1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
5o9 
tween. September 1, 1,800 pounds of pure bone meal 
ground fine were applied and the land was kept cul¬ 
tivated and hoed till tbe ground froze when it was 
covered with 37 loads of leaves and straw enough to 
keep them in place. On May 1, the covering was 
raked between the rows. Now I wish to pick them 
next year without removing this mulch, can it be done 
by keeping the runners cut close and pulling what 
few weeds there will be, or shall I have to remove the 
mulch and apply more fertilizer to insure a good crop 
next year ? Last fall and this spring have been very 
dry, so the bone has not dissolved to any great extent. 
Ans. —Our advice would be to leave the mulch, 
pulling the weeds as our friend suggests. If we de¬ 
sired to apply more fertilizer, we would not hesitate 
to sow it on top of the mulch, vines and all, applying 
the phosphate and potash at any time and the nitrogen 
early next spring. 
Seeding: In Corn; Fertilizing: Snbstances. 
G. M. A., Tamaroa, III. —I would like to ask the 
opinion of Rural readers about seeding a corn field 
at the last cultivation, with Timothy for a meadow. 
My corn is late, not over 18 incnes high July 14, and I 
am giving level cultivation. Can I cut it low enough 
so that the stubble won't bother the mower next 
summer? I was intending to plow and seed, but 
can’t get the corn off in time. I see that wood soot 
is very valuable for a fertilizer; is soft coal soot of 
any value? Do nitrate of soda, superphosphate and 
complete fertilizers lose any of their value by keep¬ 
ing some time ? The latter seems to be the only one 
that has any odor. 
Ans. —The plan proposed is practical and can be 
carried out. Cut the corn as low as possible and in 
the spring run a roller over the field to crush down 
the stalks. Soot is of very little value as a fertilizer, 
consisting chiefly of carbon—it is but little better 
than finely powdered charcoal. When the fertilizers 
are kept in a perfectly dry place there is nu reason to 
fear deterioration. The cdor of the superphosphate 
does not indicate that anything valuable is passing 
away. 
The “17-Year Locust” In Its Hole. 
H. A. B., Petersburg, Va —I have a tract of about 
five acres of wet land. The soil is composed of clay 
and sand. What are called crawfish about here are 
working in it, making holes and building chimneys 
over them. How can 1 get them out of the soil ? 
Ans. —These crawfish are doubtless the larval or 
pupal stages of the cui ious and wonderful Periodical 
Cicada or Seventeen-year Cicada, Cicada septendecim 
cr possibly the form known as the Thirteen-year 
Cicada, tredecim. These creatures do quite strikingly 
resemble young crawfish. In the adult form this in¬ 
sect—for such it is and not a crustacean—is the author 
of the sharp, shrill screech which the correspondent 
doubtless heard among the trees in the latter part of 
May and in early June. The adults lay their eggs in 
the twigs of trees. The young drop to the ground 
and burrowing therein obtain their nourishment, 
either from the tender roots or from the moisture in 
the soil. They grow very slowly, 17 years elapsing 
before they become full-grown and ready to leave the 
ground and change to the adult which laid the eggs 
in the twigs. Ordinarily in coming from the ground 
the larvae do not continue their galleries above the 
surface, but it has been observed that in low, flat, wet 
localities they often do continue the gallery from four 
to six inches above the ground, in the top of which 
the pupae may be found in May. The pupae issue from 
the gallery through an orifice purposely made near 
the surface of the ground. There is oue race of the 
insect whose larvae attain their growth in 13 years, 
and are known as the Thirteen-year Cicada. There 
are 13 Seventeen-year broods and eight Thirteen-year 
broods of this insect known to occur in the United 
States, and the localities have been mapped so that 
now it is possible to foretell where a brood will ap¬ 
pear above ground at a certain time in the future. A 
Seventeen-year and a Thirteen-year brood were ex¬ 
pected to appear this year ; the former in Illinois, 
Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, North Carolina and Vir¬ 
ginia ; the latter in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina 
and Tennessee. Next year members of both these 
races are expected to appear in Virginia. Those 
which appeared in the correspondent’s field belonged 
doubtless to brood No. 11 of Seventeen-year Cicadas, 
but may have been some “early birds” of those 
which are expected next year, as a few do sometimes 
appear one year in advance. No other brood may be 
expected in Virginia until 1901. The most of the 
damage done by this insect is done by the adult in 
puncturing the twigs in ovipositing, and this is rarely 
so great as to necessitate the use of remedial meas¬ 
ures ; so ordinarily the insect need cause no serious 
alarm. Crops sown on the field will probably be in¬ 
jured but very little by the insect. (The Annual Re¬ 
port of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 1885, page 
233, contains a detailed account of this insect.) 
Pork Making Without Grain. 
F. E S., Dehesa, Cal. —1. Can hogs be grown on beets, 
squashes, mangel-wurtzels, Alfalfa or clover ? 2. Can 
they be fattened on this feed at a profit without 
grain ? 3 What would be the best and most profit¬ 
able way to feed it ? 4. What is the best strain of 
hogs to grow for the market—meaning those that will 
grow the largest on the least feed ? 
Ans— 1 and 2. Hogs can certainly be raised with profit 
on Alfalfa and squashes. A few years ago I was ranch¬ 
ing in a remote valley in eastern Utah. We were 
entirely self dependent, as there was no wagon road— 
so tried to make our own meat as far as practicable. 
Our hogs were kept in a pen—owing to scarcity of 
fencing material—and fed all summer on green cut 
Lucern or Alfalfa. This made them grow and thrive 
very well. It would have been better could they have 
been on a Lucern pasture—not too large in area—so 
that they could keep it down pretty well and eat it 
off while tender. In winter we used to feed our stock 
hogs on cured Lucern hay. On this they kept in good 
thrifty breeding condition. As we could not raise 
corn or grain to very good advantage on this ranch, 
we fed largely on pumpkins and squashes in the fall 
and found that IIubb3rd squashes would fatten the 
spring pigs very well and those that were a year old 
even better. 3. Yes; I believe it would be better if 
some kind of dry food could have been fed along with 
the succulent—for instance, wheat middlings or chop¬ 
ped barley, either of which should be cheap and 
abundant in California. Here in Ohio I raise immense 
crops of pumpkins on which I feed sows and pigs as 
long as they last. They also have free access to a 
self-feeder in which I place 15 to 20 bushels of ship- 
stuff—dry. They take courses of pumpkins and ship- 
stuff, as their appetite demands. We do not cut the 
pumpkins, or cook them, or do anything at all but 
haul them out a wagon-load at a time. If cut, the 
pigs will eat out the soft inside and the seeds the first 
thing. I have never tried beets and do not know cer¬ 
tainly that they would be good, but I believe they 
would and advise an experiment with them if they 
can be raised cheaply, as no doubt they can. I should 
use the sweetest beets I could produce. These green 
succulent foods produce pork of the best quality, and 
also keep the swine in excellent health. 4. As to breeds, 
there is a difference, do doubt. Personally I prefer 
the Poland-China, but no doubt the Jersey Reds w uld 
be good, and I have seen a good er-ss of these two 
breeds, combining the good points of each, and being 
very prolific. .t. e. wing. 
Central, Ohio. 
Benzine for the Clothes Moth. 
A. P It , Yorkvllle, Ohio .— I send specimens of some 
insects that are working in our carpets and plush 
chairs. We found them a few day s ago for the first 
time. What are they and what will kill them ? No 
one here seems to have ever seen them before. 
Ans. —The specimens sent proved to be the cases 
containing the larvae of our most common clothes 
moth, Tinea pelliouella. The adult insect is a minute 
light-brown moth measuring less than three-fourths 
of an inch from tip to tip of expanded wings. The 
moths appear in May and June and lay their eggs in 
dark places or folds of garments. The larvae upon 
emerging from the eggs begin to feed upon the cloth 
and construct a hollow silk-lined cylindrical case 
of the fragments. The larvae keep this case about 
their bodies continually. As they grow they enlarge 
the cases by adding material to either end and by in¬ 
serting gores down the sides which they slit open for 
the purpose. The insects remain in these cases dur¬ 
ing the winter in the form of quiescent pupae from 
which the moths emerge in the following spring. 
The best remedial measure thus far tried is to thor¬ 
oughly spray the furniture, clothing, or whatever is 
infested, with benzine. Do the work thoroughly and 
then thoroughly air the articles and rooms, taking 
great care that no lights be brought near the sprayed 
articles and rooms until all trace of the benzine smell 
has disappeared. The benzine will kill the insert in 
all of its stages. m. v. slingkrland. 
Cornell University. 
Sulphur and Black Knot. 
W. T. S., Chester County, Pa .— I have succeeded in 
rescuing plum and cherry trpes of the Morello family 
from black knot by boring holes from half an inch to 
an inch, according to size of tree, into the trunks, 
loading them with flowers of sulphur and driving in 
a pine plug cut off even with the bark. The sulphur 
seems to be carried by the sap circulation and kills 
tue spores of the disease—at all events I have cured 
trees very far gone and got good crops of fruit, with 
no return of the knot trouble, which previously had 
destroyed numbers of my trees. As this remedy is 
easy and inexpensive, some readers of The Rural, 
from which I get so many good things, may be bene¬ 
fited by it. 
Ans. —We believe our friend when he says that he 
put sulphur into the holes bored into his plum and 
cherry trees, and that they recovered from the black 
knot; but when it comes to connecting the two we 
draw the line. He says that the sulphur seems to be 
carried by sap circulation. The fact is that it is not 
carried at all, but remains unchanged just where it is 
put. The 6ap circulation is carried on immediately 
under the bark, and the sulphur is placed beyond the 
reach of the sap, or almost entirely so Some other 
cause must be held accountable for the disappearance 
of the black knot. Not many years ago some nostrum 
with a big name was extensively advertised in many 
of the farm papers, and sold through agents as a 
wonderful rejuvenator of run-down fruit trees. It 
w > s to be applied by boring holes in the trees in the 
same manner as our friend applied the sulphur, and 
would be followed by renewed vigor and increased 
fruitfulness. We know of a number of fruit growers 
who became very enthusiastic over the wonderful re¬ 
sults to be obtained from its use, but none of them 
ever said anything about it afterwards. Others have 
believed that driving the trunk of an unproductive 
plum tree full of old nails would cause it to bear won¬ 
derful crops of plums, but it would be difficult to find 
or explain any connection between the nails and the 
succeeding crops of fruit. The same is true of the 
sulphur, and if the holes have remained tightly 
plugged, we believe that our friend will find the 
sulphur just where he put it. 
Sweet-Scented Clover; Rye and Turkeys. 
JET. S. C., EstellvUle, N. J. —1. What is the name of 
the inclosed plant? We thought it was Alfalfa, but 
the blossom is white. It grows over six feet high. 2. 
Will rye kill young chickens and turkeys ? 
Ans —1. The plant is Melilotus alba—Sweet-scented 
clover—White melilot. It is a weed. 2. Rye will not 
kill chickens, neither will it fatten them. We have 
often fed this grain, but while it kept the birds in 
good health, we never could give them enough of it to 
make them fat. 
A Call for Sick Chinch Bugs. 
II. W., Mason, 111. —I there any truth in the state¬ 
ment that the Kansas Experiment Station has been 
able to kill chinch bugs by distributing diseased bugs 
over the fields? If it is true, I want some of those 
bugs and I want them as soon as I can possibly get 
them. Our corn has all been planted late on account 
of wet weather and the bugs are eating it up. 
Ans. — Certainly there is truth in the report. Prof. 
F. H. Snow, of Lawrence, Kan., has charge of the 
work. We do not know whether he will send the 
bugs out of the State or not. Write him and see. 
There is, undoubtedly, a disease that can be spread 
among the chinch bugs and we advise you to test it. 
The Earliest Quince is too Late. 
G P. S , Oradell, N. J. —On the recommendation of a 
nurseryman, a member of the firm, I ordered over 100 
Champion quinces from a nursery concern. I was 
told that the fruit was larger than any other, and 
came into bearing two years earlier. Now, Ellwanger 
& Barry, in their catalogue say: “ It ripens too late 
for this region,” and I feel some apprehension that 
possibly it might not prove profitable. 1. Does the 
Champion quince ripen well enough to be profitable 
in Bergen County, N. J. ? 2. Would other sorts prove 
more pri Stable, and if so, which ? 
Ans. —We have had the Champion quince since its 
introduction. It is true that it comes into bearing 
earlier than any other variety we know of. It is also 
true lhat, taking one season with another, it is too 
late for this climate. It is a splendid variety south of 
New York. 2. Probably what is known as Meech’s 
Prolific is as good as any other kind. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Alsike Clover. —T. J. H., Wheeling, W. Va.—The 
plant sent is Alsike or Swedish clover—Tiifolium 
hybridum. This clover cannot stand heat, but no 
amount of cold injures it. It thrives best upon Tim¬ 
othy soil, and, in the South, should be sown with tall- 
growing grasses. It is two or three years coming to 
full size. Sow in the spring. 
When to Manure Asparagus —F. V. C., Indianapolis, 
Ind.—You say : “ This spring I set 1,000 young aspara¬ 
gus roots, manured the ground last fall, and plowed 
under manure again this spring and plowed again 
before planting, and wish to give another manuring 
before the time for the next crop. Should the manure 
be applied this summer or fall or next spring, stable 
manure to be used ?” We should prefer to apply it 
early next spring. 
A Line Fence —“ A Subscriber ” (no address or 
name), asks several questions about a line fence, half 
of which is of wire and half of rails. As the fence 
laws vary in different States, it is impossible to answer 
him definitely ; but in all the States each of the land 
owners whose land adjoins must build half the fence, 
and, if he leaves a gap or a part improperly con¬ 
structed in his part of the fence and live stock break 
through, he can be held responsible for damages. 
