32 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. JAN. io 
All Sorts. 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT 
STATIONS. 
Recent Experiment Station Bulletins. 
[Readers wanting any of these Bulletins should write to the 
secretary of the experiment station in each case.] 
New York, Cornell, Ithaca, Bulletin 23 : Insects Injurious to 
Fruit. 
Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Bulletins 2 , 3 and 4 : Texas Screw- 
worm, Horticultural Department Report, Irish Potatoes. 
Tennessee, Knoxville, Bulletin 5 , Vol. 3 : Fruit Trees at the 
Experiment Station. 
New Jersey, New Brunswick, Bulletin 76 : Fungous Diseases of 
Sweet Potatoes. 
Dr. W. C. Stubbs, Louisiana Station (Bulletin 4), be¬ 
lieves that his State may become “ at no distant day, the 
early market garden for the Northern and Western 
States.” To stimulate “the development of this preor¬ 
dained destiny ” he has conducted a number of interesting 
experiments with potatoes. There are two stations in 
Louisiana—one in the northern and the other in the south¬ 
ern part of the State. The questions asked of the experi¬ 
ments were : 1. What is the best market potato for Louis¬ 
iana ? 2. Are Western or Southern grown seed potatoes 
as valuable as those grown at the East? 3. What fertil¬ 
izer should the Louisiana farmer use ? At the southern 
station out of 10 vaiieties tested the Rural Blush gave the 
best yield—while the Rural New Yorker No. 2 gave the 
lowest. We are not told how large the plots were. West¬ 
ern grown potatoes outyielded those sent from Boston. At 
the northern station (Calhoun County) 57 varieties were 
tested, Peerless (seed from Boston) gave the greatest 
weight, large and small, with Early Rose (Vermont seed) 
and Beauty of Hebron next in order. The R N.-Y. trench 
system of planting was followed. For the Louisiana soil, 
climate, market and purse, the best fertilizer seems to be 
some form of cotton seed (whole, crushed or ground) com¬ 
bined with acid phosphate. The mineral forms of nitro¬ 
gen were disappointing, being doubtless washed from the 
soil by the heavy rains. Louisiana potatoes sent to the 
Chicago market under unfavorable conditions netted the 
grower over $50 per acre. “ The recent appearance of the 
Colorado potato beetle ” is noted. 
Tennessee ought to become one of the first fruit produc¬ 
ing States in the Union, says R. L. Watts, Tennessee Sta¬ 
tion (Bulletin 5). She ought to, because her soil, climate 
and situation are all favorable for fruit culture and mar¬ 
keting. There is no use in trying to compete with the 
wheat States in wheat growing, he says: better try to send 
the soil fertility away in the form of fruits. The station 
has a small orchard for testing:—there are 182 varieties, in 
all, of apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, apricots, cherries, 
plums and figs. The following apples are successfully 
grown in East Tennessee: Winesap, Yellow Bellflower, R. 
I. Greening, Rome Beauty, Northern Spy, Newtown Pip¬ 
pin, Early Strawberry, Ben Davis, Baldwin and Carolina 
Red June. Dwarf pear trees (standards grafted on quince 
stocks) are advantageous because of the ease of gathering 
the fruit from low trees. Their roots are near the surface 
and thus adapted to soils of medium depth, but they re¬ 
quire more frequent fertilization than standards. Bartlett, 
Flemish Beauty, Seckel, Duchess, Anjou and Le Conte 
succeed in East Tennessee. The difficulty in peach culture 
is the destruction of the fruit buds and blossoms by late 
frosts. Apricots are nearly always destroyed by winds and 
frosts. The same is true of figs, but plums and cherries do 
well. Fruitmen all over the world might do well to study 
this statement: 
It is a common practice by many fruit culturists to face 
the barrels with the very best specimens that can be found. 
This is not only a good way by which the purchaser may 
be deceived, but an excellent means of defrauding ourselves 
of many a profitable sale. The purchaser cannot be de¬ 
ceived the second time by the same party. On the contrary, 
if our fruit is uniform in size and quality throughout the 
barrel, it will become known in the markets, and will al¬ 
ways command a high price. A fruit grower who conscien¬ 
tiously packs his fruit so that it runs uniform throughout, 
soon becomes known to the general dealers, and gains for 
himself a reputation which sells his fruit quickly and at 
the highest figure. 
We have several times referred to the Texas screw 
worm, a terrible pest in Texas and Mexico. H. A. 
Morgan, Louisiana Station, (Bulletin 2) states that the in¬ 
sect has been known to exist all the way from Patagonia 
to Canada. It first came to Texas in 1834. Never until 
this year has it been numerous north of Texas, but this 
year it has caused much damage in Louisiana. It is work¬ 
ing north and though it always disappears on the ap¬ 
proach of winter, it can do great damage during hot 
weather. The maggot is three fourths of an inch long and 
about one-eighth of an inch in diameter. The insect 
breeds in decaying animal and vegetable matter. The 
practice in some southern States of dragging dead animals 
out in the fields to decay or to be devoured by buzzards is 
a courteous invitation to these screw worma, Tne insect 
attacks all animals, including human beings. Any open¬ 
ing of the body or a wound may serve as the point of at¬ 
tack. “ Barbed wire fence and the screw worm go hand 
in hand.” The maggots are hard to kill because most 
applications irritate the raw wounds. Crude carbolic 
acid seems the best remedy. To prevent attacks a mixture 
of tar and grease or fish oil smeared over the parts is 
sufficient. Does the insect propagate rapidly ? Rather ! 
Dr. Morgan states this ‘‘example.” If a pair of screw 
worms start early in April, how many would there be at 
the end of October, allowing 15 days for the growth from 
the egg to the fly and 20,000 as the number of eggs from 
each brood ? Some of our friends with plenty of leisure 
time may figure this out. We fear this insect will cause 
stock breeders considerable trouble. 
There are a few thorns in the way of the Southern mar¬ 
ket gardener, Lousiana Station (Bulletin 3). A few of 
them are late frosts, great abundance of insect pests due 
to the long, warm seasons and great extremes of wet and 
dry. The first trouble, which is but occasional, is reme¬ 
died by later planting ; the second must be fought intelli¬ 
gently, while drainage must be employed to remove the 
third. 
The Bulletin on strawberries prepared by Mr. Ilunn of 
the Geneva (N. Y.) Experiment Station, is the most read¬ 
able and valuable document that has pome from that in¬ 
stitution under its present management. As usual, no 
credit is given to the real author of the bulletin. 
Prof. J. H. Comstock, Cornell Station (Bulletin 23), de¬ 
scribes and illustrates eight injects injurious to fruits. 
They are the pear leaf blister, a stag-beetle borer in the 
pear, the apple bucculatrix, the cherry tree tortrix, the 
cherry tree scallop shell moth, a leaf roller on currants, a 
blackberry cane-borer, and the snowy tree cricket. A clear 
synopsis of this bulletin cab hardly be given. It should 
be read by all interested in fruit culture. 
The latest proposition is to establish an experiment sta¬ 
tion in the Territory of Alaska. The chief feature of this 
station would be the domestication of the reindeer so as 
‘‘not only to support the natives but furnish an article of 
exportation and commerce.” Every well equipped “Santa 
Claus” should have a reindeer. 
SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS. 
B. S. Hoxle, Secretary of the Wisconsin Horticultural 
Society, circulates in advance of every farmer’s institute, 
a circular containing the following: “ It has been clearly 
demonstrated by men already engaged in the business 
that for the production of small fruits in quantity and 
quality, no State can excel Wisconsin, and in suitable 
locations apples are a paying and profitable crop; indeed, 
for the past season of unparalleled shortage, our State 
stands next to Missouri in this respect. Grapes can be 
grown easily and with perfect safety in most localities in 
the entire Southern half of Wisconsin, while facts show 
that not one farmer in fifty produces enough for his own 
family use.” 
The first farmers’ Institute ever held in California was 
held at Tulare. Dec. 10. 
The members of a local prune growers’ association in 
California believe in cooperation to the extent of sending a 
representative to France to estimate the extent and condi¬ 
tion of the French crop. This will enable them to figure 
on their own crop. 
Indiana dairymen—and women—wish to form an associ¬ 
ation to look out for their interests. They will meet Jan¬ 
uary 15 at Indianapolis to perfect arrangements. 
The Farmers’ Alliance has taken a hand in game protec¬ 
tion in Kansas. This season the killing of quail in August 
along the roadsides and in the hedges so aroused the 
enmity of the members that they determined to break up 
all shooting. At the Alliance meetings they passed reso¬ 
lutions that each member should post his land and forbid 
gunning. This determination was carried out with the 
result that when the season opened, amateurs found them¬ 
selves deprived of sport. It would be well if farmers every¬ 
where vigorously imitated this example. How can gun¬ 
ners from the cities, towns and villages be expected to 
distinguish between birds that are useful or harmful to 
the farmer, and even if they could do so, who would be 
foolish enough to expect them to make any distinction in 
slaughtering or trying to slaughter the two classes ? What 
care they about “old hayseed’s ” interests, his land or his 
fences when their own pleasure is in question ? 
READER’S NOTES. 
A good deal of nonsense is written nowadays about fly¬ 
ing machines and air-ships. Somehow people seem to have 
an idea that a ship traveling through the air could at once 
develop increased speed with less friction and less power. 
A writer in the North American Review shows the absurd¬ 
ity of this idea. The one sole advantage of aerial transit, 
he says, lies in the direct route possible—the “beeline” 
between two points. In all other respects there would be 
a loss. Railroad trains at the present day “ travel through 
the air” with the advantage of having a solid base be¬ 
neath the air'to rest upon. A cargo of goods or passen¬ 
gers will not lose its weight by being elevated above the 
earth. The friction will be greater in the air, the driving 
wheels of an air train could get no grip except on the thin 
air, and a tremendous force must be exerted to maintain 
the cargo above the earth. A force of 10 pounds, applied 
to the best advantage, will move a ton on the earth’s sur¬ 
face. To move a ton 100 feet above the earth’s surface will 
require a force of 2,010 pounds because the force must first 
be lifted. A flying machine, that will enable a powerful 
man to propel himself through the air is among the near 
possibilities; but the practical world has little or no use 
for such a machine, but so long as the laws of gravity re¬ 
main unchanged transit through the air can never bemade 
at a profit. 
Every country in the world—even Sweden and Norway 
—seems to be determined to try to produce sugar at home. 
The sugar beet is supposed to be the “ gentleman that pays 
the sugar bill.” The following is taken from the Farmers’ 
Gazette, an Irish publication : “ Mr. Henry Mirehouse, of 
Bristol (England), has made a quantity of sugar from beet 
roots grown on his own farm, the sample of which is of a 
whitish-gray color and very sweet. Its appearance would 
be against its use for the table, but for preserves it should 
be very valuable. It is the intention of Mr. Mirehouse to 
start a factory for its manufacture, and to do this he asks 
farmers to supply him with the produce of at least 1,000 
acres, which he is prepared to purchase at the rate of 16s 
per ton. It is claimed that about 15 tons of roots per acre 
can be grown, so that the farmer would get about £7 
($34.05) per acre for his crop.” The Gazettesays about this 
that with the same labor and a little more manure an 
Irish farmer can grow 25 tons of turnips, worth 10s to feed 
to stock or more in the city “ root market,” while sugar 
beets are worth at least 20s for feeding. This would mean 
that Ireland had better buy her sugar elsewhere. 
The Christian Union recently printed a very valuable 
symposium on the financial situation—the causes for the 
present money stringency and the probability of future 
financial panics. Some of the leading business men of 
New York and Brooklyn contribute their views, but there 
are hardly any two alike. The Christian Union concludes 
that three main causes have led to the money stringency. 
These are: 1. The increase in the volume of money or 
“ cash ” has not kept pace with the increase in business. 
This has built up an enormous credit system—“bits of 
paper” representing the world’s great transactions. 2. 
Over-speculation—probably an outgrowth of the “credit ” 
system. 3. The concentration of the country’s wealth in a 
few hands. It must be conceded by every thoughtful 
man that such a crisis as we have j ust experienced indicates 
that something is wrong in our present industrial or 
financial organizations. What is it ? In this symposium 
there is one sentence of particular interest to farmers. 
David Stone, the able and veteran editor of the N. Y. 
Journal of Commerce, says: “In our country a large 
number of business men in all our commercial centers are 
living on speculation. Out of every hundred thousand 
bushels of grain and every hundred thousand dollars’ 
worth of cotton only about five per cent of it Is intended 
for actual delivery. These people are living, most of the 
time, either on the bets they have won or the bets they 
expect to win.” That is an absolutely true statement. 
Such men wonder what “ the farmers are growling about 
anyway !” They will doubtless learn in time. 
The Republic of Brazil now comes forth as a strong com¬ 
petitor of the United States in the immigration market. 
It is making strong efforts to present superior attractions 
to Europeans who desire a new home. A company with a 
capital stock of $25,000,000 has been formed to bring over 
good families and settle them on the public lands. These 
immigrants will not be permitted to remain in the cities 
but will be carried at once to one of the colonies and put 
at work. Liberal grants of land and bounties ranging 
from $25 to $125 are also made to desirable agricultural im¬ 
migrants and families. With an area of 3,200,000 square 
miles—about that of the United States—Brazil has a civ¬ 
ilized and semi civilized population of about 14,000,000 at 
the most. It is very natural, therefore, that she should be 
anxious to attract immigration. The people who go there 
are chiefly Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Greeks and 
French, especially those from the Mediterranean coast, as 
they are better adapted to the climate than any other class 
of immigrants. Some English and Americans also settle 
there, but almost exclusively in the cities, though a few en¬ 
gage in stock raising or take positions of skill or trust on 
the large coffee and sugar plantations. When our unoc 
cupied territory was “unlimited,” and our population 
small, it was the part of wisdom to attract immigrants in 
every honest, legitimate way; is it so any longer? Aus¬ 
tralia, New Zealand, Cape Colony and Argentine have 
for years been offering bounties of land or money to im¬ 
migrants, and lately the Congo Free State, and the various 
English, German, French and Italian “ spheres of influ¬ 
ence ” on the Dark Continent have begun to offer alluring 
baits to the same nomadic class. For years Brazil also has 
been trying to attract more population; but the new Repub¬ 
lic has greatly increased the inducements to immigrants. 
Will this scheme and all the others in the field settle 
our own immigration question by tapping the tide 
of immigrants that now pours into our country? It looks 
to an outsider as though Brazil would take the cream and 
permit the skim milk to run to us; but to one better ac¬ 
quainted with such matte?s there is little doubt that the 
rush to this country will continue until the attractions 
here are fewer and less tempting or until the influx is 
checked by legislation. The current has been flowing 
hitherward for generations, and it is hard to deflect the 
course of the Mi-sissippi or the Gulf Stream. 
There is a good deal of talk about the cost of growing 
wool in Australia. On page 33 of this issue, a Dakota 
farmer gives some figures relating to his business. What 
about “pauper labor’^which American sheepmen dread ? 
J. D. Connolly, U. S. Consul at Auckland, New Zealand, 
submits some figures regarding the cost of sheep farming 
in that country. The annual co3t of a sheep is about 50 
cents. The average wage paid is $4 86 per week and 
found, and the average weight of the fleece is, Merinos, 
five pounds ; cross-breds, eight pounds. The average 
price of wool is 17 cents per pound. On the large sheep 
“stations,” 40,000 sheep is a fair average, while on inclosed 
farms 200 to 3,000 head are kept. The only margin in this 
business would seem to be in keeping a large flock on free 
land. • __ 
SOCIETY MEETINGS TO COME. 
Oregon Horticultural Society, Portland, Jan. 13—14. 
Missouri Dairymen and Creamerymen, Jefferson City, 
January 14—16. 
California Citrus Fair, Marysville, January 12—19. 
Ohio Institute of Stock Breeders and Farmers, Colum¬ 
bus, January 13—15, 
Indiana meetings as follows, all at Indianapolis : Cane 
Growers’Association, January 13; Trotting and Pacing 
Horse Breeders’, January 14; Jersey Cattle Breeders’, 
January 15; Beekeepers’, January 16 ; Shorthorn Breeders’, 
January 17 ; Wool Growers’, January 18 ; Swine Breeders’, 
January 19; State Poultry, January 23; Indiana Tile- 
makers’, January 22; Indiana State Florists’, January 21. 
