1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
393 
Tn the West, where these beetles are very numerous, 
the plants often never get an opportunity to come to 
the surface, the beetles burrowing down to meet 
them. Usually, the beetles first attack the seed leaves, 
preferably from the underside. As A. W. S. states, 
they generally go into the soil during the hot portion 
of the day, where they may, and often do, in Georgia 
it seems, eat into the stems of the plants, and thus do 
more damage than when they confine themselves to 
the leaves. The beetles soon lay eggs on the roots of 
the plants, sometimes on some other, as yet unknown, 
plants, and the grubs work in the roots. There are 
several broods during the season, the beetles often 
being present in the fields during the entire summer. 
Usually the only time when the plants are in serious 
danger from this pest, is very early in their life, 
before they have started to run. 
The most effective means of combating this insect 
is to protect the plants from the start by means of 
screens and nettings, which are made in various ways 
very cheaply. These, of course, are to keep the 
beetles off until the plants get well established, and 
too large to be much injured by the insect. Whether 
this method can be made practical on a large scale, 
can be best determined by each individual grower. 
Some growers get their plants well started under 
glass before setting out in the field. Others plant a 
large excess of seeds, so as to distribute the attack, 
thinning them out when the danger is over. Appli¬ 
cations of tobacco dust, a shovelful to each hill, have 
been found effective in some cases ; the tobacco seems 
to drive the beetles away, and also acts as a fertilizer 
on the plants. Many growers have good success in 
killing the beetles by spraying the vines with Paris- 
green (one pound to 150 gallons of water, and adding 
two or three pounds of lime), taking much pains thor¬ 
oughly to wet the undersides of the leaves and the 
stems ; this is best done when the nozzle is fastened 
to a tube bent at a right angle, thus forming what is 
called an underspray nozzle. 
I do not know what the “common black beetle” re¬ 
fers to. Perhaps it is the small Cucumber flea-beetle 
which is now recognized as a serious pest in potato 
fields in the North. It is a very small, blue-black flea- 
beetle which eats many small holes in the leaves. It 
has been ranked as a pest to young cucurbitaceous 
plants for many years. 
The Woolly Aphis on Kansas Apples. 
G. E. C. t Ellis, Kan .—I have an apple orchard of about 120 trees; 
70 of them are 18 years old, the rest about six years. The roots of 
all are Infested with a small insect that looks like a louse, and 
they are more or less covered with something that looks like 
white mold. The roots are forming lumps or knots. What is the 
trouble, and is there any remedy ? The trees were loaded with 
fruit last year, but it dropped badly all through the season, so 
that not more than half the crop matured. I thought that it was 
on account of the hot, dry season. The trees are fairly well 
loaded with fruit this year, and some of them are making a line 
growth, while others are not making any at all. I have been to 
other orchards within a few miles, and find that they have the 
same insect, and do not know what it is, or what to do to destroy it. 
Ans. —Undoubtedly the insect at work on the roots 
is the Woolly aphis. It is one of the best known and 
most widely distributed apple pests. It apparently 
confines its ravages to the apple, and is more destruc¬ 
tive in some localities or soils than in others. It does 
but little damage in the East, but works great havoc 
when carried into many parts of the West on Eastern 
nursery stock. The insect is one of those curious forms 
of plant-lice that secrete a woolly covering for them¬ 
selves which gives them their name. In their most 
conspicuous forms, they appear on the trunks and 
limbs of apple trees, in clusters of individuals, which 
are rendered quite conspicuous by their woolly cover¬ 
ing. Oftentimes, the bark apparently ceases to grow 
at the point of attack, but swells into a large ridge 
about the cluster of lice, leaving them in a sheltered 
pit or scar. The lice also frequently congregate in 
the axils of the leaves, and the forks of the brancnes. 
Like the Grape Phylloxera, this apple enemy also 
has a root-inhabiting form that causes the knotty 
swellings on the roots. It is this form of the insect 
that is so difficult to combat. The aerial form on the 
branches will succumb to two or three thorough ap¬ 
plications of kerosene emulsion, ora strong soap wash. 
I can suggest no practicable method of destroying the 
pest on the roots of large trees ; various substances 
have been tried but, so far as I know, with little or no 
success. Unless the tree is especially valuable, it will 
not pay to attempt to save it when it gets badly in¬ 
fested. It will be cheaper to dig up the trees and set 
other kinds of fruit trees—not apple—in their place, 
or devote the ground to other purposes. 
Great care should be taken in setting trees just re¬ 
ceived from any nursery. If there are any suspicious, 
knotty swellings in the roots, drench the roots, and 
better still, the whole tree, with strong soapsuds, 
tobacco decoction, or kerosene emulsion. It may be 
practicable to check the pest on small trees by exter¬ 
minating the branch form with washes, and treating 
the surrounding soil with carbon bisulphide. This 
volatile liquid is used very extensively in France to 
destroy the Grape Phylloxera, and it can now be 
quickly and practically applied in this country with 
the McGowen injector recently invented for use 
against the Cabbage maggot, described and illusti’ated 
in The R. N.-Y. of April 13. With valuable young 
trees, this method is certainly worth trying. The 
complete life history of the pest, is not yet under¬ 
stood ; but we know that the root and branch forms 
are identical, and may be readily transposed from 
branch to root. M. v. s 
Salt for the Peach Borer ? 
H.J. C., Ogden, U. —Is it safe to put salt around peach, apple, 
and other fruit trees to keep borers away ? If so, how much ? 
Ans. —I would not put salt around fruit trees to pre¬ 
vent the work of the borers, for two reasons : First, 
I do not believe that salt will have any effect on the 
borers, either to keep them away, or to destroy them 
when once at work in the tree. Second, I feel quite 
sure that the amount of salt required to affect the 
borers, if they can be thus affected, would injure the 
trees. Try salt in varying amounts on a few trees 
that you do not care much about ; this will be the 
surest way to learn how much will injure the trees. 
M. V. S. 
A “ Die Back ” Caused by a Freeze. 
E. R. M., Elat Rock, N. C .—Many of my apple trees are affected 
with a malady which puzzles me. Last summer, they commenced 
to die back from the ends of the limbs; this continues this sum¬ 
mer, and with a few, it has been rapid enough nearly to destroy 
the whole tree. It is not like the twig blight, for there are no dead 
and black leaves; the limb dies, and no leaves put out down to 
the good wood. In some infested trees, the whole tree looks 
sickly, the leaves are small, the limbs look slightly brown instead 
of green, and if cut with a knife, the sap looks slightly discolored. 
I cut back some last summer below the dead wood, but the dis¬ 
ease continues. The only possible causes I can imagine are as 
follows: Last March, a year ago, was very warm; all the trees 
were in full bloom when a very severe freeze (nine degrees above 
zero) came, and killed all the fruit, and killed to the ground iny 
peach and pear trees. This, I imagine, is the cause of the die 
back. The other is a wash I used for the trunks of the trees, 25 
pounds pearl ash, one gallon of crude carbolic acid, one bushel of 
lime to 50 gallons of water. But as this wash was recommended 
by J. H. Ilale in The It. N.-Y., I don’t think that can possibly have 
done the damage. Speaking of the above wash, should strong, 
caustic lime (by that I mean that just from the kiln), be used, or 
lime partially air slaked ? 
Ans. —The only plausible cause of this die back that 
occurs to me, is the first one given by the correspond¬ 
ent. It is evidently not due to the pear blight which 
sometimes attacks apples. The severe freeze men¬ 
tioned, injured many fruit trees in the South. Dale’s 
wash could not have brought on the blight. I would 
prefer the lime fresh from the kiln, as it will make 
the wash stick better, I think. This wash does not 
adhere long enough on our peach trees, to cover the 
period of egg laying of the moth of the borer. 
M. v. 8. 
The Glass for Greenhouses. 
J. S. F., Plainfield, N. J .—Have any of Tiie R. N.-Y. readers had 
any experience with butted glass for a greenhouse roof in place 
of lapped glass? I have put up such a roof, and find that although 
the work was carefully done, there is a certain amount of leak- 
age. Will it be likely to get better or worse ? Is there any cement 
with which I could fill up the cracks? I used the best quality of 
12-inch double glass, but some of the squares are not cut exactly 
to a straight line, and so left a small opening. Would putty or 
thick white lead remedy this ? I used capped bars, and if it could 
be made tight, it would be far preferable to the old style of lapped 
joints. Would the drip injure flowers grown in the greenhouse ? 
Ans. —Butted glass is steadily, though slowly, grow¬ 
ing in favor among greenhouse men, as the result is 
generally a lighter, cleaner, and tighter glass roof, 
than when the panes are lapped. There should be 
little or no drip if the glass is carefully matched, and 
the pitch of the roof is not less than 30 degrees (seven 
inches to the foot). A distinction should be made be¬ 
tween drip from rain beating in through cracks be¬ 
tween the panes, and that caused by condensation of 
moisture on the inner surface of the glass, as the latter 
may occur, even though the glazing is thoroughly 
water-tight. If the slope of the glass equals or ex¬ 
ceeds the pitch above given, the drops of water from 
either source will generally adhere to the under sur¬ 
face of the glass, and follow it down to the wall. In 
laying butted glass, the practice is to space the sash- 
bars one-eighth of an inch wider than the glass, and 
to use square panes in order that a choice of sides may 
be made, in case it is not exactly true at the edges. 
The extra spacing of the bars also gives a little play 
in matching the glass. For cementing the cracks be- 
tv\een the panes, a mixture of equal parts of putty 
and of white lead, reduced to the consistency of thick 
paint with boiled linseed oil, can be worked in with a 
small brush or, better still, through a rubber putty 
bulb. What are known as “Gasser’s glazing strips,” 
consisting of a narrow strip of zinc bent in the form 
of the letter Z, are highly valued by some. They are 
placed between the ends of the glass, so that one leg 
of the Z is under the upper pane, and the other over 
the lower one. When they are placed, cement such 
as advised above, is used to fill the cracks between the 
zinc and glass, and the result is a water-tight roof 
that will last many years. The strips are somewhat 
troublesome to put in, and they obstruct the light to 
a small extent; but they are effective in making a 
tight and lasting job. Dripping and leaky green¬ 
houses, are more disagreeable than injurious to the 
contained plants ; but there is no necessity for having 
them in such a condition Seedlings and young plants 
suffer considerably from cold drip, but robust and well- 
rooted specimens are seldom much harmed, w. V. F. 
Wood Ashes for Teach Trees. 
H. L. D., Morristown, Tenn. —1. When should ashes be applied 
to peach trees ? Should they be leached or unleached ? Should 
they be worked in around the roots, or placed on the surface ? If 
the latter, how far from the body of the tree ? 2. When should 
peach trees be pruned ? 
Ans. —1. We would apply ashes, either in fall or early 
spring—preferably the latter. Use unleached ashes 
by all means. Our plan is to harrow in the ashes, or 
work them in with a cultivator—the object being to 
mix them thoroughly with the upper three inches of 
soil. Generally speaking, the ashes should be scat¬ 
tered over as wide a radius from the trunk as the 
branches extend. 2. In the spring before growth be¬ 
gins. Summer pruning consists in pinching back 
shoots that show a tendency to grow too long, or in 
rubbing off shoots that start where branches are un¬ 
desirable. 
Sawdust as a Manure. 
M. E. U., Greenville, Mich .—How would It do to spread two or 
three inches of hard-wood sawdust on a piece of sandy ground, 
and plow it under ? If liard-wood ashes are good, why wouldn’t 
the sawdust be good ? Would it not hold the moisture in the 
soil, and thus rot and save the fertilizing properties that would 
be lost in burning? Or would it dry the ground ? How would it 
do to put on a heavy soil ? I can have all that I can draw away 
from the mill; I would have to draw it three-fourths of a mile. 
The logs are principally oak, elm and ash, with some beech, 
birch, maple and basswood. 
Ans. —The objection to using fresh sawdust is that 
it contains an acid principle which, in large quanti¬ 
ties, would be likely to prove injurious to some crops. 
When the sawdust is rotted, or when mixed with ordi¬ 
nary manure, this acid is removed or neutralized, 
and there is little or no danger. We do not advise 
the use of fresh sawdust, but would first use it as 
bedding or in the manure pile. There is little loss of 
fertility in burning the sawdust. The nitrogen only 
is lost, and that is very small in amount. 
Stimulating An Early Crop of Raspberries. 
P.D.K., Yarmouth, N. S. —1. The Red Antwerp raspberries in 
this locality, for several years past, have borne fruit in late 
autumn on the new canes, and the following season have failed to 
bear. As the premature crop is light, some growers have become 
discouraged, and have destroyed their plantations. What can be 
done to prevent or remedy the trouble ? 2. What kind of shrubs or 
plants can I grow out-of-doors, that will furnish foliage early 
enough to go with hyacinths and tulips in making up bouquets ? 
Ans. —1. We would suggest higher cultivation and 
more stimulating manures. The object is to increase 
the vigor of the plant, and to retard the fruit-bearing 
propensity. 2. Barberry (green and purple leaved), 
Spiraea sorbifolia—those are about all we can recall. 
Castration of a Colt. 
C. E. 6'., Elgin, Mich.—I have a yearling colt which I fear will 
get his mother with foal. He is thin in flesh. Will it interfere 
with his development to have him castrated this spring? 
Ans. —No, castration at this age will not interfere 
with his general development. Keeping the colt en¬ 
tire for a longer period, will increase the size of his 
neck. It is also the opinion of most breeders that it 
has a tendency to develop his shoulders, but at the 
expense of the development of the hind quarters. If 
the colt become troublesome, the earlier he is cas¬ 
trated the better. F. j,. k. 
WHAT SAY? 
Wiiat Ails the Silo ?—I wish that some of the silo 
men would tell me what the trouble is with mine. It 
is built in one corner of the barn, and is about two 
feet below the sill, with a stone and cement wall and 
cement bottom ; the sides above are made of matched 
boards double. The size is 12 by 14 feet. Last fall, 
when the silo was filled (about 13 feet), I tramped and 
watered with about 12 pails of water, over the top and 
down the corners and sides, as suggested by a writer 
in The II. N.-Y. All kept nicely with very little 
waste until nearly two-thirds down, when the corners 
and sides began to show damage. My poorest ensilage 
was down below the board siding, and in the corners, 
especially of the sills, and stone and cement work. 
On top, the watering seemed to work like a charm, 
but on the bottom and corners the reverse, s. L. m. 
Forestville, N. Y. 
Cost of Telephones.—The II. N.-Y. of May 11, 
speaks of telephones to school houses, etc. I think 
that the post office in a country neighborhood, ouo-ht 
to be the central office for the district, this to connect 
with the nearest town or village post office, and that 
to be the central office for the village, to be connected 
with physicians, freight and express offices, etc. 
While we would hail that day with delight, we fear 
that it is distant on account of expense. For the 
benefit of B. N.-Y. readers, I would like to inquire as 
to the expense of connecting private individuals in 
the countiy, 1,200 feet apart, and a fair estimate of 
the annual cost of keeping such a line in good order. 
South Pittsford, N. II. A. n. p. 
II. N.-Y.— We shall obtain some estimates from con¬ 
tractors. Will those who have tried homemade tele¬ 
phone systems, give us their figures ? 
