1904 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
5U 
SCARCITY OF POTATO BEETLES. 
Reports thus far from potato growers are 
that few, if any, Potato beetles have ap¬ 
peared. Very little spraying with poisons 
has yet been done. Farmers think that the 
cold Winter destroyed many of the beetles. 
Is this probable, or should some other cause 
be sought? Is tne Potato beetle destroyed 
in this way, and are there any other in¬ 
sects that would be likely to be killed oft by 
a severe Winter? 
Potato beetles are quite plentiful here 
this year, though not unusually so. Bach- 
metjew’s experiments show that it is not 
so much great cold which destroys insects 
as sudden changes. I doubt if last Win¬ 
ter was so hard on insects as has been 
supposed. Sudden and rapid changes of 
temperature of considerable amount will 
kill more insects than 40 degrees below 
zero for 10 days would, in my opinion. 
Massachusetts. h. t. fernald. 
It is quite possible that the cold Winter 
had much to do with the scarcity of cer¬ 
tain kinds of insects. Insects vary enor¬ 
mously in the amount of susceptibility, 
and while, ordinarily, a continued severe 
Winter is a benefit rather than a harm to 
insect life, yet this has its limitations, and 
when the temperature gets below what 
may be called the natural limit of endur¬ 
ance, a large number of specimens will be 
killed ofT. This has happened not only 
with the Potato beetles, but with a num¬ 
ber of other injurious insects. Every 
Winter is fatal to some kinds of insect 
life, but what is bad for one set of species 
is good for others, so we are never with¬ 
out some insect pests. John b. smith. 
My observation confirms the report that 
Potato beetles are not very abundant this 
year, and they were quite scarce last sea¬ 
son in most localities. I know of many 
potato fields where poison was not used 
at all, and almost no damage was done 
by them. It is very difficult to assign a 
cause for their absence without having 
made an investigation of the subject. It 
is quite probable, however, that the Win¬ 
ter has had something to do in diminish¬ 
ing the insect, as both last Winter and the 
previous Winter were severe ones. The 
Elm leaf-beetle is also comparatively 
scarce here, and was not very injurious 
last season. The San Jose scale was also 
affected by the past Winter, and a much 
lower percentage survived than usual. 
Ordinarily 25 per cent die during the Win¬ 
ter. This Spring it is difficult to find over 
50 per cent alive anywhere in Connecticut. 
This was not true a year ago. Probably 
the Winter, with such other natural ene¬ 
mies as every kind of insect is sure to 
have, are together responsible for the 
small number of Potato beetles this year. 
w. E. BRITTON. 
Connecticut State Entomologist. 
I have heard similar reports of the 
scarcity of Potato beetles this season, and 
I hope these encouraging prospects will 
continue. It is very difficult to guess at 
the cause for this. While we do know 
that most of our insect pests have, as I 
have termed it, their “ups and downs,” 
or periods of increase and destructiveness, 
or decrease and periods of obscurity, yet 
we know but very little about the real 
causes for these conditions. Undoubt¬ 
edly weather conditions have a great deal 
to do with it, and together with their 
enemies probably are the principal factors 
in causing these “ups and downs.” The 
past severe Winter undoubtedly de¬ 
stroyed many kinds of injurious insects. 
The indications are that the hibernating 
Pear psyllas were destroyed in large num¬ 
bers, but such insects as the cabbage, onion 
and radish maggots apparently came 
through in full force. Cutworms are also 
unusually numerous this season, as well 
as the Plum curculio, but several of the 
other fruit pests seem to have had their 
numbers reduced by the Winter. I can 
explain the scarcity of Potato beetles in 
no more satisfactory way than to say that 
probably they were destroyed by the severe 
Winter, and yet there may have been 
other unknown factors in the case. Such 
insects as the army worm and Hessian 
fly are rarely seriously injurious in the 
same locality more than one season, and 
this is brought about very largely by their 
insect enemies. The tent-caterpillars are 
now in their period of obscurity in most 
sections, and this was largely brought 
about by their insect enemies, and prob¬ 
ably also helped by weather conditions, 
like severe cold spells early in the Spring 
after the little worms had hatched. Plant- 
lice, which were so extremely abundant 
and injurious in orchards and nurseries 
last year, are scarcely in evidence at all 
this year, as I am informed by several of 
our leading nurserymen whose trees suf¬ 
fered very seriously last season. I think 
this was largely brought about by their in¬ 
sect enemies getting the upper hand late 
in the season last year, and thus not allow¬ 
ing many of them to go into hibernation. 
On the other hand, some kinds of plant- 
lice, like the one which curls the leaves 
of the elm trees, are unusually abundant 
this year. Sidewalks underneath the trees 
are spotted with the drops of sweet, sticky 
honey-dew which these insects secrete. If 
one knew the exact causes which work to 
bring about these “ups and downs” of in¬ 
sect life, it would be worth a mint of 
money to him, for many would pay goodly 
sums to know if certain insect pests would 
be destructively numerous the next season 
or not. In the line of our present knowl¬ 
edge, however, it is largely guess work 
with the entomologist. 
M. V. SLINGERLAND. 
ANOTHER THREE-HORSE EVENER. 
Driving three horses abreast, I have 
used the following hitch for three horses 
on a wagon for years in the hills and 
rocky canyons of Kansas and Oklahoma, 
and have never found a better one in all 
places. Its ease of changing to a two- 
horse hitch makes it valuable in one re¬ 
spect, and it has no side draft, another 
good feature. A is a three-inch pulley 
wheel placed on top of the axle under the 
sand board, and held in place by the bolt 
that holds the bolster plate on. B is a 
hammer strap on under side of wagon 
reach; C a three-horse evener, length 54 
inches or more. D, chains, the one on the 
short enu of the evener passing through 
between the reach and pulley, and fasten¬ 
ing to the two-horse evener, from 
which the wagon wrench has been re¬ 
moved and hammer strap turned one side. 
The other is fastened to the third horse’s 
singletree. I generally work a safely 
chain from hind axle to the short end of 
the evener, so if the third horse falls on 
bad roads the neck yoke will not slip off 
the pole. G- w. H. 
Repairing a Barn Wall. —We built 
our barn 30 years ago (it seems not over 
live). It was well built, and has had 
good care usually. In spite of good in¬ 
tentions, however, water got in at each 
end of the basement wall, and anybody 
knows what that means, for frost will 
move a mountain. The wall was getting 
in bad shape, and we determined to cor¬ 
rect it. We expected the two ends could 
be laid over for 10 or 15 feet, neces¬ 
sary carpenter work done, and proper 
grading made outside to carry off the 
water for $30 or $35. The work is com¬ 
pleted and called for about $65. Othex 
people have had a similar experience. We 
did a little more than we expected to be¬ 
fore beginning. You see, we wanted to 
make it a very good job, so determined 
to lay the wall in cement, I he mason says 
it will be like one solid stone, and will 
never stir. Some advised us to use a 
cheaper grade of cement and mix it 10 ot 
sand to one of cement, but we bought the 
best Portland, and made it only four to 
one. We drew dirt and pounded it in 
against the wall outside with a piece of 
timber four or five feet long. The boys 
made a point of pounding till they made 
the eaves trough rattle 25 feet overhead. 
I didn’t believe they could do it at first, 
but they did it. The dirt was put in till 
within about two feet of the top of the 
wall, then a layer of small and broken 
stone two or three inches thick was 
pounded down, and a thin and rich ce¬ 
ment poured over them. These were on a 
slant away from the wall, and the ce¬ 
ment attaches them to the wall. There is 
good drainage beyond this, and I think 
any surface water will have a hard time 
getting down where it can assist Jack 
Frost in turning that wall over again. 
We graded a little over the cement table 
and added a layer of sods. h. h. l. 
Fertilizers for Grass. 
F. W., Leominster, Mass .—I notice you 
take exception to Geo. M. Clark on bone for 
top-dressing meadows. What do you con¬ 
sider better, and what quantity to be used? 
What method do you consider best for dis¬ 
tributing me fertilizers? 1 have used a fer¬ 
tilizer sower, and either the man or sower 
do not make the grass grow evenly. 
Ans. —We do not consider ground bone 
soluble enough for a grass fertilizer. We 
would use bone on cultivated crops where 
the fertilizer is worked into the soil. 
When the fertilizer is spread on top of 
the ground, as is the case with grass, we 
prefer soluble forms. That is why we 
prefer a part of the phosphoric acid in the 
form of acid phosphate or dissolved 
bone black. A mixture of 400 pounds 
nitrate of soda, 400 muriate of potash, 400 
bone and S00 acid phosphate will give 
good results, and on good seeding we 
would use 800 pounds per acre. The fer¬ 
tilizer sowers work on the principle of 
grain drills, and are not wholly satisfac¬ 
tory. A fertilizer distributor that could 
be sold at a fair price ought to have a 
large sale. 
We ahe experimenting with “medicated” 
hen manure as a fertilizer, and the results 
seem to warrant its continuance. The drop¬ 
ping boards are cleaned every morning and 
the manure sprinkled with acid rock and 
double manure salt. Trenches are made by 
side of the strawberry rows, and this dress¬ 
ing applied liberally. f. c. c. 
Maine. 
Birds and Mulberries. —I grow strawber¬ 
ries, cherries, blackberries, grapes, etc., for 
our market. The mocking birds were my 
best customers; it looked as though all the 
birds in the country gathered on my place as 
soon as strawberries were ripe. I did not 
want to kill them, and concluded to keep and 
feed. What is the cheapest way to feed is 
solved, as far as 1 am concerned. I planted 
a few everbearing mulberries. The birds eat 
u.em in preference to berries and cherries; 
they still eat a few cherries and berries, but 
not to any appreciable extent. I planted 10 
more mulberries last year. Hogs and chick¬ 
ens are very fond of them. I like them 
myself, eat them raw, served same as straw¬ 
berries. The mulberry grows readily from 
cuttings. w. t. 
Aiken, S. C. __________ 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
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CIDER 
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Southwick 
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HARDER MANUFACTURING. CO., Coblesklll, N. Y. 
THE POTATO CROP, 
large or small, is best 
harvested with 
the Improved 
DOWDEN 
Potato Digger. 
•tit Standard dl.t«r with no peer, tod It tuts- Asic 
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CITY. M. 
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GgTMention’this'paper!°' CHICAGO. ILL. This is our 60th year 
