1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
it the name Soy. Soy is derived from the Japanese 
work shoyu. which denotes a certain preparation from 
its seeds. i,. r. .tones. 
Vermont. 
LATE PLANTING OF POTATOES. 
Mr. Manchester, in The R. N.-Y. in the latter part 
of 1897, gave his experience, which was decidedly 
against the practice of late planting. I thought, from 
a careful reading of his article, that either poor seed 
or blight caused the failure. For the North, where 
agriculture is carried on in its greatest perfection, the 
last half of June and the first half of July is my idea 
of late planting. Some of the advantages of late 
planting are as follows : 
1. Freedom from blight; while there may be blight 
in late-planted potatoes, I am confident that the 
weather that we usually get in the latter part of the 
season is much more unfavorable for its development 
than that of midsummer. Tt seems to do best in 
weather that is favorable for corn—hot nights and 
plenty of moisture—and as corn does not do as well 
when the cooler nights come, so the blight is more 
destructive in the warmer months than later. If the 
theory is correct that the blight is a contagious 
disease, as fewer potatoes are growing in the Fall 
months, we are less liable to have it spread from other 
fields. 
2. Improvement in the potato for seed. This is, per¬ 
haps, the greatest reason for late planting. While the 
greater part of the eating potatoes will be grown in 
midseason, for their cooking qualities are usually 
better, yet the vitality of late-planted ones is so much 
stronger that I think it will pay every farmer to grow 
or obtain them from some source for seed, every 
season. Growers in the South have found that the 
second-crop potatoes, as they are called, are much 
superior for seed purposes, to those from the first crop. 
Their practice is to plant those of the first crop, as 
soon as dug, for the second crop, which gives a crop 
that does not usually mature, but possesses much more 
vitality for seed purposes. While it is not practicable 
to grow a second crop in the northern States, it is per¬ 
fectly feasible to grow them in the latter part of the 
season, so that they may have all of the strength and 
vitality of the second crop. 
It has been observed that a tuber not fully ripened 
will retain its moisture for many months, and is in a 
condition to start a strong and thrifty plant, while, 
on the other hand, a fully-ripened tuber is past its 
prime, is on the decline, and its sprouts have not the 
necessary vitality to give the plant a good start in life. 
This opinion is founded on fact, and I have seen many 
things which confirm it. 
3. Freedom from the Colorado beetle. The season 
of 1897 will long be remembered for the damage that 
was done by the beetles. Paris-green was a scarce 
article in many places, and large fields as well as small 
ones were given up to destruction by these insects. 
My own experience was that, with very early ones, I 
had to fight for all they were worth ; but with the 
late ones, the beetles did no harm at all. Although 
scientific men tell us that the Colorado beetle is a 
three-brooded insect, it always seemed to me as though 
those that hatch out in the first part of the season 
are much more destructive and productive than those 
at any other time of the season. 
One other point is that, to secure a good yield of 
potatoes in the latter part of the season, the late varie¬ 
ties must be used. For some reason that I ha'-e never 
seen explained, the early do not yield well when 
planted late ; although it may pay to grow them for 
seed purposes, the yield will be small, and late varie¬ 
ties will do much better. It would seem natural to 
expect the early to do best in such a short time as they 
have to grow, but in many cases, I have seen the late 
ones yield almost double, even though the time was 
limited. e. c. green. 
Ohio. 
Fish, Wood Ashes and Manure. 
C. E. L., Meaford, Canada. —I get three or four tons of fish refuse 
and four or five loads of hardwood ashes, unleached, and mix 
them all together, and harrow it in after plowing. Is there any¬ 
thing I ought to have to go with it to make a complete manure ? 
We have only five acres, and have plenty of stable manure. The 
ashes and fish stand all Winter, are turned over three or four 
times before using, and smell pretty strong. 
Ans.—T his makes a good combination, the fish sup¬ 
plying the nitrogen and phosphoric acid, the ashes 
supplying potash, and the stable manure principally 
nitrogen. You make a mistake, however, in mixing 
the ashes with the fish. The ashes contain lime in the 
form of a carbonate. This will serve to break up the 
ammonia in the fish, so that it will escape in the form 
of a gas. This, probably, accounts in part for the 
strong smell that you mentioned. A much better 
way would be to mix the fish with the manure, and 
work it over once or twice during the Winter. This 
would give a good compost which you can spread and 
plow under; then broadcast the ashes, and harrow 
them into the upper soil. While this will give you 
more work, it will in the end pay, for it will prove 
more satisfactory as a fertilizer. 
The Farmers’ Club 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
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see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.] 
Sunsca/d in Apple Trees. 
H. P., Beverly, W. Va .—What is the trouble with some of my 
young apple trees? After the sap started to rise, I noticed that 
the bark on a number of them was cracked or split open to a con¬ 
siderable distance on the trunk, and on some of the larger 
branches. On one tree, the bark was separated from the wood 
entirely for a number of inches around the tree. 
Ans. —This is another case of the trouble that goes 
under the name of sunscald, although this is not a 
very proper name. This subject has been discussed at 
some length in The R. N.-Y. several times within the 
last few months, and a repetition is hardly necessary. 
However, it may be proper to state that those trees 
which are so affected, are generally such as have not 
been well cultivated, and were, consequently, not in 
robust condition. In some cases, their vitality is 
lowered by a very dry spell during the growing season. 
If, from any cause, the trees go into the Winter in an 
enfeebled condition, they are likely to be injured by 
severe cold spells that often occur. They are dried 
out beyond their ability to endure it safely, and injury 
l-esults. Sometimes the tree cracks from the bark to 
the heart, but these radial splits are not so bad as the 
separating of the bark from the wood, for they usually 
close up by Spring, and sometimes entirely heal over 
by Fall. Where the bark and wood are separated, 
they rarely grow together again, the bark dies, and 
a patch of dead surface is left to be covered again by 
gradual healing from the margin. The best way to 
obviate these troubles is to keep the trees in a vigor¬ 
ous condition by good cultivation and enriching the 
soil if necessary. In the northern Mississippi Valley, 
it is found that a protection of laths or other covering 
that will prevent the affection of the trunk by sudden 
changes of temperature, is a benefit. In West Vir¬ 
ginia, this would hardly seem necessary. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Fighting the Pear Psylla. 
L. J. A'., Qasport, N. Y .—The last of May ami the first of June 
last year, I sprayed my pear orchard three different times with 
kerosene emulsion prepared in the. usual way, to destroy the Pear 
psylla. The men thought they were taking extra pains. As I 
passed between the rows, I saw the insects on the leaves, as I 
supposed, dead. June 2,1 sprayed again, one man on the ground 
and the other on the wagon, one hose covering the top of the 
leaves, the other the under part of the leaves. The ingredients 
were well mixed, perhaps two or three ounces of oil on top of 100 
gallons of water, not emulsified. The pear rows are 60 rods long. 
1 found the leaves partly injured, dried and drooped. On June 
11,1 sprayed again thoroughly. In a few days, I examined the 
trees, and found that the insects had multiplied. I was discour¬ 
aged; over 100 gallons of oil lost with the time and labor. I then 
got a small sprayer throwing a very fine spray, covered the 
psylla with the emulsion, and they lay on the leaves enveloped 
with the emulsion as though dead. I carried them into the 
house to examine them under a microscope; after getting the 
microscope, I found them crawling on the window, leaving 
the liquid on the glass in their trail. Prof. Slingerland’s 
observation in my case is not correct. Two nights after¬ 
wards, we had an all-night rain which mostly destroyed the 
insects, and there was not much damage to trees afterwards. Is 
there any material used as a spray, that will destroy the psylla? 
They are harder to destroy than formerly. Some peach trees 
were loaded with fruit last year. In June, it stopped growing, 
and a blight or fungus was found on the fruit and on the limbs 
of the trees. The fruit ripened, and some of the limbs died; other 
limbs have live wood, but not vigorous. Will the trees become 
vigorous by letting them stand and use the sulphate as a spray ? 
In Niagara County, the fungus did great damage last year. 
ANSWERED BY M. V. SLINGERLAND. 
In reply to this query, I can do no better than to 
quote from a letter received in July, 1897, from Prof. 
G. II. Powell, of the Delaware Experiment Station, 
who was then taking liis vacation at home in Columbia 
County, N. Y. He says: “The Pear psyllas evidently 
spotted me as I came up the road J uly 1, and laughed 
in their sleeves, and decided to give me something 
practical for my vacation. They have been on in full 
force for a couple of weeks, the previous brood not 
being sufficiently abundant to attract attention. We 
began spraying with kerosene emulsion, 1 to 20, the 
strength that has proved efficient heretofore, but it 
did but few of them harm. I then had the strength 
reduced to 1 to 15, but that did not kill more than 50 
per cent. I then reduced it to 1 to 10, and that killed 
possibly 75 per cent and also burned considei’able of 
the foliage. The orchards have been sprayed within 
a month, yet within three days after the 1 to 10 spray¬ 
ing, some of the trees were dripping with honey-dew. 
“ I have been trying whale-oil soap on them, and 
find that one pound to 15 gallons knocks them out 
completely. I would have had the orchards sprayed 
with the whale-oil soap this week, but we had a very 
heavy rain Sunday, which washed off the honey-dew, 
and seems also to have washed off many of the nymphs, 
4i7 
and it has been raining ever since. As soon as it stops, 
the trees will be sprayed with the soap, 1 to 15. 
“ The psylla is a very difficult insect to reach. The 
young nymphs remain for several days on the under¬ 
sides of the leaves, and it is impossible with the most 
thorough spraying to reach a large proportion of them. 
Those in the axils are, of course, easily reached, but 
the emulsion has not killed as many as formerly. 
There seems to be unusual vitality in the insect world 
this year. In my work in Delaware, I have had to in¬ 
crease the strength of emulsions and soaps beyond 
the formulas that have proved efficient heretofore.” 
It was the experience of many pear growers in the 
Hudson River Valley last year that the psylla was 
harder to get at than usual One trouble was that 
the first brood did not attract sufficient attention 
to cause any one to attack it with a spray. Had the 
first brood been thoroughly sprayed, there would not 
have been so much trouble from the later broods. 
When a young psylla is covered with honey dew, as it 
often becomes a few days after birth, it cannot be 
killed with the spray until that honey dew is washed 
off in some way. This fact, doubtless, accounts for 
much of the ill success from spraying last year. Rut 
when the nymphs, are not thus covered with the 
honey dew, any one can soon satisfy himself that 
the kerosene emulsion, even l to 20, will kill them in 
a few seconds. Not only ourselves but many others 
have demonstrated this too many times to doubt the 
killing powers of a properly-made and applied kero¬ 
sene emulsion. The testimony of our correspondents, 
even some of them in Niagara County, convinces us 
that the Pear psylla has been and can be controlled by 
prompt and thorough work with kerosene emulsion, 
or perhaps better yet, the whale-oil soap. I know of 
nothing better that can be recommended. Perhaps 
more will depend upon the material used. I would 
earnestly advise those who suffer from the pest, to 
spray their trees this Winter with the whale-oil soap, 
using about one pound in 5 to 10 gallons of water. 
Drench the trunks of the trees especially, for there is 
where hundreds of the old psyllas hibernate to start 
the propagation of their kind early in the Spring. 
The Snowy Tree Cricket. 
F. J., Staddle Hill, Conn. —My young’ peach orchard Is badly 
diseased with something we have not seen here before. What is 
it, and the remedy, if any ? I inclose a specimen branch. 
Ans. —The peach branches sent showed the peculiar 
ragged slits made by the insect known as the Snowy 
Tree cricket in laying her eggs. The slit consists of 
a longitudinal series of punctures placed close to¬ 
gether, and extending through the woody portion of 
the branch into the pith ; in each puncture there is 
an egg. The insect which thus sometimes seriously 
injures the smaller branches of fruit trees, but more 
often of raspberry canes, is a delicate greenish-white 
cricket. It is popularly known as the .Snowy Tree 
cricket from its habit of living among the foliage of 
trees and shrubs. Its wing-covers are broad and trans¬ 
parent, and are crossed by oblique thickenings or ribs, 
which form the musical apparatus of the male insect; 
the females are not musicians. In those parts of the 
country where the true Katydid does not occur, the 
familiar chirp of this cricket is the most prominent of 
all sounds made by insects during the late Summer 
and eaidy Autumn evenings. Except for the injury 
caused by the female in laying her eggs, this cricket 
is not regarded as injurious. Its diet is said to con¬ 
sist largely of plant lice and other small insects. The 
eggs are laid late in the Summer, but do not hatch 
until the early part of the following Summer. It is, 
therefore, a simple matter to combat the insect by 
cutting out the infested canes or branches, and burn¬ 
ing them before growth begins in the Spring, and this 
is the only practical way of fighting it. M. v. s. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Cow Peas for Soiling.—M. N. N., Hamden, Conn.—We have not 
specially recommended cow peas as a soiling crop. We doubt 
whether they will be superior for this purpose to the Canada field 
pea. We consider them most useful for green manure, as they 
will make a large and quick growth on very poor soil. 
Lime and Cabbage Club Hoot.—D. C., Homer, N. Y.—Experi¬ 
ments at the New Jersey Experiment Station show that lime or 
wood ashes is about the best known remedy for club root in cab¬ 
bage. We would not mix the lime with “ phosphate ” or ordinary 
fertilizer. Broadcast the lime after plowing, and harrow it in. 
Then apply the fertilizer in the hill or drill. 
Cow Peas After Wheat.—H. S., Charleston, Mo.—On your thin, 
sandy soil now in wheat, you can sow buckwheat after wheat 
harvest, and expect a fair crop to plow under. A much better 
plan, however, would be to sow cow peas, about one bushel to 
the acre. This will give a far better result than the buckwheat, 
and if you like, you may sow Crimson clover among the cow-pea 
vines about the middle of August. The cow peas and clover will 
show themselves in succeeding crops; the buckwheat will hardly 
be noticed. 
Orchard Grass for Hay.— C. S. P., Winslow, Me.—Your sample 
of Orchard grass was nearly three feet long. You say it was 
headed out May 30, while Timothy and clover had hardly made a 
beginning. This grass makes a very rapid growth in the Spring, 
and is thought highly of in pasture mixtures. For hay, however, 
it must be cut two weeks, at least, earlier than Timothy aud 
clover, and for this reason, it is not largely used. Some farmers 
have waited until the clover was large enough to cut, aud then 
found Orchard grass cut with it too hard and woody for first-class 
hay. Orchard grass makes a bunchy growth, and is not gener¬ 
ally used. 
