1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
67 
ered in this way until May 15, when the extra straw 
was removed and the plants thoroughly uncovered. 
Gandy’s Prize, treated in this way, have been sold for 
14 cents per quart in July and the first of August, 
when had they been allowed to come on as usual, the 
price would have been divided by three. An inter¬ 
ested observer will not permit plants covered on the 
above plan to rot before the mulch is removed. As 
soon as the embryo leaves show signs of rotting, the 
cover may be removed at once. Of course, the plants 
will all be bleached, but as long as they remain fresh 
and plump, they will grow rapidly when given a 
chance. The length of time a heavy mulch may be 
left on safely depends ; first, on the variety ; second, 
the season ; third, the depth the ground is frozen, 
and, fourth, the thickness of the mulch. What we 
must have for very late berries are deep freezing and 
litter enough to keep the frost in the ground until 
the season is well advanced. I have no fear of deeply 
mulched strawberries rotting while the ground re¬ 
mains cold. c. b. c. 
Owosso. 
How We Mulch Strawberries in Ohio. 
The first day in early winter that the ground is 
frozen sufficiently to bear a team and wagon, we put 
a full force to work mulching our strawberry beds in¬ 
tended for fruit the following season. We never be¬ 
gin this work until then, as we can do it with the 
least possible injury to the plants, and as we have 
more leisure at this season, we can do it cheaper than 
at any other time. We can now drive on the patch 
and distribute the mulching material just where it is 
needed, thus avoiding the necessity of carrying the 
straw, which would be necessary if done earlier. The 
ground being frozen 10 to 12 inches, then covered with 
a heavy mulch of some coarse, non-conducting mate¬ 
rial, the frost is retained until warm showers in 
April, thus affording the plants perfect rest through 
a period of four months or longer, while if 
we had applied our mulch before there was 
any frost in the ground, we would have 
prevented much freezing, and should we 
have an open winter, we would very likely 
do our plants an injury if heavily mulched. 
The time in spring to remove the mulch 
is just the very day the plants begin to 
make a new growth If delayed longer 
than this, it is at the expense of the vitality 
of the plants. You have no more right to 
expect a big yield from pale, sickly plants 
than you have to expect good work from 
a person in poor health. We do not re¬ 
move all the mulch, simply rake off enough 
to allow the plant to get through without 
injury. That retained on the row protects 
the fruit from direct contact with the soil, 
and holds moisture within easy reach of 
the roots of the plants at the time they need it most. 
Our mulching material is wheat straw and tobacco 
stems ; we prefer the latter, but we are not able to 
get all we need, as we have 25 acres of strawberries, 
and use about five tons of wheat straw or 10 loads of 
tobacco stems per acre. This we apply only to the 
row, directly over the plants ; perhaps, if we had but 
a small acreage, we would be a little more liberal 
with it and cover the entire surface. When the 
ground is dry enough in early spring, we like to run 
the cultivator through the centers, work the soil up 
thoroughly, and then with our surplus mulch over 
this, we are in pretty good shape to withstand ordin¬ 
ary drought. 
C. V. G. need not be afraid of having his mulch too 
thick if it was put on when the ground was frozen, 
or if it has been cold enough to freeze the ground 
four to six inches since, and is still frozen. However, 
if a heavy mulch was applied on open ground, and it 
is still in that condition, he should rake off a portion 
at once to the centers where there are no plants, as 
it will do no harm then, and leave only enough on 
the row to cover the plants from sight, then there 
will be no danger. 
We favor heavy mulching, with some light, bulky 
material that will not pack too closely, and if we 
could get it, we would use as much again as we do, 
as, piled between the rows, it keeps down weeds and 
furnishes or retains moisture for the ever-thirsty 
plant. We receive equally as good results from 
mulch on currants, gooseberries, raspberries and 
blackberries as on strawberries. w. N. scabff. 
New Carlisle. 
Oat Straw; Sowed in the Bed. 
In The R. N.-Y. of January 9, C. V. G., of West- 
boro, Mass, requests some of the readers to give their 
experience in mulching strawberries. If early berries 
are desired, a very light covering of oat straw is ap¬ 
plied as soon as the ground is frozen. If it is a bed 
of late varieties, a heavy covering of marsh hay or 
oat straw, between the rows ; and a little less on the 
rows, is applied. In the spring, if the plants are 
not coming through the mulch readily, rake off a 
little from the rows. Through this section, oat straw 
or marsh hay, applied in the fall, is the best mulch 
obtainable. Rye straw would make a good mulch if 
it could be obtained free from seeds, but there is al¬ 
ways considerable rye in the straw, which soon 
sprouts, and in the spring changes the berry field to 
a rye field. Sometimes where a light mulch is re¬ 
quired, oats are sown during August and cultivated 
and hoed into the ground. They obtain quite a 
growth before fall, and the freezing kills the oats and 
the winter storms press them down to the ground. 
Leaves would form a good mulch if they would stay, 
but here, the wind blows most of them off from the 
rows. Where cut corn stalks are fed, the hard pieces 
which the stock will not eat, are sometimes used. 
Pine needles, if obtainable, are also used. The refuse 
from a sorghum mill makes a heavy mulch, but it is 
difficult to dispose of when cleaning out the bed after 
picking. A. c. w. 
Roscoe, Ill. _ 
WHEN TO KILL THE CODLING MOTH. 
LIFE HABITS OF THE INSECT. 
I am surprised at the statement of M. V. Slingerland on page 
817, regarding the Codling moth, if he means to convey the idea 
that the larva rarely enters the apple at the blossom end. My 
observation is exactly the reverse ; wherever the egg may be de¬ 
posited, the larva almost always enters the fruit by way of the 
calyx. w. T. I. 
In what I said about the Codling moth in The R. 
N.-Y. for December 12, 1896, there was no attempt to 
convey the idea that “ the larva rarely enters the 
apple at the blossom end.” Lest others may have 
misunderstood me, I will try to make myself clear, 
and will give a brief account of my observations. 
My experience in studying the habits of insects 
during the past few years, leads me to believe that 
there is much to be learned about some of those in¬ 
sects that we have thought we knew all about. Some 
observations I made during the past year on that ap¬ 
parently best known of all fruit pests, the apple 
worm or Codling moth (Carpocapsa pomonella), will 
serve to illustrate this statement. That we can kill 
the caterpillars of this insect with the Paris-green 
spray applied as usually recommended just after the 
blossoms fall, has been fully demonstrated over and 
over again, by almost every experiment station in the 
country, and by many of our leading horticulturists. 
But it will be found that the explanations as to just 
how the poison kills the worm are obscure, indefinite, 
and vary considerably. The reason for this seems to 
be that no one has, apparently, made any careful and 
definite observations on the eggs and newly-hatched 
caterpillars. The usually accepted statement, as 
taken from our leading text-book on entomology, is : 
“ The moth lays its eggs singly in the maturing blos¬ 
som of the apple just as the petals fall. As soon as 
the caterpillar hatches, it burrows into the apple.” 
Almost every one who writes about the insect glibly 
tells when and where the egg is laid, but so far as my 
search through the literature has yet extended, I 
have found only one instance where the writer had, 
evidently, ever seen the egg. This statement seems 
all the more remarkable when we realize that the 
literature of the pest dates back to as early as 1728, 
and is, probably, as voluminous as that of any other 
injurious insect. 
The only definite account of the egg-laying habits 
of the Codling moth, based upon actual observations, 
I have been able to find, were published in 1893 in 
Bulletin 25, issued from the Oregon Experiment Sta¬ 
tion. I believe that this bulletin contains the first 
and only picture of the egg yet published. The 
author, Mr. Washburn, found that the eggs were laid 
anywhere it happened on the skin of the fruit, and 
considerably later than was supposed; these import¬ 
ant observations seem to have been overlooked by 
later writers. Unfortunately, the operations of the 
young caterpiliar after it emerges from the egg were 
not observed by Mr. Washburn, thus leaving it still 
uncertain just how it gets its deadly dose of Paris- 
green. 
My observations and experiments indicate that 
most of the eggs are not laid until about a week after 
the blossoms have fallen, when the apples are about 
the size of hickory nuts. At this time, the calyx 
lobes on the young apples are drawn tightly together, 
so that it would be difficult for the moth to insert her 
egg in the calyx cup ; in fact, the hoof-like ovipositor 
of the female is only adapted for laying her eggs on 
the surface of the fruit. The nearly round, very thin, 
scale-like, semi-transparent eggs, not quite so large 
as the head of a common pin, are glued to the skin of 
the apple, with, apparently, but little choice as to its 
location on the fruit. As it takes about a week for 
the eggs to hatch, it is thus from 10 days to two 
weeks after the blossoms fall before the caterpillar 
begins operations. If the usual recommendations for 
spraying have been followed out, the first application 
of Paris-green is made a week before the eggs are 
laid, and the second application, several days before 
the worms begin operations. 
With these facts before us, we were at a loss to ex¬ 
plain just how the poison could kill the worm. How¬ 
ever, a study of the developing fruits of many 
different varieties of apples disclosed the following 
facts : When the petals of the blossoms fall, the calyx 
lobes which remain are broadly spread out saucer¬ 
like, and many minute particles of Paris-green could 
be, and, in fact are, readily caught in the calyx cup. 
But, as about two weeks intervene before the little 
caterpillar begins eating, much of this poison would, 
ordinarily, be washed out by the rains, and the first 
spraying be useless. However, Nature prevents this 
by simply causing the calyx lobes to be drawn tightly 
together at their tips as the apple grows, so that 
usually within a week after the blossoms fall, the 
calyx cup has its deadly dose of Paris-green well pro¬ 
tected by a cover formed by the converged calyx 
lobes. Now how is this poisonous dose to 
form part of the menu at the first meal of 
the little caterpillar which is to begin work 
a week or more later ? I saw one of the 
little creatures emerge from its egg and 
wander about on the surface of the apple 
for two or three hours, doing no feeding, 
but simply exploring, until it finally worked 
its little body through between two of the 
calyx lobes and disappeared within the calyx 
cup. Further field work confirmed this 
observation, and showed that the little 
worms feed around in the calyx cup for 
a day or more before going deeper into 
the fruit. Apples were then picked from 
a tree which had been sprayed just after 
the petals fell, and our chemist demonstrated 
that there was arsenic in the covered cup 
of the calyx. As nine-tenths of the first 
brood of the worms begin feeding in the manner just 
described, I believe that this first spraying just after 
the blossoms have fallen is of the utmost importance, 
and will result in the death of more Codling moth 
caterpillars than would follow from several later 
applications. m. y. slingerland. 
WINTERING TWENTY HORSES. 
THE INVENTIONS BORN OF NECESSITY. 
This is a timbered section, where wood is of no 
value, and timber that is too s^all to saw into lum¬ 
ber and unfit for posts or rails, is of little or no value. 
Many thousand cords of wood timber rot annually be¬ 
cause there is no use for it. The timber is dying for 
want of moisture, the past five years prior to 1896 
being very dry. Straw, like wood, is very abundant 
and only of manurial value. We are in the winter 
wheat belt. 
I have, on the south side of my feeding lot, a shed 
20 feet wide and 100 feet long, made by setting three 
rows of posts, 10 feet apart, and the posts 10 feet 
apart in the row. They are of any good, lasting timber, 
probably averaging eight inches in diameter; the two 
outside rows are seven feet above ground, the center 
row 10. The 33 posts are firmly set in the ground 
three feet, and in as straight parallel lines and as 
level on top as possible. If the top of the posts are 
in the form of a fork, so much the better ; but it is 
not at all important. Upon these posts, I placed 
poles as large and straight as I could find, splicing 
upon the top of a post always. These poles should be 
as large as the posts. Flatten them a little, and pin 
to the top of the posts. 
We next cut a large quantity of poles averaging 
four inches in diameter and 12 feet long, and placed 
them on the plate poles, lapping them on the center 
pole. This pole or plate, being three feet higher than 
the outside ones, gives the cross-poles or rafters quite 
a pitch. When thrashing time came, the machine 
was set so that the whole was covered with straw, 
the deeper the better, and is topped out^and water- 
R. N.-Y. POTATOES—IRRIGATED AND NOT IRRIGATED. Fig. 37 . 
