spring, 

 with small grain. If upon winter wheat, sow the clover on the last snow, 

 at least four quarts to the acre. 



Beans as a Farm Crop. 



Mr. F. B. Redmond, of Niagara county, N. Y., wants to know what kind 

 of beans to plant for the most profitable crop. 



The pea been is said to be a great yielder, but ripens late and irregular, 

 which is a serious objection. 



Dr. Trimble. — I believe Lima beans are the most profitable kind grown, 

 as they yield well, and bring a great price. The only objection is that 

 they require poling. 



Prof. Mapes. — The poles are not now so objectionable as formerly, 

 because some of our most successful growers of Lima beans use poles only 

 five feet high, and such are not costly nor liable to blow over. In earl}' 

 spring, place reversed sods in shallow boxes, cutting them in strips in two 

 directions, and with a width of two inches each way, so as to foi-m squares 

 like those of a checker-board. Place these in a light cellar or other situa- 

 tion protected from frost. In each of these squares plant a Lima bean, eye 

 down, with the small end lowest. After settled weather, when there will 



