7She  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
387 
rarely,  if  ever,  devour  the  insect  itself. 
The  ant  is  said  to  act  as  a  sort  of  body¬ 
guard  for  the  aphides,  earing  for  them, 
and  carrying  them  from  one  point  of  the 
plant  to  another,  when  a  new  nnd  num¬ 
erous  colony  is  soon  established.  The 
ant  seems  to  understand  perfectly  well, 
that  the  more  aphides,  the  more  delicate 
and  palatable  food  ho  will  have  to  feed 
upon,  hence  his  seemingly  affectionate 
care  for  him.  A  very  simple  trad  effec¬ 
tive  remedy  for  aphis  may  he  made  by 
dissolving  a  half  pound  of  good  washing 
soap  in  a  gallon  of  water  or  at  that  rate, 
and  the  trees  thoroughly  sprayed,  particu¬ 
lar  care  being  taken  to  bring  the  spray¬ 
ing  material  in  direct  contact  with  the 
aphides,  as  they  cannot  be  killed  except 
by  direct  contact.  If  a  half  teaspoonful 
of  I’aris  green  is  added  to  each  gallon 
of  soap  and  water,  leaf  chewing  insects 
may  also  he  destroyed. 
A  decoction  made  from  tobacco  stems 
or  other  refuse  tobacco,  sufficiently  strong 
to  kill  aphides  and  other  delicate  in¬ 
sects  is  made  by  steeping  or  boiling  at 
the  rate  of  1  pound  for  1  or  1*4  gal¬ 
lons  of  water,  sufficient  water  being 
added  to  make  up  for  flint  lost  in  boil¬ 
ing;  spray  as  directed  in  the  use  of  the 
soap  and  water  remedy.  K. 
RURALISMS 
E.  FRANK  COE 
FERTILIZERS 
A  Freak  Tree 
The  picture  shows  an  American  elm 
growing  near  Berlin,  Mass.  It  is  about 
four  inches  in  diameter  at  the  bend. 
The  cause  of  this  freak  growth  is  un¬ 
known  ;  it  is  au  interesting  example  of 
The  Business  Farmers’  Standard 
For  Over  Fifty-Five  Years 
1916 
SEEING  IS  BELIEVING 
gvr&s,  u 
Eel  Worms  in  Southern  Potatoes 
Has  the  disease  known  as  “eel-worm 
infestation"  been  found  among  Southern 
grown  potatoes,  and  particularly  in  Vir¬ 
ginia?  w.  r.  <:. 
New  York. 
To  the  best  of  our  own  knowledge 
there  is  no  material  infestation  of  the 
eel-worm  in  Virginia  potatoes  at  the 
present  time.  Some  weeks  ago  a  ship¬ 
ment  of  Irish  (kibbler  potatoes,  grown 
in  the  vicinity  of  Norfolk,  Vn.,  was  for¬ 
warded  from  New  York  to  Valparaiso, 
Chile,  where  it  was  condemned  and  de¬ 
stroyed  on  account  of  an  alleged  in¬ 
festation  of  the  root-knot  nematode, 
lletcrodera  radieicola.  A  .sample  of  the 
potatoes  in  question  was  recently  re¬ 
turned  from  Chile  and  examined  by  the 
nematode  specialist  of  this  Department, 
who  found  the  potatoes  to  contain  large 
numbers  of  free-living,  saprophytic  nema¬ 
todes  <>f  the  genera  Diplogaster  and 
Rhnbditi,  hut  no  evidence  of  any  para¬ 
sitic  form.  Eel-worms  of  the  kind  men¬ 
tioned  are  commonly  present  in  decay¬ 
ing  plant  tissues  everywhere  and  might, 
at  first  sight,  lie  mistaken  for  the  para¬ 
sitic  cel-worm  by  those  not  familiar 
with  them. 
The  great  trucking  centre  around  Nor¬ 
folk  is  fortunately  as  yet  free,  or  nearly 
free,  from  root-knot  infestation.  Slight 
traces  of  the  pest  have  been  observed  in 
rare  instances  during  the  heated  mid¬ 
summer  period,  but  the  potatoes,  and 
most  of  the  other  truck  crops,  are  grown 
during  the  Winter  and  early  Spring, 
when  the  weather  is  too  cool  for  the 
rapid  development  of  the  root-knot  nema¬ 
tode.  which  has  never  been  observed  by 
us  on  potatoes  from  this  section. 
WM.  A.  TAYLOR. 
Chief  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry. 
A  Freak  Elm  Tree 
the  old  proverb  that, 
bent  the  tree’ is  inclined 
Berlin'  Mass.  *• 
Harvesting  over  4  Tons  of  Timothy  Hay  per  acre  in  Massachusetts 
When  reading  of  a  potato  crop  of  450  bushels  per  acre  or  up¬ 
wards,  or  of  hay  crops  running  over  4  tons  of  well  cured  Timothy 
per  acre,  or  of  other  crops  in  like  proportion,  how  often  have 
you  said  “I  am  from  Missouri;  you  have  got  to  show  me”? 
“Seeing  is  believing”  and  we  wish  that  you  and  a  host  of 
others  might  visit  personally  and  inspect  the  wonderful  crops 
that  are  being  raised  on  many  farms  with  E.  FRANK  COE 
FERTILIZERS. 
Transplanting  Azaleas;  Insects  on  Apples 
1.  Is  it  advisable  to  transplant  after 
flowering  the  wild  Azalea,  nr  fa lse  honey¬ 
suckle  or  wait  until  Fall?  If  it  can 
be  done  in  June  I  would  much  prefer 
to  do  it;  the  woods ra re  full  of  them  and 
I  intend  to  transplant  around  the  house. 
Last  Summer  apply,  plum  and 
cherry  trees,  whim  ill  full  leaf,  showed  a 
number  of  insects  like  small  ants  on  the 
leaves.  A  number  of  leaV.cs  were  eaten 
and  in  those  tliat  were’ curled  lip  1  found 
in  some  a  worm  anil1  in  others  a  num¬ 
ber  pf  the  an  I  species.  What  can  I  do 
to  prevent  the  destruction  and  if  neces¬ 
sary  to  spray  what  shall  I  use?  The 
trees  .were  three  years  old  and  in  a 
flourishing  Condition.  j.  T.  T. 
1.  It  would  not  he  advisable  to  under¬ 
take  the  transplanting  of  the  wild  Azalea 
while  in  active  growth  :  they  arc  difficult 
to  transplant  successfully  even  under  ihe 
most  favorable  conditions,  at  least  that 
lias  been  my  experience,  especially  with 
plants  that  have  attained  to  good  size. 
The  small  plants  may  be  handled  with 
greater  assurance  of  success.  At  all 
events  they  should  be  transplanted  only 
when  in  a  dormant  condition,  either  Fall 
or  Spring  will  be  suitable.  When  a  plant¬ 
ing  of  wild  Azaleas  is  to  be  made,  the 
soil  should  lie  especially  prepared  for 
them  and  an  effort  made  to  provide 
them  with  soil  approaching  as  nearly  as 
possible  that  in  which  they  naturally 
grew.  This  can  be  done  by  removing 
woods  earth  into  their  intended  new 
quarters,  or  by  the  addition  of  leaf  mould 
to  the  soil  in  proportion  of  about  one- 
third  of  the  former  to  two-thirds  of  the 
latter,  and  if  the  soil  is  a  heavy  clay 
loam  a  liberal  quantity  of  sharp  sand 
will  also  he  beneficial.  The  soil  should 
be  made  up  quite  deep  for  best  results, 
ITi  to  IS  inches  will  ho  about  right,  and 
if  the  plantings  can  be  given  the  shade 
of  trees  or  buildings  for  at  least  a  part 
of  the  middle  of  the  day,  all  the  better. 
2.  The  worm  found  within  the  folds 
of  the  curled  or  folded  leaves,  is  the 
common  leaf-folder,  which  attacks  a  great 
variety  of  trees,  vines  and  plants,  but 
rarely  in  great  enough  numbers  to  do  any 
very  serious  harm.  After  they  have  once 
formed  their  habitation  within  the  folded 
leaf,  they  are  rather  hard  to  get  rid  of 
by  the  application  of  insecticides,  but 
if  the  trees  are  small  and  Hot  badly  in¬ 
fested  the  insect  may  be  quite  easily 
eradicated  by  hunting  them  out  and 
crushing  the  small  worm  between  the 
lingers,  while  within  the  folds  of  the 
leaf.  If  arsenate  of  lead  is  applied 
early  in  the  season,  there  will  he  but 
little  trouble  with  the  leaf-folder. 
The  small  ant-like  insect  is  the  green 
aphis  and  is  very  common  on  various 
trees  and  shrubs  at  this  season  of  the 
year.  Ants  are  almost  invariably  pres¬ 
ent  in  considerable  numbers  whenever 
aphides  are  at  work,  as  they  are  quite 
fond  of  the  oily  substance  that  is  exuded 
from  the  bodies  of  the  aphides,  but 
Grafting  Seedling  Apples 
On  page  10S  you  advise  against  trying 
tu  do  anything  with  seedling  apple  trees. 
My  experience  of  40  years  says  that,  in 
this  section  they  tire  more  hardy,  longer- 
lived,  more  productive,  and  can  be  made 
into  profitable  apple  trees  by  trimming 
and  grafting  more  cheaply  than  to  buy 
nursery  trees,  as  they  are  acclimated, 
have  a  good  well-established  root  spstem 
and  are  very  hardy.  Of  course  we  are 
not  in  the  "apple  belt,”  and  dairying  gets 
more  attention  than  fruit,  but  in  all  this 
section  our  best  trees  are  grafted  seed¬ 
lings.  .1.  n.  Si 
I  lelawnrc  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Digging  over  450  Bushels  of  Potatoes  in  Aroostook  Co.,  Maine 
If  you  cannot  personally  see  these  crops  we  are  sure  that 
you  will  be  interested  in  the  reproductions  of  the  photographs 
in  our  crop  booklets.  The  camera  does  not  lie  and  these  pic¬ 
tures  will  prove  not  only  interesting  but  also  instructive.  They 
show  that  it  can  be  done. 
We  have  prepared  a  series  of  helpful  booklets  for  pradtical 
farmers  who  are  interested  in  producing  better  crops.  A  care¬ 
ful  reading  of  these  booklets  will  save  you  money  in  the  future. 
If  you  will  tell  us  the  number  of  acres  of  each  crop  which  you 
plan  to  raise  in  1916  and  also  the  kind  and  amount  of 
fertilizer  which  you  used  laSt  year  we  will  send  you  any  of  the 
following  booklets  free  of  charge. 
“Corn,  the  Foundation  of  Profitable  Farming,” 
“Potatoes,  a  Money  Crop,” 
“Seeding  to  Grass  and  Clover,” 
“Top  Dressing  Meadows  and  Pastures.” 
First  Hay-fever  Ordinance 
Through  the  joint  efforts  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Ilay-Fcver-I  'revention  Association, 
New  Orleans  City  Board  of  Health  and 
the  1  >i'partnn,nt  of  Public  Works,  tile 
Commission  Council  of  New  Orleans  lias 
passed  the  first  ordinance  ever  enacted 
for  the  benefit  of  Imy-fever  sufferers.  Hr. 
Schoppegrell,  the  president  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Hay  Fever  Prevention  Association, 
believes  that  the  enforcing  of  this  or¬ 
dinance  will  soon  he  followed  hy  marked 
benefit  to  hay-fever  sufferers  of  which 
2%  of  the  population  in  most  sections 
of  the  Fuitud  States  arc  victims,  and 
that  a  similar  ordinance  should  be  enact¬ 
ed  in  other  cities  in  the  interest  of  those 
suffering  from  hay-fever.  This  ordi¬ 
nance  forbids  the  growth  of  weeds  or 
grass  over  two  feet  high  on  any  lots  or 
premises  throughout  the  city,  violation 
Ilf  the  ordinance  being  punishable  by  tine 
or  imprisonment.. 
ADDRESS  CROP  BOOK  DEPARTMENT 
THE  COE-MORTIMER  COMPANY 
51  CHAMBERS  STREET 
NEW  YORK  CITY 
i 
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