THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A Convenient Ladder for Gathering 
Fruit. 
spots each. The posterior spot is large and is 
really an abortive nectar tube. The spiracles 
are also black. The antennas are seven- 
jointed and quite hairy. The beak is strong 
and prominent. 
The lice are wont to congregate on the under 
side of the branches, and, as my little boy re¬ 
marked, are in columns as if ready to march. 
It is not uncommon 
to find them scat- 
tered about on the 
leaves and green Antennae.-Fio -6S& 
stems. Figures *127, 628 and 629, drawn by one 
of my students, Mr. G. W. Park, show very 
accurately the form and markings of these 
giant lice. 
As will be seen from the above description, 
these lice agree closely with Harris’s Lachnus 
Caryse. It seems more than likely that this is 
the same species, which for some reason has 
changed its food plaut. 
REMEDIES. 
I found, two years ago, that throwing strong 
lye by the use of Whitman’s Fountain pump, 
on to the branches where the lice were clus¬ 
tered, killed them speedily. A strong tobacco 
decoction is also fatal to the lice. Tobacco 
smoke puffed on to the lice by means of a com¬ 
mon bee-smoker causes them to drop to the 
ground, from which they seem unable to rise. 
I am also trying carbolic acid and kerosene 
oil with every indication of success. To make 
these compounds I use a quart of soft soap, to 
which I add a gallon of water. These are 
heated to the boiling point, then removed from 
the fire, when I add a pint of kerosene or 
crude carbolic acid. These are afterwards 
diluted by adding from 25 to 50 parts of water, 
as the tree will bear. If too strong, the 
foliage will be injured. I have used these 
mixtures on plant lice of other species for 
several years with gratifying success. 
Fig. 627, shows the winged females, Fig. 628, 
gives a view of the apterous louse, and Fig. 
629 a view of the antennae. 
Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich. 
rated catalogue of the Lincoln Patent Chan¬ 
nel Creamery. It is claimed that these cans 
combine the advantages of shallow and deep 
setting. 
Also circular of the Woodbury Butter 
Worker. 
Geo. S. Wales, Bannockburn Farm, Rot 
Chester, N. Y. Price list of small fruit plants 
carnations, pansies, roses and shrubs. Among 
the strawberry novelties are Daniel Boone 
Atlantic and James Vick. 
A light ladder, supported by legs as shown 
n Fig. 635, is sometimes a convenience in 
gathering fruit from young trees, the limbs of 
which are not sufficiently strong to bear one’s 
weight on a ladder placed directly against the 
tree. The ono I have used is about 10 feet high, 
and the legs consist of strips an inch and a- 
half square. These are attached to the side 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Connecticut. 
Gale’s Ferry, Hew London Co., Aug. 27. 
We are having it quite dry here through the 
present month. Had plenty of rain all 
through the Spring and the first part of the 
Summer. Hay was good and field crops good 
generally. Potato rot is reported a few miles 
below us, but none that I have heard of in 
this locality. It is our “off” year for apples, 
consequently there will be but a poor show of 
that fruit hereabout. m. w. 
Indiana. 
Buckskin, Gibson Co., Aug. 20.— Crops are 
good except wheat, some of which is aver¬ 
aging in bushel to the acre. On good ground 
the average is generally between 8 and 13 
bushels, while extra rich land has made 19 
bushels—my own crop averaged 17. I planted 
the Blush Potato on April 9 on tolerably good 
ground, having cut it into eight pieces. They 
were hoed three times, dug July 20, and 
weighed 17 pounds. c. p. 
Daggett, Owen Co., Aug. 31.—I cut my 
Rural Blush Potato into ten pieces, with one 
eye in each piece. The ground was wet and cold 
when I planted it. I put in each hill a double 
handful of fine dry manure and hoed the crop 
several times; hut did not hill up very much. 
I think they were ripe the last of July, but I 
did not dig them until August 22. Yield 54 
pounds. Five potatoes weighed five pounds. 
Eating quality No. 1. Potatoes all of market¬ 
able size. M. a. B. 
Poplar Grove, Howard Co., Aug. 18.— 
Wheat averages 10 bushels per acre, grading 
No. 3. Corn promises a good crop. Apples, 
a medium crop. Meadows good. Prospects 
good for a good crop of clover seed. Some 
hogs dying. w. m. 
Iowa. 
State Center, Marshal Co., Aug. 25.— 
Wheat, oats and grass good around here. 
Corn very backward on account of cold, wet 
weather. Prices are: Wheat, from 50 to 80 
cents; corn, 33 cents; oats, 32 cents; butter, 
12 to 13cents; eggs, 12cents; hogs, $5.50. h.w. 
Kansas. 
Parsons, Labette Co., Aug. 25.—Com is 
made; crop unprecedentedly good. It is glaz¬ 
ing. Oats are equally good. Wheat in its 
last stage: thrashing is resulting wretchedly; 
three to twenty bushels to the acre, averaging 
about seven; quality soft, shrunk and full of 
chess. In fact, those who plowed it under in 
the Spring made the best of a bad job, which 
is always creditable. Potatoes and all vegeta¬ 
bles exceedingly fine, and never exceeded in 
quantity. Fruit plentiful. Wheat is worth 
60 to 90 cents; old com. nearly gone, 34 cents; 
oats, 18 cents; potatoes, 25 cents: beets, 40 
cents; apples, 75 cents; peaches. 50 cents to 
$1.00; hay, $4.00 per ton;—(all other quotations 
per* bushel). Farmers very anxious to know 
what they are likely to receive for new 
com. b. 
Thayer. Neosho Co.. Aug. 15.—Cora crop 
good—safe beyond a doubt. Rain has fallen 
in good time and in sufficient quantities. 
Farmers are getting ready to sow rye for Fall 
and Winter pasturage. The Castor Bean 
crop promises well; just beguu to ripen. Flax 
crop better than usual. Potatoes good—no mar 
ket for them at present. Fruit fair to good. a. t 
Maryland. 
Catonsville, Baltimore Co., August 29.— I 
planted one “Blush” Potato last Spring hav¬ 
ing cut it into 12 pieces with one eye in each. 
There were two rows two feet apart : hills the 
same; cultivated flat with hoe only. Dug 
to-day 40 pounds—93 potatoes—all large 
enough for cooking. One hill had 10 potatoes 
weighing 7 l <| pounds. The editor of one of 
my agricultural paper's some t ime ago “kinder” 
sneered at the Rural's calculations of yield 
Of crops as impossibilities. When the editor 
said his Blush Potatoes yielded at the rate of 
600 bushels per acre I believed it; but never 
expected to exceed it; but I have done so, as 
my yield was at the “rate of”—that’s the 
phrase the editor aforesaid complained of— 
648 bushels per acre. The hill yielding 
pounds was at the “rate of” 1,458 bushels per 
acre. I think 1,000 bushels per acre is among 
the possibilities. We had better all aim at 
that, and if we get 500 be thankful, a. l. c. 
.11 a.Hh ai'luiM'its, 
Fall River, Bristol Co., Aug. 28.— My 
Blush Potato weighed two ounces. It sprouted 
in the Winter, being kept where it was warm, 
and I rubbed off three sprouts and they never 
sprouted again. When it was planted last 
Spring. 1 found three more good sprouts so 
the potato was cut in only three pieces. It was 
planted in three hills, one piece in a hill, and 
only one sprout from each piece came up. The 
pieces were planted alongside the Beauty 
of Hebron a few days earlier, and they began 
EXCELLENT HATCHERS. 
L. J. Coon, of Little Genesee, N. Y., raised 
from three settings 48 chickens from 50 eggs. 
He put 17 eggs under two different hens, and 
16 under the third. One of the hens was a 
half-blood Bantam and hatched all of the 17. 
The other two hatched 15 and 16 respectively. 
This is not a fish story, but I have the proof 
that it is true. If any of the Rural readers 
can beat this. I should like to hear from them 
through the Rural. g. w. p. 
Portville, N. Y. 
Sowing rye to plow in for corn, with 
or after buckwheat has lately been spoken 
of in several papers. My experiment in 
this line was not a successful one. The 
corn was light, whether it was because buck¬ 
wheat is not the right crop to precede corn or 
because the ground on which the rye was 
plowed in, was too loose or dry for the corn. I 
would like to hear the experience of some of 
the Rural readers, on this matter. a. s. 
Fruit Ladder.—Fig. 635. 
of the ladder, by passing a long bolt through 
the hole as shown. The legs are stayed by a 
cross-piece towards the bottom. This should 
be about four feet long, to give stability- to the 
ladder. When not desired for gathering fruit, 
the legs are removed by taking out the bolt. 
The l>olt is placed through the top of the legs 
to hold them together, and they are stored 
away- until needed. This implement will be 
fouud useful in saving the branches of young 
trees from injury, as well as in promoting con¬ 
venience in gathering fruit. “Elm.” 
Rye is not counted a profitable crop to grow 
for grain alone, says the Breeders’ Gazette of 
Chicago. Near paper mills the priee paid for 
the straw sometimes makes it a leading crop; 
but generally it ranks as one of the minor 
crops of any region. In our own experience 
we have found it quite the best grain with 
which to sow grass or clover seed, and the 
large amount of good pasturage the crop gives 
in a favorable Fall and Spring is a point much 
in its favor. We have had fully 10 weeks of 
pasturage, six in Autumn and four in Spring, 
and then have had a good yield of grain. Rye 
is good food, especially- for hogs, when ground 
and mixed with water or milk. Taken all in 
all, we believe it might be growu more gener¬ 
ally to advantage on stock farms. 
A NEW INSECT PEST ON THE BASS¬ 
WOOD. 
professor a. j. cook. 
A few days since my little boy- came to me 
and said, “O Papa! There is a new insect 
working on the Basswood! It is a plant louse 
and a regular Jumbo!” 
Whatever strikes at the Basswood, aims a 
blow at apiculture and so is the enemy of the 
bee-keeper. It surely will be interesting to 
know this new enemy, that we may* strike 
back whenever it attacks. Two years ago I 
saw a Basswood, the branches of which were 
dying from an attack by this same insect. I 
procured specimens, applied a remedy and 
SELECTING SEED CORN, 
I cannot too strongly insist upon the nec¬ 
essity that all farmers should pick their seed 
corn in the Fall. I was one of the very few in 
Iowa who did not have to replant the past 
season. Here is my plan, pursued with suc¬ 
cess for 30 years:— 
As soon as corn is in the dough I take a sack 
on my shoulder and, passing between the rows 
select the largest and ripest ears. As soon as 
I have enough picked to take care of that half- 
day-, I take the ears home, strip them and 
hang them in bunches in a dry place, reject¬ 
ing all that may prove defective in any way. 
Never pick all day and pile the ears up; and 
never leave them all night unhung. 
If corn can be hung in a granary or other 
dry place where mice will not molest it. it 
mav hang till Spring, but as I have no rniee- 
proof building. I adopt the following plan; 
I hang as much as • I have room for iu the 
cook-room, and as soon as it is thoroughly dry, 
I shell it into iron powder canisters, holding 
about three gallons each and having small 
holes punched for the admission of air. These 
are mice-proof. I then fill up the cook-room 
ceiling again with bunches of seed, and pro¬ 
ceed as before. 
The main ideas are these:—Corn should be 
selected long enough before frost to be per¬ 
fectly- dry. It must not be heated iu piles. 
It must, not be housed iu too large a bulk aud 
it must be kept dry. Other details are minor 
considerations. 
From actual tests I find ground fall-plowed 
deeply aud well harrowed in Spring, gives 
at least one-third more corn than the same 
ground when it has a coat of stable manure 
and is plowed iu the Spring. I find also 
that yellow corn requires richer soil than 
white to arrive at the same degree of perfec¬ 
tion, and that white corn is better for horses 
than yellow. For cold weather feeding and 
for fattening swine yellow corn is the best. 
Warren Co., Ia. r. j. w. mocre. 
WORTH NOTING 
Do not let frost harm the buckwheat. Give 
the grain plenty of air for a few days after it 
is thrashed . 
Select your Hyacinths, Tulips and Nar. 
cissus for another year. Give them rich, mel 
low soil and plant them from three to six inch¬ 
es deep according to size. Hardy lily bulbs 
may also be planted this Fall... 
Prune your grape-vines as soon as the leaves 
are dead.... 
You may still sow turnip seed. 
Give wheat a chance to tiller. If your land 
is badly fitted and too much seed is sown, it 
has no chance. Remember that grass seed 
sown with wheat either crowds the wheat or 
the wheat is crowded by the grass. 
The only use the public has for either Gould 
or Vanderbilt is for dog to eat dog. says the 
Dairy-. It would be the greatest blessing the 
country could have, aud do more to restore 
public confidence iu the future of business aud 
our institutions thau anything else, if about a 
dozen of these dogs could be eaten up by each 
other, and the last survivor taken to the dog 
pound..... 
We have never found it desirable to roll 
after sowing wheat or rye aud we have tested 
t thoroughly..... 
Farmers often take the pains to sift out the 
largest grains of wheat for seed. But the larg¬ 
est grains often come from the smallest heads. 
Dig your potatoes as soon as the vines are 
dead. They may not keep any better, but 
they- will not then be injured by moles, grubs 
or wire-worms.. f . 
Shock the corn so that it w ill stand a gale. 
Cut out now- the canes of blackberries and 
raspberries that have fruited. Thera is no 
better time. Bum them . Leave only three or 
four of the new canes. Tie them to a stake.. 
For the climate of New York and Chicago, 
seeds for next year’s crop of earliest lettuce, 
cabbage, etc., should be sown the middle of 
this month. The plants may tie set in cold- 
frames for protection through the Winter. Do 
it, you who would have the earliest vegetables 
of this kind. 
Hurry up the new- strawberry plantations- 
Bass-w-ood Plant Louse.—Winged Fe¬ 
male.— Fig 627. 
had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy 
wholly vanquished. Lust year I sought far 
and wide, but could find no trace of this pest. 
This year 1 have received it from Wisconsin 
with the report that it is doing serious damage 
to the American Lindens. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
The word Jumbo applies well to these lice. 
They- are very large for plant lice. The 
winged ovoviparous forms (Fig. 627) arc, con¬ 
trary to what is usually true, even more 
numerous than are the apterous ones (Fig. 
628). Tho e with wings are about one eeuti- 
/) meter (7-18 of an 
. // inch) long to the 
of the wings. 
Tho body is about 
j .*// h five millimeters (7- 
rJ Jt'V-r . ^ 82 a f ttn inch) long. 
Bass-wood Loosit.-Eio.ffis. The antenna) (Fig. 
629; are nearly as long as the body, and the 
legs nearly twice as long. The wings expand 
fully 16 millimeters, or nearly three-fourths 
of an inch. Tho head, antennae, eyes, thorax, 
wings and certain spots on the abdomen are 
black. The remainder of the body is covered 
with a whitish bloom. Tho base of the wings 
and tho femora are yellowish-brown. The other 
portions of the legs are black. On the back are 
four rows of black spots. The two more cen¬ 
tral rows show eight spots each. These spots 
are subrectangular, and show a tendency to 
run together. The lateral rows contain five 
ancons 
Benson Maule & Co., 129 and 131 Front 
St. Philadelphia, Pa. This catalogue, gratis 
to all, offers, besides the usual farm and gar. 
den seeds, an extended list of valuable wheats. 
Among them we notice Lovett’s New White. 
Martin’s Amber aud Golden Prolific. This 
catalogue also offers the leading breeds of 
swine, poultry, ducks and turkeys. 
WillamE. Lincoln, Warren Mass. Illus 
