1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
527 
LIGHTNING RODS AND THEIR WORK. 
Are lightning rods sure protection from lightning? A 
firm hailing from Cleveland has put up rods and agrees to 
keep in repair for 18 years and to pay all damages from 
lightning. J. w. p. 
Ninevah, N. Y. 
You say on page 465 there was a building struck by 
lightning 12 days after rods were placed. What kind 
of rod was it? Was it insulated entirely in glass? 
It surely must have rested on the building. There has 
been one of those long-winded fakirs that you speak 
of through here this week. He has been just using 
wire staples and driving the cable down on the roof. 
I tore down two of his jobs this week, and strung 
with glass. I use a 28-strand copper cable, also use 
crown points. G. w. k. 
Cessna, Pa. 
Only a few days before I saw the note about light¬ 
ning striking a man here was discussing lightning rod 
agents. He spoke of the ways they have of cheating 
farmers, and especially of the one favorite plan to 
ground the wire or rod a few inches in the soil when 
the farmer, who may have been carefully observant 
of the other operations, was not on guard. Of course 
a badly grounded rod, one which does not connect 
with moist soil or some good conductor leading to 
moisture in the soil, is a source of danger, since its 
point attracts the electric discharge and it offers no 
passage to the moist earth. The danger from light¬ 
ning is practically over when the building has been 
wet by the rain from the shower. f. e. e. 
Wyoming. 
AN OHIO EXPERIENCE.—The following note is 
taken from the Chagrin Palls Exponent: 
July 14.—Last Wednesday, the M. E. church was struck 
by lightning. A portion of the bolt was conveyed to the 
ground by the lightning rod. but a portion demolished the 
chimney, hurling bricks through the ceiling down in front 
of the pulpit. The lightning followed tne stove pipes to 
the stove and tore the carpet and floor near the stove 
legs. The church was filled with smoke and it was 
feared that it would burn. Preparations were made to 
fight the fire by the company which gathered, but igni¬ 
tion did not take place. 
Theoretically, and also in fact, I believe that light¬ 
ning rods do protect, but an occasional bolt of such 
magnitude descends that the rod cannot carry it all, 
and it of course seeks other lines of descent to the 
earth. This was undoubtedly the case at the church 
mentioned above. a. r. Phillips. 
Ohio. 
PROTECTION WANTED—Was the lightning rod 
a kind of protection that didn’t protect? It would 
seem so, for the lightning rod that was conspicuous 
30 or more years ago on barns and dwellings has al¬ 
most entirely disappeared. You can doubtless remem¬ 
ber when tne whole country bristled with lightning 
rods, and the lightning rod agents—I think they were 
called fiends at last—were as ubiquitous as mosqui¬ 
toes with their long wagons, ladders and full equip¬ 
ment for insuring, especially farmers, from the de¬ 
structive thunderbolt. Now the lightning rod is ob¬ 
solete, and the thunderbolt strikes with impunity, and 
is no respector of persons, apparently, though it would 
seem for some reason to hit the farmer harder than 
others. The farmer’s barns, when well stored with 
hay and grain, and horses and cows filling the stalls, 
would seem to be the favorite target for the thunder¬ 
bolt. Every Summer farmers suffer serious loss in 
the destruction of their barns and stock, and already, 
though the Summer is young, the thunderbolt is get¬ 
ting in its destructive work, and notably to the grief 
of the farmer. Is science powerless to protect us from 
the thunderbolt? It does not hesitate to harness 
Niagara Falls and utilize that mighty force in gener¬ 
ating thousands and hundreds of thousands of elec¬ 
tric volts that are made the obedient servants of man. 
We view with delight the triumph of electricity al¬ 
ready achieved, though in its infancy. Scientific mar¬ 
vels are seemingly without limit, and will never 
cease; then let us invite tne “wizards” and savants to 
uevote a little time to the threatening clouds, that 
hurl thunderbolts of destruction on our defenceless 
heads, and appall us with the destruction ol life and 
property. w. w. w. 
Youngstown N. Y. 
WHAT IS “LIGHTNING?”—We have a most effi¬ 
cient lightning rod on Sage College building. The 
platinum points were struck by electricity, melted 
and had to be renewed, but the rod protected the 
building. A good rod, installed in a proper manner, 
usually protects a building from damage by lightning, 
but most of the rods are put up by men who know as 
little of the laws which govern the transmission of 
lightning (electricity) as I do about the North Pole. 
A most excellent up-to-date article on this subject 
will be found in “The Farmstead,” written by the best 
man we havo on this subject at Cornell. 
[Prof.] I. P. ROBERTS. 
The article in “The Farmstead” is an admirable 
one. The masses of water vapor of which clouds are 
formed become charged with electricity. When such 
clouds are crowded together in great numbers the 
total electric charge becomes immense and looks for 
some way of escape. The air is not a conductor of 
electricity, but when the pressure becomes too great 
the electric charge jumps suddenly to some point 
which furnishes a good conductor. This makes what 
is known as lightning. Some materials like copper 
and iron form a good conductor for electric discharge 
and this is the reason why rods are put on houses— 
to carry the discharge quickly away to the ground. 
Some substances, like wood, offer more resistance to 
DISK HARROW IN OLD STRAWBERRY BED. Fig. 213. 
the passage of the discharge. Heat is produced when 
this resistance is met and this occasions the danger 
from fire. When the rods are tacked to the house 
with iron staples or lightly grounded without being 
carried down to damp soil with a proper plate the 
building is in greater danger than before the rods 
were put up. An expert can put rods on a house so 
that it may be pronounced safe, but an irresponsible 
“agent” may only add to the danger. 
- - 1 . 
LADYBIRD ENEMIES OF SAN JOSE SCALE. 
What May Be Expected From Them. 
My attention has been called to several notices 
which have appeared in your columns relative to a 
ladybird enemy of the San Jos6 scale, recently sent 
by me from Japan and China to Washington. There 
seems to be a good deal of misconception about this 
importation, and especially of its cost to the Govern¬ 
ment, which was comparatively little, and I wish 
therefore to give a brief statement of facts. It became 
possible for me during the past year to make an ex¬ 
tensive trip of entomological exploration in Japan and 
MR. L. L. COE, OF NEW YORK. FlG. 214. 
China and other eastern countries. This trip was 
partly a vacation one, and very largely at my own 
expense. My especial interest in the scale insects led 
me to make a very careful study of the San Jos6 scale 
in the two countries named, both to determine if pos¬ 
sible where it was a native, and to find natural 
enemies. Northeast China proved to be its native 
home, as shown by evidence which could not be 
doubted; and not Japan, as had been thought by 
many. In the latter country, as with us, it is com¬ 
paratively a newcomer. It was introduced there, in 
fact, from America in the last 25 years, on apple and 
other stock imported from California. In both Japan 
and China I found everywhere a certain ladybird. 
which I afterwards identified as Chilocorus similis, 
feeding on the San Josd scale. I found also Hymen- 
opterous or four-winged fly parasites, the same spe¬ 
cies, in fact which we have in this country, but the 
scale seemed to be kept in check not so much by these 
parasites as by the ladybird already referred to. I 
very naturally therefore in the interest of our fruit 
growers, attempted the importation of this ladybird, 
in the hope of establishing it in this country. While 
a good many of the individuals sent through the mails 
survived the long trip from Asia, they were so weak¬ 
ened and injured that but two of them came through 
the Winter in Washington successfully. These two 
were vigorous and active, and produced in April and 
May a very large brood of larvae, more than 200. The 
progeny of these are now in some four large cages, 
covering six pear trees thickly infested with San Jos6 
scale, and one plum tree infested with the Asiatic 
Dyaspis pentagona, which we know here generally as 
the Bermuda Peach scale. There are now more than 
500 individuals, and the promise of very great in¬ 
crease is most flattering. We shall begin to distribute 
them very soon to experiment station officials and 
others who will give them careful attention; and we 
may by early Fall be able to make some sendings to 
individuals. 
We make no extravagant claims for this ladybird. 
It is an insect which is doing excellent work in China 
and Japan, and it is certainly worth while to give it 
a chance to duplicate this good work, if it will, in this 
country. We do not anticipate that this ladybird is 
going to put an end to the San Jose scale difficulty. 
What we do hope for is that it will aid in keeping 
this pernicious scale insect in check, and especially 
that it will take hold of it in gardens and private 
yards, where ordinary spraying operations would al¬ 
most invariably be neglected. I do not imagine that 
any general fruit grower will be willing to wait for 
the action of this or other parasites to free his trees 
from San Jose scale, when he can remove it by di¬ 
rect means, such as oil or soap washes, or if the 
weather be favorable, with the lime, sulphur and salt 
wash. This Asiatic ladybird closely resembles our 
own native species, the Twice-stabbed ladybird (Chil¬ 
ocorus bivulnerus), so much so that the ordinary ob¬ 
server would not know them apart. The larvae of 
the imported species, however, are distinctly different 
from our native one. Furthermore, it feeds on the 
San Jos6 scale with a hunger which is with difficulty 
appeased, its behavior in this regard being most en¬ 
couraging. Our native species also will feed on the 
San Jos6 scale, but has very rarely multiplied in any 
of our eastern or northern orchards sufficiently to be 
of any value whatever in keeping the scale in check. 
Here on the grounds of the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture it does not work on the San Jose scale at all, or 
very rarely, but is fairly abundant on trees infested 
with the native A. ancylus or Putnam’s scale. The 
imported species may not prove to be any more effi¬ 
cient; but at present it promises flattering results, 
and the experiment to see what it will accomplish is 
well worth trying. 
The exaggerated statement of the cost to the Gov¬ 
ernment of these ladybirds ($4,000), which has gone 
the rounds of the press, has not provoked criticism, 
but nevertheless deserves correction. The expense 
of the trip, as already stated, was borne very largely 
by myself, the allowance made me by the Department 
representing less than one-quarter of the total out¬ 
lay, and furthermore, the objects sought ana attained 
were very many in addition to tne collecting and 
sending home of these ladybirds. No claim is made 
of originality in introducing this ladybird. About 
1895 Albert Koeble, while traveling in the Orient, 
sent a few specimens to Mr. Craw, of San Francisco. 
Nolh.ng since has been heard of these individuals, 
and the supposition is that they perished. Prof. J. B. 
Smith informed me a few days ago that some of these 
ladybirds with others had been sent him by some 
Japanese correspondent. These were liberated in an 
orchard in New Jersey, and Prof. Smith believes they 
all perished, as did most of mine, no doubt as tne re¬ 
sult of the long confinement on the voyage from 
Japan. It will probably take two or three years to get 
this ladybird distributed and established in sufficient 
numbers to demonstrate what it can accomplish. In 
the meantime it is undoubtedly wise to keep up vigor¬ 
ously the old means of controlling this scale insect by 
spraying and fumigation. c. l. marlatt. 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
CULTIVATING AN OLD STRAWBERRY BED. 
Elmer G. Tufts, of Aurora, Ind., sends a photograph 
showing his plan for cultivating an old strawoerry 
field after the fruiting season with a disk harrow. 
One disk is removed from the inside and three from 
the outside of each section, leaving but two on each 
half. By weighting the harrow it will pulverize the 
ground, cutting and working the straw into the soil, 
where it soon rots and add humus to the soil. A 
narrow ridge of plants is left, allowing plenty of 
room on each side for the new runners that will start. 
We were unable to obtain the clearest engraving from 
the photograph, but the picture, Fig. 213, shows how 
the harrow is used. 
