876» 
December 10 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
any animal is limited by its food supply. Under the methods of preventing the injuries of most of them have AMERICAN FARM PARTNERSHIPS IN 1891. 
natural conditions existing on this-continent before 
the advent of the white man, those insects which fed 
been devised. There is space here merely to mention 
a few of the general methods that have been success- 
“ Is there any chance for a young man with good habits to rent or 
buy a small farm, and by economy and steady work secure for himself 
on wild plants, had, as a rule, only a limited food supply. 
The apple maggot or railroad worm, for example, is 
supposed to have bred originally in the wild haws of 
the woods. The fly had then usually to find here and 
there an isolated tree bearing the fruit in whicli it de¬ 
posited its eggs. Its chances of being caught by a bird 
or entrapped in a spider’s nest while on this search 
were very good, so that the scarcity of the food supply 
not only directly limited the number of individuals 
that could be produced, but, being scattered, it increased 
the chances of the adult insects falling a prey to ene¬ 
mies. But in a modern apple orchard all this is 
changed ; the food supply is almost unlimited, and is 
so massed together that the insect runs little risk in 
passing from fruit to fruit, or from tree to tree. Hence 
it can multiply indefinitely unless man uses some 
means of checking it. The same line of reasoning 
applies to a large proportion of our injurious insects. 
We are indebted to our commerce on sea and land 
for many of the most noxious insects. Brought to our 
shores from Europe, Asia or Australia by ships, many 
of these pests have found a land which for them was 
flowing with milk and honey, and in which their 
hereditary enemies across the water had not yet gained 
a foothold. Hence they have multiplied without let 
or hindrance, and by natural and artificial means— 
notably the railway trains—they 
have rapidly overrun the country 
of their adoption. 
The abandoned or neglected 
fields and orchards all over the 
a home In a few years ? Could a man with a few hundred dollars make 
the growing of fruits or potatoes, or some other speciality, pay well 
enough to enable him, ere long, to buy a small farm ?” 
Good habits, economy and steady work, with a few 
hundred dollars intelligently employed, will accomplish 
the above objects in any good locality. These are the 
essentials to success. Locality, kind of crops and man¬ 
ner of farming are minor matters easily settled in the 
arrangement of details as suggested by circumstances 
in individual cases. The growing of small fruits, 
apples, potatoes, corn, wheat and other small grains 
is very profitable in this section, where land is com¬ 
paratively cheap. Poultry is also profitable, though 
sheep husbandry is our main industry, and together 
with general farming makes by far the best returns, 
as in this section grazing lands abound. 
To obtain money enough in this way to buy a small 
farm and stock it sufficiently well to make it profitable, 
would require many years of hard work and self-denial. 
Buying farms on credit—the almost universal custom 
throughout this country—I believe to be the main 
cause of discouragement and failure. To do this I con¬ 
sider a folly. 
I believe there is a better way for the young men of 
this country to attain an independent position, and 
finally a home where they and those dependent upon 
them, may be content and prosperous. It is to try t 0 
form a sort of partnership — to 
unite forces with those who, hav¬ 
ing good farms, do not wish to sell 
out, but would be willing to enter 
into an equitable agreement for 
the more thorough development 
of their places to the mutual bene¬ 
fit of all concerned. In nearly all 
• branches of professional or mer- 
cantile undertakings capital and 
brains unite to develop enterprise. 
While there is, probably, no other 
business in which there is such a 
wide range for intelligent man¬ 
agement and careful research, 
F farming in all its branches can be 
made the most healthful, satisfac¬ 
tory and indepenent occupation 
man can engage in. What is most 
needed now is a system, varying 
according to local circumstances, 
by which the abuses attendant on 
the old-time tenant holdings shall 
be superseded by favorable condi¬ 
tions granted to voumr men who 
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PICTURE. 
Fortunately, however, there is 
an extended silver lining to this 
dark cloud of insect pests. If these 
creatures have increased 
the land owners, so that all 
exert themselves heartily 
earnestly to achieve mutual 
cess. The articles in It. N 
of September 19, entitled “ 
is my Landlord,” and the one 
lowing, “ Learn How to I 
Fewer Mistakes,” are both wt 
of the consideration of all who are interested in 
on every 
hand our knowledge of practical 
methods of controlling them has 
also augmented with the passing 
years. Many of the remedies proposed 50 or even 25 
years ago seem now foolish and impracticable. Within 
the last decade, especially, the progress has been 
The “400’’Tomato. “ After Four Centuries of Culture.” Fig. 120 n. 
butter directly from the milk. It looks all right, but 
is it practical ? At our request, the manager of a large 
creamery recently examined it and sends this as his 
subject. 
phenomenal. Much of this progress is due to the “ candid opinion: ” 
Which more Harmful —Curculio or tree 
advent of the spraying machine, concerning which I 
recently said : 
I he introduction of the spraying machine into 
American horticulture marks an advance almost as 
important as was marked by the advent of the im¬ 
proved cultivators into our agriculture. Before the 
latter were introduced the weeds that infested the soil 
were fought by the hand-hoe, but now a single team 
does the work of many men. In the same way until 
recently various laborious and partially effective meth¬ 
ods were used in fighting noxious insects and destruct¬ 
ive fungi; but now many foes of both these classes are 
fought on a large scale by the force-pump and spray- 
nozzle, and every season adds others to the list of those 
against which this method may be successfully used. 
\\ ith a large class of farmers and fruit-growers, spray¬ 
ing has become a recognized part of the season’s opera¬ 
tions, and therein lies the chief promise of the method. 
When the belief becomes general that it is as important 
to save a crop from destruction by its foes as it is to pro¬ 
duce it; that fighting noxious worms must take its place 
as a farm process by the side of that of fighting noxious 
weeds; that the parasitic plants which absorb the vi¬ 
tality of leaf and fruit are as dangerous to the crop as 
the plants which dispute with it the possession of the 
soil—and when along with this recognition there is 
placed before the farming community a cheap and 
wholesale method of preventing the injuries of these 
organisms, then the vast annual loss now suffered 
because of insects and fungi will be very greatly les¬ 
sened. 
The list of American entomologists was notable in 
the early part of the century, continuing with Fitch, 
Walsh, Riley, LeBarron and Thomas during the third 
quarter, and augmented since, by Cook, Forbes, Lint- 
ner, Saunders, Fletcher, Howard and a score or two of 
younger men. The ever-increasing hordes of insect ene¬ 
mies have been constantly studied, and practical 
“ 1 did not see the machine in operation, so my 
opinion is formed from what I could learn from the 
managers whom I know to be reliable. I decidedly 
think it a good thing ; certainly it has the merit of sim¬ 
plicity. The butter I sampled, said to be two months 
old, was fine. I have, however, two serious objections 
to it, but the causes of both will probably be overcome : 
first comes the necessity of cooling a large body of 
milk from a temperature of 80 or 90 to GO degrees ; 
this is also applicable to the extractor ; second is its 
inadequate capacity. If my information is correct, it 
will not accumulate or churn over one-half the amount 
of the capacity of the machine when used as a sepa¬ 
rator. Now this would be a serious objection, as to use 
it in creameries doing a large business, or up to the ca¬ 
pacity of their separators—as all creameries do during 
the flush or warm part of the season—they would be 
obliged either to double the number of their separators 
or lay it aside during such a rush, as the milk would 
sour in the vats before it could be run through. The 
managers say the dairymen must supply the milk in 
the winter. Well, to do that is simply out of the ques¬ 
tion for some time to come, at least in some parts of 
the world. Winter dairying is a step in advance not 
yet generally taken, and the supply of milk to cream¬ 
eries in winter is one of the good things yet to come. 
“ Gne fine feature of this method is that it does away 
with the loss from churning, which, as I have found 
during the past season from repeated tests of the but¬ 
termilk, is considerable, varying without any apparent 
reason; in fact, the machine would annihilate the 
buttermaker’s most serious difficulty—that of ripening 
cream just right every time.” 
Tramp ? 
A representative of a New York nursery called upon 
me to-day. He had new varieties of apples pears, 
plums, grapes, peaches and all the small fruits. Each 
variety was artistically illustrated, with colored plates 
and described in extravagant terms. Many who 
bought had better throw their money into the well. 
See how many have been defrauded with Keiffer Pears, 
Apples, Peaches and Pumpkins. Think how few really 
good varieties have been given us along with the hordes 
of worthless sorts which growers who are not readers 
of I he Rural are likely to buy. Think how worthless 
is a worthless orchard; then you will realize the extent 
of the injury done in this way ? Measured by the 
cost of the worthless trees the loss is great; but meas¬ 
ured by the difference between poor and good vari¬ 
eties, it is incalculable. 
I believe this class of nurserymen are a more serious 
pest than the codling moth or curculio, and one which 
neither the kerosene emulsion nor Paris-green will ex¬ 
terminate. There is but one remedy—place upon each 
in red letters the word “Fraud.” It is unfortunate 
that so many agricultural journals think they have 
performed their whole duty, when they have informed 
the farmers of the improved methods of farming, 
while they leave to The Rural the unpleasant work of 
exposing swindles and humbugs. Of course, the dis¬ 
honest nurserymen claim that their representations 
are not made to deceive and defraud. Would it not be 
a good thing for honest nurserymen to appoint a com¬ 
mittee from their number to investigate such frauds 
and clear themselves of all participation in them? 
Michigan. a. e. briggs. 
