382 
JUNE 8 
not kill mealy bugs or red spider. Brash off 
these insects, then with a soft sponge and 
plenty of soapy water wash the plants thor¬ 
oughly clean, and repeat this washing in a 
few days to make sure that young and old, 
eggs and insects have been destroyed. 
Yes. Its proper name is Datura arborea. It 
is a native of Peru, and a large-growing but 
showy shrub, with white blossoms seven or 
eight inches long. 3. Much depends upon 
the health and vigor of the plant and the con¬ 
ditions under which it is grown. Not under 
three years from seed. 
DISCUSSION. 
SUGGESTED BY THE HARROW SPECIAL. 
E. D., Ingham County,Michigan. -It seems 
to me that the full importance of the harrow 
as a farm implement is not generally appreci¬ 
ated. No other tool does so great a variety of 
work under such widely different circum¬ 
stances, The work required of harrows is of 
the first order of excellence, and that any 
one kind can be the best for all the varying 
conditions of soil, season, and effect, promises 
to be a physical impossibility. Most farmers 
own but one, or, if they have a second, it is of 
the same kind as the first. Is this wise ? 
what harrows have^to do. 
1. To firm the seed-bed, to which end the 
implement must work deeply and thoroughly. 
I have recently seen many fields plowed and 
fitted for sowing, in which the surface looked 
well, but the foot, every now and then, drop¬ 
ping through into some hole only covered 
over, betrayed the tact that the beautiful sur¬ 
face rested on an unstable foundation. First 
of all, fit the bottom of the seed-bed, and then 
give attention to the top if both cannot be 
accomplished simultaneously. 
2. The soil must be pulverized, and to this 
end all the ground must be handled to a rea¬ 
sonable depth, and the friction distributed 
evenly over the surface. Tools with large 
teeth and only a few fail utterly in both these 
requisites; they run shallow, and cut only 
portions of the surface. 
3. The surface must be leveled and smooth¬ 
ed, and to this end the tool must run close to 
the ground and be able to move some earth. 
4. Harrows are sometimes required to com¬ 
pact the surface; at other times to loosen and 
leave it as light as possible, requiring, in the 
first instance, pressure, and, in the second, 
none. For the first the implement should 
hug the ground; for the second it should run 
free and deliver the earth behind with an up¬ 
ward turn as does tbe Acme or Cutaway. 
From the nature of the case these varying 
and often antagonistic qualities cannot be 
found in any one style of implement. A man 
cannot afford to own but one. There are two 
well defined sorts, the deep worker and the 
smoothing harrow. One should have both. 
what harrows should not be re¬ 
quired TO DO. 
► 
It should not be expected that harrows will 
do well after a poor job of plowing; or work 
well on sticky land, or when dull; or draw 
easily; or find their own shelter or go without; 
neither should they be expected to work well 
for any but their rightful owner. 
Harrows must not tear up sods or litter; the 
teeth must be arranged in such mathematical 
order as not to trail; that is, those that cut 
next to those of the first row must not be in 
the second row, but back of the center. They 
should move the soil to one side rather than 
straight ahead: and, above all things, they 
should not be mounted upon wheels. I 
should like to se6 this tool more freely dis¬ 
cuss? d. 
FIGHTING THE FLEA-BEETLE. 
W. B. Alwood, BLACKSBURG, Va.—I no¬ 
tice that the Rural is again in tribulation 
about the Flea-beetle. Remembering its seri¬ 
ous trouble last year and failure in the potato 
contest owing to this little pest, I venture to 
give a bit of my experience: 
Last March, shortly after having planted 
early cabbages out in the field, we had some 
very hot, dry weather for that season of the 
year,and the Flea-beetles appeared in myriads. 
I never saw so many. Many of the plants 
were literally blackened with them, and it 
seemed as if they would entirely ruin the 
plants in a few hours. At once I made some 
kerosene emulsion after the usual formula 
originally given by Dr. Riley, and sprayed 
the plants thoroughly with it diluted ten 
times. The beetles took to flight very readi¬ 
ly, but the preparation was driven among the 
plants with such force and in such a fine 
spray that many of them were caught and 
killed. I applied it with such force as liter¬ 
ally to fill the air with the finely divided par¬ 
ticles, and as a result I had next day the 
pleasure of finding the dead beetles scattered 
over, tbe.earth and plants .in JargOurabers, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
■ This one application by no means ended the 
fight. I found it necessary to repeat it every 
few days for nearly two weeks, but as a final 
result I saved the entire crop, not half a dozen 
plants were killed The same application was 
successfully used on small plants in the 
cold-frames. 
For makmg this application I recommend 
the Japy double cylinder knapsack pump, 
with the Alwood lance and Vermorel nozzle. 
This pump was imported from France for my 
work while an assistant in the Division of En¬ 
tomology at Washington, and since leaving 
there I have had several pumps made, after 
this pattern, by Robert Leitcb & Sons of 
Washington. The lance is my own design and 
works admirably in throwing a direct spray 
upon plants. For underspraying I use the 
Raveneau nozzle on a Japy lance. This latter 
is unquestionably the best implement for the 
purpose yet made. This pump and the two 
lances make an outfit suitable for all kinos of 
work, and one far superior to anything else to 
be had in this country. 
, I do not know what strength of kerosene 
emulsion young potato plants will s’and, but 
I am satisfied that an emulsion containing one 
part of kerosene to 20 of water cm be used, 
and the plants should be thoroughly sprayed 
with an emulsion of this strength, or even 
with a stronger one, if it can be safely done. 
The application should be made in the heat of 
the day, when the beetles are most numerous. 
A WORD FOR TRUSTS. 
A City Farmer, Pittsburg, Pa —I note 
that the Rural has considerable to say about 
“ trusts,” always speaking against them, never 
‘‘giving the devil his due.” I am not inter¬ 
ested in any way in any trust, but as a jobber 
I saw a great deal of benefit in the rubber 
trust, for this reason: previous to the combi¬ 
nation the chief object of all was to make the 
lowest-priced garment, not the best. After 
the establishment of the trust the ambition of 
all was to make the best for the money, and 
thus secure the trade of jobbers and retailers, 
for there was a list price and certain dis 
counts, and the rule no longer was, every fel¬ 
low for himself. Don’t you know some per 
sons who have bought cheap (so-called), but in 
the end very dear, gossamers or water-proofs, 
because the price tempted them or they were 
not willing to buy a good article at a reason¬ 
able margin to manufacturer and retailer? 
And the first time it was wet, did they not 
condemn it and all through whose bands it 
came? Here is an instance: A large Broad¬ 
way house offered an order for 5,000 gossa¬ 
mers to a firm if it could get them at a price 
which would enable it to make $1 the re¬ 
tail figure. Well! the manufacturer needed 
something to keep his factory open, and find¬ 
ing a margin of one cent per garment accept¬ 
ed the offer. The articles were made, de¬ 
livered, examined, found satisfactory, paid 
for and sold to the retailers faster than hot 
cakes, because the price was less than those at 
which goods of that kind could be bought 
from combination firms. What were they 
made of and how? Muslin, lampblack 
naphtha and flour; short, scant and small in 
every way. The consequence was that if the 
retailer kept them until the naphtha had evap¬ 
orated, he could take them out of the bags 
and shake the water-proofing (?) off. If the 
wearer were unfortunate enough to go out in 
the rain without an umbrella, she got wet and 
bad nothing left but a black rag. Now, tell 
me, reader, was this trust a good thing for 
the consumer or was it an illegal affair to 
drain hard-earned money out of her pocket? 
Is it best to pay an honest price for a good ar¬ 
ticle or to buy such as the above at slop-shop 
prices? Is it not best to give the retailer a 
living margin? He can pay the manufacturer 
a living profit, the manufacturer pays h's 
hands better, the employes can pay more for 
their victuals and are better citizens, and the 
farmers can get better prices for their pro¬ 
ducts. 
CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS AT THE WEST. 
Professor George E. Morrow, Cham¬ 
paign, III.—I have no doubt the use of com¬ 
mercial or chemical fertilizers will become 
more and more common in the Central West¬ 
ern States. There has been a marked increase 
in the quantity used in Ohio in recent years. 
In Illinois and in States farther west their use 
is, as yet, the exception rather than the rule. 
There are good reasons for this. On most of 
our ferti'e prairie soils even liberal applica¬ 
tions of these fertilizers usually give little in¬ 
crease of crop. On those which have had the 
available supply of plant food considerably 
lessened by long-continued cropping without 
fertilization of any kind, like applications of¬ 
ten give a large increase of crop But when 
the farm products sell at low prices, only a 
large increase in yield will repay the cost of 
chemical fertilizers. As yet the time has not 
come;for the'general use of these fertilizers by 
the farmers of Illinois. Rotation of crops, 
wit'h*eloyer holding au importepitjplaoe; the 
encouragement of increased attention to live 
stock, with better care of and judicious ap¬ 
plication of barn-yard manure are the pres¬ 
ent practical points in this direction for u®. 
Alongside these, however, something can be 
dene to remove the lack of information con¬ 
cerning the nature of chemical fertilizers, and 
their use in experimental ways is to be en¬ 
couraged. When live stock can be secured at 
even a slight prrfit it is not probably wise 
to make chemical fertilizers the chief reliance 
in maintaining the fertility of the soil. Ro 
tation, clover and other green manures 
plowed under, good tillage and, last but far 
from least, stable manures will, probably, 
long be the chief reliance of Western farmers. 
NEPAUL BARLEY AGAIN. 
W. P. W , Monroe, Wis. —In the Rural 
of May 18, a description of Nepaul barley is 
given, but the estimate of its value may be in¬ 
correct. Because it has been seized on by 
swindlers for the purpose of fleecing farmers is 
no proof that it is worthless. I received from 
a sepdsmau of Chicago, six bushels of a hull¬ 
less barley called Nepaul, which (with other 
varieties) I have sown for him for seed, and I 
am very sure that this seedsmau will make 
only an honest and proper use of it. I have 
no interest in it except to grow it for him. It 
is nearly of the color of rye. The grains are 
very large and plump, and entirely free of 
hulls, and so far as I observed, remarkably 
uniform in size. A gentleman recently from 
the new State of Washington, where he has 
lived for some years, tells me that a kind, called 
the “ bald barley,” aud -which be thinks is 
the same, was several years since introduced 
there, he thinks from France, and he says 
it is much more productive than other kinds, 
and is extensively raised. 
That which I sowed is making a fine 
growth; but, of course, 1 do not know w r hat it 
will amount to. 
experience with melons. 
D. D. C., Dayton, Ohio.— Last spring I 
planted the selected straiu of Hackensack Nut¬ 
meg seed sent out by the Rural New-York¬ 
er in the previous year’s Free Seed Distribu¬ 
tion. The melons were very fine aud large 
and none of them were rotten in the blossom 
end; while in half an acre of Hackensack mel¬ 
ons, the seed of which was bought of seeds¬ 
men, more than half tbe largest melons were 
unsalable on account of being rotten in the 
blossom ends. I also planted one ounce of select¬ 
ed Osage melon (Vaughan's novelty of last 
year) costing 81. There were 185 hills and 
there were five seeds to each bill. From these 
I did not get one sound, ripe melon They 
all rotted at the end before they ripened. 
The dealer gave me a packet of the Osage 
seed free (with a later order). These were plant¬ 
ed on pieces of sod in a hot-bed and some of 
them under glass bore melons which were very 
fine in quality; but some of them also rotted 
in the ends. From my experience of last sea¬ 
son, I am led to the conclusion that seed saved 
from melons having rotten ends, will produce 
melons with the same fault. 
The Rural’s Hackensack seed was saved 
with care. 
WHY I STEP ON POTATOES WHEN PLANTING. 
E. S., Yorkville, III.—In the West we 
use either the stirring plow or cultivator for 
furrowing out potato rows. I object to the 
stirring plow because it is hard to regulate 
the depth of the furrow without making it so 
deep and wide that it is hard to drop the seed 
potatoes in a straight line, a failure to do 
which makes bad work when cultivating. 
I use the cultivate r, going twice in a row, 
the second time stirring the ground at Iea«t 
six inches deep, but tbe shovels are not large 
enough to leave Ihe furrow open more than 
three inches deep, and by stepping on the 
pieces of potato I press them, without injury, 
about an inch into the mellow soil, leaving 
them about four inches below the level sur¬ 
face. Some may object to this because of the 
injury done to the sprout. I find it difficult 
to plant potatoes that aro sprouted much 
without either breaking off or bruising the 
sprouts—which I consider as bad as breaking. 
I planted potatoes in the last days of April 
that were badly sprouted and they are up 
now (May 24) large enough for the plow. 
CHICKENS AGAINST THE FLEA-BEETLE. 
B. R., Fayette County., Pa.—T he Flea- 
beetles are the worstnuisauceslknowor, aud 
they are worse here this spring than ever 
before. Dusting with soot, lime or plaster 
generally drives them away if this is carefully 
done every few days, but the only effectual 
guard against them is that employed by gard¬ 
eners here to keep them off cabbage plants, etc, 
A lot of chicken coops are placed where the 
fleas are, with lots of chickens just hatched; 
the more the bette r. If there are a compaia- 
tively large number in proportion to the size 
of tbe place, they will effectually rid it of the 
paste jiLsbort order, That- tfie only way in 
which a neighbor of mine and myself man¬ 
aged to save our cabbage plants last year; but 
I am afraid it would not answer for potatoes, 
a® the little chicks could not pick the insects 
from the potato stalks, 
SOOT FOR THE FLEA-BEETLE. 
F. M., Stamford, Conn.— For the flea- 
beetle try soot well sprinkled on the plants. 
Tbe pests commenced upon my tomato plants, 
but soot has so far disgusted them. One of my 
neighbors tried it last year and had no trouble 
either with beetles or bugs, and so far this 
year he has had no trouble. 
G. S. P., Winslow, Me.—To us in this 
grass-growine region, along the Kennebec, 
tbe Rural Hav Number is very interesting. 
Three years ago I ascertained the cause of the 
“ perfumed hay ” Mr. Goffart speaks of. My 
hay is cut earlv, as a rule, but at that time 
a strip of porr, ripe, fine grass was cut late, 
cured and got in the same day. When raking 
it I noticed it had the powerful perfume 
which I had always supposed to belong to 
early cut hay alone. This odor I am sure 
fame out the first afternoon, and by opening 
and sunning it the next day it would have 
been dissipated, as is usually the case. As it 
was, the hay retained the pleasant odor until 
it was fed, late the next spring, and no hay 
could have been eaten by the cows with a 
better appetite. I have noticed the same 
thing since, and am confident that too much 
curing spoils the hay. Iu this region we sell 
our best hay and feed our best hay; we have 
the cake and eat it, too. The prime, coarse 
Timothy goes to the Boston market, where it 
brings a high price. Few would feed it if 
they could. We prefer the finer hay—the 
Red-top, and clover—which makes more and 
better milk and keejs more of the elements of 
fertility on the farm. 
The Champion mower is the favorite here. 
I have used it. I have also a Warrior. It is 
extremely light and strong, very easy for the 
team, and it has a seat so near the ground, 
and requires so little oil to keep it running, 
that it is a luxury to use it. My team are 
slow walkers, but as long as they move at all 
it does perfect work. 
H. F.-, Wayne County, N. Y.—In the Ru¬ 
ral’s report of the churn test at the New 
Hampshire Experiment Station, I think the 
fact is demonstrated that a single trial proves 
but little. In regard to the “ perfect granu¬ 
lation of butter” at that trial, I have nothing 
to say; but if the report of that part of the 
trial is on a par with the other two points of 
superiority mentioned, I have my doubts as 
to its reliability. I have operated both the 
Blanchard and the Davis, and I venture the 
assertion that I can churn a given quantity 
of cream in a Davis churn with the same ex¬ 
penditure of force that would be required 
with a Blanchard containing half the quan¬ 
tity. But “ the most unkindest cut of all ” for 
the Davis is that it is more difficult to clean. 
Hundreds of Davis churns are in use in this 
county, and one of the strong points in their 
favor among the farmers’ wives who use 
them, is that “they are so easy to clean.” 
They are perfectly smooth inside and need 
not be lifted, and I do not see how it is possi¬ 
ble to construct a churn that would be an im¬ 
provement in this direction. A few such re¬ 
ports as this will do more to shake the faith 
of thinking, practical farmers in the reliabil¬ 
ity of such reports than can be counteracted 
in a long time. 
I. J. B., Titusville,N. J.—Apple blossoms 
have been very abundant and probably most 
of them are fertilized. I find a gr eat variety 
of blossoms. There is among them considera¬ 
ble difference in size and an endless variety of 
color. Who can tell whether color has any¬ 
thing to do with productiveness ? The time of 
opening has an influence. The different 
stages of bloom on the same tree constitute a 
great insurance of a crop, and a provision 
against overbearing. The indications here 
are that apples will set too much fruit this 
year. I think the reason why some apple trees 
are not productive is because the blossoms are 
imperfect. I find the Primate with a short 
style, the stigma not united, yet almost so, 
the anthers out beyond the stigma—a poor po¬ 
sition for fertilization. I find Smith’s Cider 
with three to five stigmas on long styles so 
that the stigma is beyond the anthers, in the 
best possible position for fertilization. Is it 
possible that tne fertilization of one or two 
of the stigmas, instead of all, is the cause of 
imperfect or one-sided fruit. If the corn grain 
fails because each separate grain is not fer¬ 
tilized, why should not the apple. 
L A. W., Farwell, Mich.—T his morn¬ 
ing I was reading aloud the Rural’s appeal 
for help in fighting the Flea-beetle, when “our 
girl 1 ’ inquired if we had ever tried ammonia. 
Her uncle, she said, used ammonia in water, 
j;o kwp the little flies and other insects from 
hifj oucnmbep yines aud other plants, aud 
