42 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 414. 



it as a pest to be dreaded, largely because of these natural 

 enemies. These enemies, certain ladybirds imported from 

 Australia against the fluted scale, Mr. Parry had tried 

 unsuccessfully to introduce into New Jersey, and he argued 

 that the best hope for the control of this destructive pest 

 in that state lay in securing a supply of them. The paper 

 brought out some discussion, and it was held by some of 

 the most careful observers that differences of climate would 

 prevent the ladybirds from being as effective here as they 

 are in California. Since this meeting we understand that a 

 flying visit through the infested regions has been made by 

 the Entomologist of the New Jersey Experiment Station, 

 who has discovered that Mr. Parry's assertions concerning 

 the spread of the scale were unfortunately too well justified. 

 In many orchards where the presence of the scale had not 

 been previously suspected it was unpleasantly conspicu- 

 ous, and one case was discovered where the insects had 

 been carried for nearly, if not quite, a mile in a straight line, 

 probably by the agency of birds. In the course of an 

 address before the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture, 

 held at Trenton January 14th, Professor Smith called atten- 

 tion to these facts and to the danger threatening the fruit 

 industry of the state. So much alive were the farmers to 

 the importance of the subject-matter that, after some dis- 

 cussion concerning the probability of a successful importa- 

 tion, a resolution was adopted, asking the Legislature of 

 New Jersey for an appropriation of one thousand dollars 

 for the purpose of importing into the state of New Jersey 

 such of the predaceous or parasitic insects as might be 

 found feeding upon the scale in California or elsewhere. 

 The resolution was unanimously adopted, and was at once 

 referred to the legislative committee and will be pushed as 

 soon as the Legislature reconvenes. There is no doubt as 

 to the importance of the matter, and there is no doubt that 

 the state of New Jersey owes it to so important an industry 

 as that of fruit-growing to offer it every possible measure of 

 protection. The sum asked for is ridiculously small com- 

 pared with the possible benefits, and there seems to be at 

 least a fair chance of success. Of all the Atlantic fruit states 

 New Jersey is worst infested and has most to lose, while 

 offering unusual facilities, from its numerous closely set 

 orchards, for the spread of the scale. 



Perhaps it is worth stating that the late Dr. C. V. Riley, 

 by whose advice the predaceous insects that so com- 

 pletely destroyed the Cottony Cushion scale were intro- 

 duced into California, after visiting that state early in 1895, 

 argued at a meeting of the Entomological Society of Wash- 

 ington that an attempt should be made to import the coc- 

 cinellids from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. The opinion 

 of so conservative a man ought to have some weight in 

 a question like this, and we think that there is sufficient 

 probability of success to justify the experiment. 



Self-reliance in Farming. 



IN a recent editorial article in this journal it is said that 

 one advantage of a broad education in agriculture is 

 that it makes more self-reliant men, and I am prompted to 

 add a few observations on this subject. For many years the 

 farmer has been scolded on every hand for following the 

 ways of his father and grandfather in managing his 

 farm. This steady rain of advice, urging him to turn 

 from the accustomed ways of his fathers, was freely offered 

 even before there was sufficient knowledge of a true 

 science of agriculture to give the advice any specific merit. 

 If the farmer must take up new ways, it was not too much 

 to ask that these new ways be defined and described. But, 

 for the most part, no adequate method of revolution was 

 proposed, although it was easy to see that there was reason 

 enough for a change. Under the circumstances, the farmer, 

 of course, did little or nothing. He felt that little could be 

 gained by jumping from the frying-pan when the chances 

 were that he would land in the fire. He accepted the 

 advice as good on general principles, but he saw no way 

 of paying mortgages with it. 



Now all has changed. With the advent of the experi- 

 ment stations and the Babel of new teaching, there are 

 methods and to spare for the improving of farming. 

 The farmer will be scolded no longer. He will convert 

 himself to the new ideas forthwith, and he will ask for. 

 advice and help in every emergency ; for, were not the 

 stations and the agricultural colleges made for his benefit? 

 But, really, the great danger now is that the farmer will 

 lose something of his accustomed balance and self-reliance, 

 and desire a doctor from an experiment station whenever a 

 strange bug or a penerse soil perplexes him. . 



Every experiment station is burdened with questions 

 which it cannot answer, and never can answer. They are 

 local questions — questions which do not have to do with 

 principles, but with the particular matters which pertain to 

 the one farm or to the personality of the farmer. The com- 

 monest question of this type is, "What varieties shall I 

 plant?" Now, this question no one can answer for 

 another. It is purely a local and personal question. For 

 myself, I invariably refuse to advise. I am willing to say 

 that I know some varieties which please me, and to name 

 them, but I cannot advise any one else to plant them. The 

 question really shows that the questioner has not yet mas- 

 tered and adopted the fundamental principle of the modern 

 teaching, which is that every man must manage his farm 

 as seems best for his particular conditions and aspirations. 

 If he asks what varieties of apples he shall plant for drying, 

 or what he shall plant for the foreign markets, then a more 

 direct answer can be given him ; and the questioner has' 

 arrived at the point of observing that successful farming is 

 not copying after others, but is the working out of a local 

 problem. 



All this is equivalent to saying that the experiment station 

 and the agricultural college do not exist for the purpose of 

 managing everybody's or anybody's farm. More than ever 

 before, the farmer must collect opinions and evidence, 

 then weigh them and choose. The stations should enun- 

 ciate principles — illustrating them by concrete examples — 

 rather than lay down rules. 



Cornell University. L. H. Bailey. 



Trees of Minor Importance for Western Planting. — II. 



THE Russian Mulberry was brought to America in 

 great numbers by the Mennonites, who, during the 

 decade following 1870, settled in large colonies in Marion, 

 McPherson and Harvey counties, Kansas. By them it was 

 introduced to their American neighbors, and was quite 

 extensively planted in that vicinity. Many of these plant- 

 ers seem to have expected too much of it, for it has evi- 

 dently declined in favor in recent years. As grown in this 

 section, it is notably polymorphous in fruit, foliage and form 

 of the head. Varieties appear bearing pure white fruits, 

 and others deep black ones. Occasionally a tree of the 

 black-fruited sort appears to be wonderfully productive. I 

 have seen the fruit sold in the market, bringing six to ten 

 cents a quart, but the demand is not great, and the bargain 

 is a poor one for both buyer and seller. The fruit cooked 

 with gooseberries or other very acid amendments is pala- 

 table, and in the absence of blackberries and raspberries is 

 not altogether to be despised. 



Throughout central Kansas and eastern Oklahoma Morus 

 rubra is native to the streams, and though not common, 

 wild or cultivated, makes a good tree. In the scattered 

 instances where I have seen it planted it gives a uniformly 

 vigorous growth, with clear straight trunk, symmetrical 

 top and dark rich foliage. It seems to me that it should 

 have had a more extensive trial in timber plantings. 



The western limit of the Sycamore, Platanusoccidentalis, 

 runs through Salina, Marion and Wintield, Kansas, and 

 Guthrie, Oklahoma. East of this line it is neither abun- 

 dant nor uncommon along streams, and within its natural 

 territory is sometimes used as a shade tree or for streets. 

 It seems to be well adapted to street-planting. The best 

 planted specimens I have seen are at Manhattan, Kansas, 

 where one tree in particular, standing by itself and having 



