564 
August 8 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
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ACID PHOSPHATE OR GROUND 
BONE. 
0. M. 3'., Delavan, Wts.—Is there any pref¬ 
erence on the ground of peculiar adapta¬ 
bility to crop, soil or season, between acid 
phosphate and bone meal? My purpose is 
to feed the corn through earing and fill¬ 
ing time. My plan is to drill with one- 
horse grain drill when the corn is about 
knee high. How does acid phosphate drill? 
My reason for applying so early Is to an¬ 
ticipate a possible dry spell by getting the 
fertilizer dissolved first. I do not want 
any nitrogen—that is, I think I do not. My 
corn Is always planted “too thick,” and I 
do not wish to stimulate stalk and leaf 
growth. Too many and too largo leaves 
will pump the water all out and leave our 
big plant stranded high and dry in the 
middle of August. 
—If we were sure that nitrogen 
is not needed we would use the acid 
phosphate in preference to the bone, but 
we should want to be very sure about it. 
In parts of the West bone meal is act¬ 
ually a cheaper source of phosphoric 
acid than acid phosphate. Some brands 
of acid phosphate do not drill well, be¬ 
ing damp and sticky. You will not be 
likely to drill an average phosphate sat¬ 
isfactorily in a one-horse machine. 
Ground bone drills much better. We 
usually find it necessary to apply acid 
phosphate uy hand, though some care¬ 
fully dried samples will run through the 
drill. The finest ground bone is about 
as quickly available for corn as the acid 
phosphate, but the nitrogen in it will 
undoubtedly affect the crop. In general 
ground bone is better for lighter sandy 
soils. We think that the continued use 
of acid phosphate on such soils would 
prove harmful in the end. In order to 
be most effective bone should be well 
worked into the ground. In cases where, 
as in the case of grass, the fertilizer 
must be left on top of the ground we 
would use acid phosphate or dissolved 
bone black, because in these forms the 
phosphoric acid is dissolved in water 
and carried down into the soil. The 
phosphoric acid in the acid phosphate 
is soluble in water—one part phosphoric 
acid being combined with one part of 
lime. This soluble form quickly changes 
in the soil, becoming “reverted”: that 
is, taking another part of lime into the 
combination. The phosphoric acid in 
the bone is “reverted,” and thus, when 
ground to a very fine powder, the bone 
is as available as the acid phosphate. 
The chief advantage of the “phosphate” 
aside from its low cost is that the phos¬ 
phoric acid is distributed more com¬ 
pletely in the soil as the water carries 
it about. The disadvantage is that in 
some soils this form of phosphoric acid, 
instead of uniting with lime, will unite 
with iron or other substances and thus 
form insoluble compounds which plants 
cannot utilize. 
Coal Ashes on the Farm. 
A. D. O., Franklin Falls, N. £f.— Can any 
of your readers give me any information 
about coal ashes on a farm? That la, la 
there anything I can use them for, as I 
have about three barrels a week during the 
Winter. Will they hurt apple trees, or will 
they do any harm if thrown in the ma¬ 
nure heap? 
Ans.—A ton of coal ashes contains 
barely 20 cents’ worth of actual plant 
food. They are valuable for mulching 
aiound trees or shrubs, and have some 
mechanical effect on soils. On light 
sands they increase the capacity for 
holding moisture. On heavy clays they 
open the soil and give better drainage 
^ and circulation of air. They are some¬ 
times used as an absorbent. They will 
not injure apple trees, and will be of no 
benefit to the manure. We consider 
them about as useful for making walks 
a.s for any other farm purpose. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
The Story of the White Grub. 
O. 8. B., Alpine, N. T.—VtHiat is the best 
way to treat a field that is full of white 
grubs? All through this section last year 
they ruined corn and potatoes, and hurt 
all other crops. What do they come from, 
and what do they develop into? 
Ans.— The large white grubs, which 
commonly infest grass lands and often 
work destruction in corn, potatoes, 
strawberries and similar crops following 
grass, are the larval stage of the large 
brown beetles known as “June-bugs” or 
“May-beetles,” which appear in large 
numbers about June 1. The beetles are 
much attracted to lights and often buzz 
and bump about a room in the evening; 
I know of one case where they broke up 
a church service. These May-beetles fiy 
only at night, and in a few days after 
emerging they burrow into the ground 
from one to three inches, usually in 
grass lands, and therein lay their eggs 
which hatch in about two weeks into 
baby white grubs. The grubs live on 
plant roots, usually retiring deeper into 
the soil for the Winter. It takes three 
Summers or seasons of growth for white 
grubs to get their full growth, and it is 
usually during the third season that 
their most destructive work is done; 
rarely are the one and two-year-old 
grubs noticeably injurious. Thus it 
takes about three years from the laying 
of the eggs, say in June, 1903, by the 
parent May-beetle to develop another 
brood of beetles through the egg, grub 
or larval stage, the tender pupal stage 
of about three weeks, and into the adult 
ready to emerge in June, 1906. About 
two weeks are spent as eggs laid by the 
beetles, about two years and two months 
are required for the grubs to get their 
growth on plant roots, about three 
weeks for the grub to transform through 
the tender pupal stage to a beetle, then 
the beetles remain in the pupal cells in 
the soil for eight or nine months (from 
September till the following June), har¬ 
dening up and getting ready for their 
brief existence of a few weeks in the air, 
sometimes injuring young fruit trees by 
feeding on the foliage at night. The 
critical or most vulnerable stage or 
period in the life of these pests is when 
they are in the pupal stage transforming 
from the grubs to beetles in little earth¬ 
en cells a few inches below the surface 
of the soil. All that is necessary to do 
to destroy many of these tender pupse is 
thoroughly to cultivate or stir the soil 
early in the Fall, in August or Septem¬ 
ber. The thorough cultivation usually 
given to land in preparation for Win¬ 
ter wheat is the most effectual method 
known for controlling white grubs. 
Therefore, if I wished to use grass lands 
for some cultivated crop I would begin 
in early Fall and plow and thoroughly 
cultivate the field; then grow some crop 
that required frequent cultivation, for 
this farm practice is the greatest known 
discourager of white grubs. Any sub¬ 
stance applied to the soil in sufficient 
quantities to kill white grubs would 
also kill plant life. Where the beetles 
attack cultivated crops as orchards, they 
can be jarred into sheets at night or 
poisoned by spraying the foliage with a 
strong poison like arsenate of lead. 
Early Fall cultivation, frequent tillage 
of a crop, and a short rotation of farm 
crops are the principal weapons with 
which farmers can fight white grubs. 
M. V. SLINGERLAND. 
What To Sow on Light Soil. 
E. J. R., Kendal Green, Mass .—I want to 
know, what to sow on some sandy loam soil 
that will grow some paste,re this Pall and 
come up again in Spring to plow in to fer¬ 
tilize for corn. The land , has been vacant 
two years and is rather weedy. Another 
piece of land is full of Witch grass, and 
I would like to sow that with something 
that would smother out the quack and 
help fertilize it for corn. 
Ans. —If we had that first piece of 
ground we would plow and* harrow well 
and sow three pecks of rye and 12 
pounds of Crimson clover seed per acre 
as soon as we could get it in. The 
Witch grass can only be killed out by 
constant cultivation in sunny weather. 
If you have a. disk or Cutaway harrow 
we would cut that soil over as often as 
possible during August. The object is 
to cut off the roots of the Witch grass 
and toss them up to the air and sun. 
Plowing and then stirring the upper sur¬ 
face with a smoothing harrow will not 
kill this grass out. A spring-tooth har¬ 
row will do it. After working the soil 
over in this way we would sow a bushel 
of rye per acre in early September. 
BEAULIEU’S 
HARDY WHITE ONIONS 
_ lib. $2.50. Special Offer; The 
New Onion Culture, by T. Greiner, FREE. 
BEAULIEU, Woodhaven, N. T. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
THISTLE-INE 
Oak Grove, Mich., July 9, ’03 
The LIndgren Chemical Co.’ 
Grand Rapids, Mich. 
Gentlemen: The more I 
use Thistle-ine the better I like 
It, and I believe it will in time 
be as necessary an article on 
the farm for spraying noxious 
vegetable growths as Paris 
Green is for spraying jjotatoes. 
Used Thistie-ine an Milkweed 
last week, and was delighted 
with results. Yourstruly. 
W. O. UlCUARDS. 
One thorough spraying with •* Thistle- 
ine’’settles it. Guaranteed. 6 lb. can 
makes 6 gallons of the liquid, $2.00 Free 
booklet tell all about it. 
THE LINDGREN CHEMICAL CO. 
8 S. Ionia St. Grand Rapids, Mich. 
SEED WHEAT! 
60 BUSHELS PER ACRE ( product of crop 
grown from our Imported Malakolf: purebred; 
grandest New variety ever introduced. Re¬ 
quires less seed per acre; stools better; gives 
better and heavier quality of grain; not at¬ 
tacked with rust or lly; liardy ns Rye. St.so 
per bushel. Turkish Red, $1.10; Mammoth 
White Rye, $1.00. No extra charge fur sacks. 
Ask for prices on Timothy, Clover and all farm 
seeds. 
RATEKINS’ SEED HOUSE, Shenandoah, la. 
CHANGE YOUR SEEO 
Wheat, It will pay you big. Raise a crop of pure, 
clean wheat, and sell it to your neighbors another 
year for seed. We can furnish pure Fultz, Poole, 
Mealy, Dawson’s Golden Chaff. Red Wonder, Fultzo 
Mediterranean. Also Rye and Timothy. 
THE O. C. SHEPARD COMPANY 
MEDINA. OHIO, 
'KIMSON CLOVER SEED, home grown. Now 
' ready. Write for prices. 
U. S. JOHNSTON, Box 4, Stockley, Del. 
Mealy Wheat, free from Cockle and Rye, $1 10 per 
bushel. Wo have Kentucky Giant, Fultz, American 
Wonder, and Dawson Golden Chaff. Write to-day. 
The Theilmann Seed Company, Erie, Pa. 
S EED WHEAT.—Heaviest yielding and hardiest 
varities. Get our free circular and samples be¬ 
fore ordering. A. H. HOFFMAN. Bamford, Pa. 
Grow G inseng 
follunes Made inSmall Gardens 
A square rod of ground will easily grow 1000 
plants. The roots, seed and young plants from 
such a bed,lf sold at prices now Prevailing, 
yield over $50,000 within ten years. 400,000.000 
Chinese use it as a medicine. It is not an opiate. 
Supply very limited. Hardy everywhere in 
United States and Canada. Easy to cultivate 
in either city or country—your leisure hours 
will do it. . ^ j j o j 
We sell cultivated roots and seed. Send 
two 2-cent stamps to help pay postage and get 
our complete booklet, “Ginseng?,’* and current 
number of our magazine,"The Ginseng Garden. 
Chinese -American Ginseng Co. 
DeplEB Scranton. Pa. 
100,000 2-YEAR APPLE 
$7 to $14 Per 
100 . Best com¬ 
mercial sorts, 
on ftfin rnrPDV Rarly Richmond, Dyehouse, 
ZiU,UUU vIHjIVIVI Large Montmorency. 
200,000 Peach,75,000 June Buds. Fumigation. This stock 
cannot be surpassed, and we can save you money. 
WOODVIEW NURSERIES, B10, Mt. Holly Springs, Pa 
VEGETABLE PLANTS 
Knn nnn Celery, Field grown, White Plume, Per- 
JUU,UUU fectlon Heartwell, Golden Heart, and 
Giant Pascal, $1 per 1,000; $8.50 per 10.000. The same 
varieties, very strong transp'anted plants, $2.50 per 
1,000. Cabbage, late Danish Ball-head, sold out. 
LUDVIG MOSBiEK. South Chicago, Ill. 
Tree Dealers and Agents! 
Have your orders filled at wholesale prices. Do 
business direct with your customers. Make the 
Middle Man’s profit and commission. NO LOSS, NO 
BAD ACCOUNTS. “ Try my way. it's a good way.” 
MARTIN WAHL, Nurseryman, Rochester, N. V. 
Glenwood Nurseries 
Most complete assortment of choice 
Ornamental Trees, Shrubs and Vines 
Send for Descriptive Illustrated Catalogue. 
THE WM. H. MOON CO., MORRISVILLE, PA. 
60 miles from New York; 30 miles from Philadelphia. 
Trees, Plants and Vines 
Ornamentals, Shade Trees, ShrubOi 
Flowers—everything to make the home 
grounds beautiful. Fruit Trees, to? 
Send for Catalogue. 
STEPHEN HOYT’S SONS, 
New Canaan. Conn. 
A GRAND LOT OF TREES 
Grown on virgin soil in the mountains of Western 
Pennsylvania. No scale, no disease of any kind. 
None better, none cheaper. Our business is growing 
trees for the commercial orchardist and farmer. 
Write for descriptive catalogue and price list. Address 
The River Side Nursery Company 
Confluence, Penn. 
Half a century of fair deallni; has given 
our products that prominence which merit 
deserves. We still offer everything of 
the best for Orchard, Vineyard, 
Luwn, Park, (street. Garden 
and Greenhouse, Catalogue 
- No. 1. 112 pages, free to pur¬ 
chasers oi Fruit and Ornamental 
Trees. No. 3, 64 pages, free to buyers 
of Holland Bulbs and Greenhouse 
Plants. Try ns; we guarantee 
'satisfaction. Correspondence solicited. 
THE STORRS & HARRISON CO.* 
PAINESVILLE, OHIO. 
TREES SUCCEED WHERE 
'Lar!e!rNursery. OTHERS FAIL 
... Fruit Book Free. Result of 78 years’ experience 
^STARK BR05, Louisiana, Mo.; Huntsville, Ala.; Etc 
CLIMAX 
STRAWBERRY 
PLANTS FOR SALE. 
The strawberry that yields over 20.000 quarts per 
acre. Most productive berry grown. Large, uniform, 
holds size to last, and brings from 3 to 5 cents more 
than any other berry. Mall orders filled August 1st. 
U. W. GRAHAM, Originator, Tyaskin, Md. 
The President Strawberry 
It heads the list. In a class by itself. Largest, 
most productive, brightest color, most profitable and 
longest seasoned of any strawberry yet introduced. 
Potted plants ready July 15th. Send for circular. 
Mention this paper. THOMAS R. HUNT, 
Originator, LambertvlUe, N. J. 
C 1 n quart of Oom Paul Straw 
VIU berries at our field meeting, 6 berries to a quart. 
100 potted plants for $2.50. List Free. 
KEVITT’S PLANT FARM, Athenla, N. J. 
Prime Celery and Cabbage, 
$1 per thousand; 
'i 25 cents per dozen 
if mailed. SLAYMAKER & SON, Dover, Del. 
f ffc W PLANTS — Strong, healthy 
EL k EL Iw T plants from seed sown thin (in 
rows) In rich beds. Golden Self-blanching, White 
Plume, Giant Pascal and Golden Heart, $1.80 per 
1,000; $1.25 per 500. I pack carefully. 
F. W. ROCHELLE, Drawer 1, Chester, N. J. 
Seeds and Roots. Prices low. 
50 cent book on Culture and 
Profits of Ginseng, fkee. 
Send for it. D. BRANDI, 
Box 507, Bremen, Ohio. 
GINSENG 
A GOOD SEASON TO PLANT 
POT GKOWN strawberry Plants. Asparagus Plants and 
EVERGREENS. POT GROWN Roses. Honeysuckle, 
Clematis and Ivies. Catalogue with cultural directions free to 
all R. N.-Y. readers. Wi-ite for it now. 
T. J. DWYER & SON, CORNWALL, N. Y. 
CRIMSON GLOVER 
W UCIIRY A HRFFR. 7ld fi 
In sowing: this valuable clover, It Is important 
that American seed is used. We supply genui^ 
Delaware seed only. Our special circular describ¬ 
ing uses of Crimson Clover is mailed free. 
HENRY A. DREER, 714 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 
THE BOSS 
POTATO DIGGER, 
Digs every row'. Works w'here others can 
not. Thousands in use. We want an agent 
in your section. Manufactured by E. R. 
ALLEN FOUNDRY CO., Manuf^ 
turersof LAND ROLLERS & 
IRON CASTINGS, Coming, N. y. 
