1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
The Blight in Tomatoes. 
J. R. McK., Sunnydale, Wash .—I am having 
a very interesting time with the Tomato 
blight. This year’s crop will be the second 
crop on the same ground. Last year the 
crop escaped the blight until the fruit was 
ripening. Instead of attacking the leaves 
it formed a dry rot in the walls of the seed 
cells and underneath the outside skin; va¬ 
riety, Atlantic Prize. This year I noticed 
when the plants were set out, that some 
of them were blighted, so as soon as pos¬ 
sible I sprayed them with Bordeaux Mix¬ 
ture, made as follows: One pound copper 
sulphate, three-quarter pound unslaked 
lime, to 10 gallons of water. What is the 
cause of the blight? I am the only one 
in the neighborhood who has it, and I am 
also the only one who uses fertilizers; all 
other growers here use manures. I use 
nitrate of soda, dried blood and tankage. 
Soil varies from clay to sand and clay 
mixed. The patch is enclosed on the east, 
south and west sides by standing timber; 
consequently shaded from one to two hours 
morning and evening. Varieties this year: 
Early Ruby, Atlantic Prize and Freedom. 
How often should I spray? Will the to¬ 
mato stand a stronger solution of the Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture than the one herein named? 
Ans. —We would not think the blight 
was caused by the chemicals used for 
fertilization, though you seem to be 
using an excess of nitrogen. The shaded 
position of your plot would favor the 
germination of the blight spores, as the 
dew must remain on the leaves longer 
than if exposed to full sunlight. A 
spraying after every rain with the solu¬ 
tion you have used ought to reduce the 
ravages of the blight very materially. 
An ammoniacal solution of copper might 
prove more satisfactory in its action, 
and would not be likely to injure the 
foliage. It can be made by placing one 
ounce of carbonate of copper in eight 
ounces of ammonia, dissolved in about 
two quarts of water. Dilute the solution 
to nine gallons with either rain or or¬ 
dinary well water, and spray thorough¬ 
ly. 
Crimson Clover and the Pea Louse. 
C. P. A., Connecticut.—Don’t blame Crimson 
clover too much In that Pea-louse affair. 
We have Mrs. Pea Louse here. In countless 
hordes, yet there isn’t any Crimson clover, 
except what has come itself on my land 
from seed sown seven years ago. It has 
self-sown to some extent, each year, but it 
certainly is not to blame for the acres of 
peas destroyed last year in this vicinity. 
The louse Is not a new one, whatever 
scientists may declare. I have known 
them for 20 years or more, but I never saw 
them in such quantities as to do much in¬ 
jury until last season. I am inclined to 
believe that they will disappear from nat¬ 
ural causes, in a year or so. The Apple 
tent-caterpillars come In about 10-year 
periods, and for three years at a time, 
usually, are numerous to be injurious, In¬ 
creasing the amount of damage each year. 
The last year of the three they will cover 
everything, but are pretty sure to be de¬ 
stroyed by some disease that leaves dead 
ones everywhere. 
Ans. —Whether the Pea louse is a 
Crimson-clover pest, or whether its orig¬ 
inal food was Red clover, is still, I be¬ 
lieve, an open question. Throughout this 
section the Crimson clover was overrun 
with it, while but few lice could be 
found on Red clover, though in Mary¬ 
land some fields of Red clover were seri¬ 
ously injured. That it could not be a 
pest of Crimson clover in the North, 
where it is not grown, is obvious; 
though it is not impossible that it may 
have spread from Crimson clover to Red 
clover in this section, and then grad¬ 
ually spread north. Thus in Delaware 
the Crimson clover has certainly been 
the cause of the louse on peas for the 
past two seasons; in other sections the 
lice have come from Red clover. It 
seems to me altogether probable, how¬ 
ever, that the spread to the peas was 
due to tne blizzard of early 1899, which 
doubtless killed off the parasites which 
heretofore kept the louse in check on 
the clover, so that its numbers increased 
to such an extent as to make a spread 
from clover necessary. It is hardly 
necessary to say that no decrease in the 
planting of Crimson clover is expected. 
Altogether, Crimson clover is probably 
of fully as much value as the pea crop. 
That it should not be planted in adjoin¬ 
ing pea fields is, however, to be advised, 
481 
and also that it be plowed under as 
early as practicable in the Spring. That 
the pest is not a new one from Nature’s 
standpoint, no one would deny. There 
is little doubt that it injured Crimson 
clover in Delaware 10 years ago. How¬ 
ever, such injury has been rare, so rare, 
in fact, that with all the study that has 
been given insect pests of the clover 
plant by trained entomologists through¬ 
out the country, this insect was never 
recognized as specifically distinct from 
other plant lice. Not until last year, 
therefore, was it recognized as different 
from all other plant lice previously de¬ 
scribed, and was described as a new 
species, but only new to science; Nature 
has doubtless known the species here or 
abroad for thousands upon thousands of 
years. It is entirely possible, however, 
that your correspondent may have con¬ 
fused two species. A very similar species 
of aphia has been common on peas for 
many years, though it has rarely done 
much damage, and then only locally. 
These species are so similar that I dare¬ 
say few entomologists would recognize 
them as instinct, except upon the most 
careful study, and the casual observer 
certainly would not distinguish tjiem, as 
they appear exactly alike. 
It is entirely probable that in a few 
years we shall hear but little complaint 
of me Pea louse. Meanwhile, howev'r, 
it is necessary that, if peas are to be 
grown, it must be combated in the most 
practicable manner possible, until nat¬ 
ural agencies for its control come to our 
aid. Almost all of our worst insect pests 
become injurious periodically, and it is 
necessary that we should be ready to 
cope with them upon their first appear¬ 
ance. Not only this, but, knowing their 
life histories and habits, we should try 
in every way by the manipulation of 
general methods of farm practice, to 
prevent their excessive increase, and 
thus keep them under control by natural 
means. e. dwioiit sanderson. 
Tansy and Sumach Berries. 
J. W. L., Crafton, Pa.—We have consider¬ 
able tansy on our farm. Is there any 
market for it, and where can it be sold? 
Is there any demand for sumach berries? 
Ans. —All sorts of plants are used in 
the drug trade, and there is a limited 
demand for dried tansy leaves. Sumach 
is used in medicine and also as a dye¬ 
stuff. Herbs to be prepared for market 
should be thoroughly dried, preferably 
in the shade, as the sun is apt to bleach 
them. Probably the best plan is to write 
to some wholesale botanic druggist, 
stating just what you have for sale, and 
asking for information in regard to 
prices and the methods of preparation 
and shipping. Walter Adams & Co., 279 
Pearl street. New York, are extensive 
dealers in materials of this sort. 
Water Refuse as Manure. 
A. P. C., Massachusetts .—Is there any sim¬ 
ple and inexpensive way of catching and 
handling (loading on team) the large 
amount of vegetable debris that is carried 
away by the brook flowing through 
swampy fresh-meadow land. What is the 
value of such material where humus is 
chiefly needed, if plowed under instead of 
green manures? 
Ans. —Such a possession as this is 
worth quite a lot of money to a farmer, 
if it is managed in this way: Dig a ditch 
across the marsh and throw up a dam 
to shut in the water, leaving a flume 
sufficient to pass the ordinary current 
of the stream. In high water a large 
quantity of vegetable matter will be 
brought down, and almost all of it may 
be collected by driving stakes here and 
there to hold down planks set on edge, 
so as to cause eddies. One acre of land 
so managed will easily collect in a year 
some hundreds of loads of organic mat¬ 
ter and surface wash from above, each 
of which will be worth a load of or¬ 
dinary manure. The dam need not be 
higher than as much as will flood the 
surface one foot in depth. There need 
be no fear Of any ill results as to hy¬ 
gienic conditions, for a water surface 
will be far less objectionable in this re¬ 
spect than mere sodden ground. In time 
by draining this land, when the present 
vegetation has been killed and sufficient 
deposit has been made, an excellent per¬ 
manent meadow may be formed. This 
method has been very usefully applied 
in the improvement of marsh lands. 
h. s. 
The Size of a Farm. 
G. 77. 37., Bradenville, Pa .—If I owned 100 
acres of land, how much would I own, one- 
fourth, one-half and three-fourths of the 
distance to the centre of the earth? 
Ans. —As you would have a pyramid of 
the earth, having a surface of 100 acres, 
and 4,000 miles long, the surface would 
gradually decrease in proportion to the 
depth. Half way down, the area of the 
surface there would be one-half as large 
on each side as the top surface, which 
would make the area one fourth as large, 
or 25 acres; at one-quarter of the way 
down the area would be one-hal'f of these 
two areas, or 62 y 2 acres; and three- 
fourths down it would be one-fourth of 
the third, and one-sixteenth of the whole 
surface area, or 6^4 acres. H. s. 
Peach Baskets 
Sizes, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 qts. 
Peach Covers. 
Wood. Burlap and Cotton. 
Crape Baskets. 
Sizes, 3%, 5, 8,10 and 15 pounds. 
Berry Baskets. 
Quarts, Shorts, Pints, Thirds, otc 
BERRY. PEACH AND GRAPE CRATES. 
Crate stock and box shooks in all sizes, direct from 
the manufacturers. Special prices to dealers and 
carload buyers. Write for catalogue. 
COLES & CO., 
(Successors to A. II. MONTAGUE & SON). 
Manufacturers and Atrents, 
109 111 Warren Street, NEW YORK CITY 
CDBIIT evaporator, “the granger/ 
rltUII For family use. $8, $5 and $8. Cir. Free. 
EASTEKN MFG. CO., 267 So. 5th St., PH1LA., PA. 
6i 
FUMA’ 
K 9 kills Prairie Dogs, 
' * Woodchucks, Gophers 
and Grain lnsects.“The 
wheels of the Gods 
grind slow but exceed¬ 
ing small.” So the weevil, but you can stop their 
“ Fuma Carbon Bisulphide” as 
EDWARD B. TAYLOR, Penn Van, N. V. 
SOME FERTILIZER NOTES. 
Nitrate on Strawberries. — A reader 
wishes to know when he should use 
muriate of potash and nitrate of soda 
on strawberries. Our advice would be to 
use all the muriate and about half the 
nitrate this Summer, the object being to 
get as large a growth on the plant as 
possible before Winter. We doubt 
whether there would be much profit in 
using muriate in Spring. Apply it now, 
and also the phosphoric acid; in the 
Spring a light dressing of nitrate will 
give vigor to the plant and slightly help 
the crop, although the best time to ap¬ 
ply fertilizer is, we believe, the season 
before fruiting. Some practical growers 
do not agree with this, but most of them, 
we think, prefer to use the bulk of the 
fertilizer either when setting out the, 
plants or during their growing season. 
Soluble Fertilizers. —“Is this a good 
time to sow fine ground bone on a 
lawn?” That is the question recently 
asked by a reader. Just now, in the 
middle of a dry Summer, is in our opin¬ 
ion the worst time to use ground bone 
on sod. Neither the nitrogen nor the 
phosphoric acid in bone is immediately 
soluble. Placed on top of the ground, as 
it would be in this case, the bone will re¬ 
main there, quite unable to nourish the 
grass. The best forms of fertilizer for 
applying to the sod are the soluble 
kinds, nitrate of soda for nitrogen, mu¬ 
riate of potash for potash, and dissolved 
phosphate rock for phosphoric acid. 
When mese forms of fertilizer are ap¬ 
plied to the surface they are washed or 
leached down where the roots of the 
plant can utilize them. The ground 
bone, on the other hand, not being solu¬ 
ble, is slower in its action, and not like¬ 
ly to be used by the grass at once. We 
think that the proper place for ground 
bone or for slowly soluble forms of fer¬ 
tilizer is on cultivated crops, where it 
can be worked into the soil by mechan¬ 
ical means. 
A POTATO BUG 
Is most useful when he is dead. Kill him 
with “BOXAL,” and prevent blight by 
the same operation. $1 buys 10 pounds. 
BOWNER CHEMICAL CO., Boston. 
FUNGIROID. 
Add water, and 
It’s ready to spray 
or save labor and 
/use it dry in our 
Champion Duster. 
Saves time, money and crops. Prevents blight, rot 
and mildew. Circular and Spraying Calendar free 
LEGGETT & BROTHER. 301 Pearl Street, New York 
with oar new patent 
KEROSENE SPRAYERS 
is simple indeed. Kerosene Kmul- 
glon made while pumping. 12 var¬ 
ieties spray ers. Bordeaux and Ver- 
morel Nozzles, the World’s Beat. 
THE DEMING CO. Salem, 0. 
w Western Agents. Henioa <k Hub-/ 
bell, Chicago. Catalog, formulas free 
Cyanide 
Guaranteed 98 to 99 per cent., for generating 
Hydrocyanic Acid Gas 
the most effective fumigating material, to 
destroy scale insects on fruit trees and 
plants. The only positive eradicator of 
the dreaded San Jose Scale. Endorsed by 
all Agricultural Experiment Stations. “ A 
perfect practical remedy,” says Prof. W. G. 
Johnson, State Etymologist of Maryland. 
MANUFACTURED BY 
The Roessler & Hasslacher Chemical Co.. 
No. 100 William Street, New York. 
Iboxit POTASH 
Plenty of Potash must be 
used to stiffen the stalk, to 
prevent lodging, and produce 
plump, full-weight grain— 
Wheat»R.ye or Barley. If the 
fertilizer is lacking in 'Potash 
the crop will be greatly 
reduced. 
Send for free, illustrated books telling all about the use of fertilizers and Potash. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS. 95 Nassau St„ New York 
WE SAVE YOU MONEY ON FERTILIZERS. 
Jftuy your fertilizers Direct at Wholesale I x ricet, and get your money’s worth. 
SPECIAL OFFER TO CLUB PROMOTERS. 
tYRITE FOR PRICES, SAMPLES AND PAMPHLET. 
WALKER, STRATMAN & COMPANY, Pittsburgh, F*a. 
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