356 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 29 
help, are employing more day help. This does very 
well when there are few chores. Day help and month 
help do not work well together, on account of the 
clashing of hours of labor. 
Farm machinery has displaced farm labor. Last 
week I planted, with a hand corn planter, a field in 
10 hours which has, in other years, taken 24 hours of 
handlabor with hoes. But the competition of machinery 
has not been a hardship to the farm laborer ; he has 
gone into the shop to build the machinery. Further¬ 
more, machinery has multiplied and cheapened 
products, so that this prosperous person’s dollar will 
buy more than formerly, and he is able to buy bicy¬ 
cles for himself and his family, if he has one, and 
patronize the trolley cars ; he, therefore, finds em¬ 
ployment buildiDg bicycles and trolley cars. The 
unskilled surplus find employment as motormen, con¬ 
ductors, and track builders. Truly, there is a zinc 
pad under the galling collar of farm servitude. 
Connecticut. e. c bibge. 
The Farmers’ Club. 
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THE " FIXING” POWER OF LAND PLASTER. 
W. J. M ., Hazelmere, British Columbia .—Land plaster will cost 
ine $15 per ton and a three-mile haul; can I afford to use it at this 
price for sprinkling on my manure, made under cover ? In 
other words, how much free ammonia will a ton of land plaster, 
used in this way, serve to fix ? 
Dry Earth Instead of Plaster. 
A. J. M. should not think of using land plaster at 
$15 per ton, for he may, during the summer, pile 
under shelter dryish earth. If it contain a fair 
amount of organic matter, that is, unrotted vegetable 
matter, it will become dry during the summer and 
fall. For arresting the escape of ammonia, this is 
better than gypsum. Land plaster is a little more 
convenient for sprinkling on the stable floors than 
earth, and is a little cleaner. We keep a herd of 
dairy cows and use not more than five or six pounds 
per day, in the morning. We like it better than 
earth, but we would use earth instead of plaster if 
we had a large manure heap where the ammonia was 
escaping. I think there is no question that dry earth 
as described is the best conserver of fertility in 
manures, all things considered, that has ever been 
discovered. I. r. bobebts. 
Cornell Experiment Station. 
Some Losses in Manure Piles. 
I do not believe that anybody is in position to state 
exactly what the fixing power of gypsum may be 
under different circumstances, for, in my opinion, 
that would depend upon the temperature, amount 
of moisture and proportion of liquid manure present 
to be acted upon. If the material were to become 
dry, it is stated by Mayer, one of the European 
authorities, that the reverse action would take place, 
so that moisture is essential if gypsum is employed. 
The chief benefit which seems to accrue from the use 
of gypsum is simply to bind the carbonate of am¬ 
monia which is liberated from the urea of the liquid 
manure. Other and very serious losses of nitrogen 
as gas undoubtedly take place as the result of the re¬ 
duction of nitrates (according to Prof. Wagner and 
others) or by oxidation, as claimed by Prof. T. H. 
Pfeiffer and others. In fact, as a result of most ex¬ 
tended investigations in relation to the best manner 
of preserving stable manure, the leading European 
authorities seem to agree that close packing is as, if 
not more, essential, in effecting preservation, than 
gypsum or other preservatives. Gypsum seems to 
have little or no effect in preventing the reduction of 
nitrates and the liberation of free nitrogen. Caustic 
lime has been found to do this very effectually, and 
Pfeiffer suggests that it might be desirable to treat 
manure with caustic lime to prevent reduction of 
nitrates and then cover it with loam in order to pre¬ 
vent the loss of ammonia. This does not seem to me, 
however, to be a practical thing, except in small com¬ 
pact heaps. In view of this loss of nitrogen by 
reduction of nitrates and oxidation by which free 
nitrogen is evolved, and in consideration of the fact 
that solid excrement, if closely packed or trodden 
down by animals, suffers but slight loss, it seems to 
me that, wherever it can be done, the best plan to be 
followed would be to collect the liquid manure by 
itself and apply it as frequently as it can be done. 
The coarse manure can then be applied when most 
convenient, or if the two are collected together, I am 
a very strong believer in the idea that the quicker it 
is spread upon the ground the better and that, per¬ 
haps even in winter, where the land does not slope 
too much, this may be the best practice. The late 
Prof. E. Wolff found, in some experiments which he 
conducted as early as 1859, that there was less loss 
of nitrogen from manure where lime was used than 
where it was left to itself or was mixed with charcoal 
or gypsum. These astonishing results were inexplic¬ 
able at that time, but the recent work on reduction 
of nitrates has shown that the caustic property of the 
lime is sufficient either to kill or prevent the action 
of the organisms which cause this reduction. 
You may be interested to know that, on our experi¬ 
ment plots where we applied the same amount of 
lime in the form of air-slaked lime and of gypsum, 
and where we derived much benefit from the gypsum 
upon two previous crops (beets and barley), the grass 
is looking very yellow this spring, and suggests that, 
probably, the lime has been removed by the plants 
and now we shall begin to suffer from the accumula¬ 
tion of residual sulphuric acid in the soil. These re¬ 
sults promise to explain satisfactorily why the use of 
gypsum upon many soils has proved to be disadvan¬ 
tageous eventually. Of course there are other rea¬ 
sons, such as the exhaustion of the potash which the 
gypsum has set free. h. j. wheeler. 
Rhode Island Station. 
Two Pounds of Plaster Per Day. 
The “theoretical working capacity” of a ton of 
land plaster may be expressed as follows : A ton of 
land plaster would fix about one-half ton of am¬ 
monium carbonate ; that is, if all of the lime com¬ 
bined with the sulphuric acid in the land plaster 
were replaced by the ammonia contained in the car¬ 
bonate of ammonia, it would require about two tons 
of sulphate of lime to fix the ammonia in one ton of 
carbonate of ammonia. Practically, however, this 
would not take place, as in order that the ammonia 
may be fixed, the plaster must be thoroughly inter¬ 
mingled with the manure from which the ammonia 
is evolved. Furthermore, it would be impossible to 
calculate exactly how much plaster to apply to a 
certain quantity of manure, as the kind of feed used 
and the method of collecting the manure would 
influence the proportion of ammonia that might be 
set free. I think, therefore, that the usual recom¬ 
mendations made, that two pounds per day per cow 
would be sufficient to fix all of the ammonia that 
might be evolved, is a safe rule to follow. This would 
be sufficient, theoretically, to fix the nitrogen in the 
product per day, provided that it was all changed 
into ammonia, which, of course, never happens. 
Whether a farmer can afford to purchase land plaster 
at $15 per ton for use as “ammonia fixer” will depend 
upon how much he has to pay for the nitrogen in 
other forms ; unless the nitrogen is very expensive, 
it would seem to me that it would be too high a price 
to pay. I am using waste plaster from the Rancoeas 
Phosphorus Works, which answers very well, and is 
very much cheaper than the regular land plaster— 
this for the information of farmers in New Jersey. 
Other phosphorus manufacturers in the State would, 
probably, furnish this waste material at a relatively 
low cost. E B. VOOBHEES. 
New Jersey Experiment Station. 
GREAT DANGER FROM SAN JOSE SCALE. 
PBOMPX ACTION IS NEEDED. 
C. T ., Niagara, Out .—I send a pear cutting which is affected by 
blight. The whole tree, a dwarf Bartlett, is covered, and since 
last fall it has spread to several others. What is it, and what is 
the best way to treat it? A friend wishes some information about 
black aphis, described as attacking the roots of peach trees, and 
causing the shoots to curl. 
E. F. F., Rutherford, N. J.—l send a leaf of an Idaho pear, and 
a piece of branch of a Bartlett pear tree. What ails them, and 
what remedy should I apply ? Last summer, I sprayed the Bart¬ 
lett alternately with Paris-green and whale-oil soap, using an 
atomizer, but with no effect. Again last fall, I wabhed the trunk 
and heavier branches with whale-oil soap and very little water, 
using a scrubbing brush; then they were quite clean; but the 
smaller branches I could not touch in this manner, therefore, cut 
a good part of them away. I fear it is the San JosG scale of which 
I have heard so much, but never saw before. My neighbors have 
lost most of their trees through it. 
ANSWEBED BY M. V. SLINGEBLAND. 
I am fast comiDg to believe that the San Jos6 scale 
is more widely and more thoroughly distributed 
among eastern fruit growers than any one has yet 
imagined. The pear cuttings sent in from Niagara, 
Canada, and from Rutherford, N. J., were both badly 
infested with the dreaded pest. The entomologist 
of Canada writes me that he did not before know of 
its occurrence in Canada except at Chatham, Ontario, 
and in British Columbia. Canadian fruit growers in 
southern Ontario, along the lake, have much to fear 
from this pest, for they are included in that portion 
of the country known as the normal life zone of the 
insect, or where one may expect it to multiply and 
spread with its natural vigor and thriftiness. For 
this reason C. T. should take every possible means to 
exterminate the insect in his orchard. 
The badly infested trees should be burned, root 
and branch, at once, and those having but few scales 
be treated with whale-oil soap. Paint every scale 
that can be found upon the trunk and larger branches 
of the trees with whale-oil soap at the rate of two 
pounds in a gallon of water. Do this at once, and 
then spray the whole tree at least once in two weeks 
all summer with whale-oil soap, one pound in from 
five to ten gallons of water, depending upon how much 
the foliage will stand without injury. Kerosene 
emulsion diluted about eight times will, probably, 
answer the same purpose for a summer spray. That 
is the way I should treat trees of my own which were 
infested with the pest. Burn all badly infested ones 
at once, wash the trunks with a strong whale-oil 
soap solution now, and drench the trees once in two 
weeks during the summer with a weaker wash. Then, 
if I could not see that I had the insect well checked 
and under control by fall, I would burn every tree, 
or persevere and wash the whole tree with the strong 
wash as soon as all the foliage was off and the tree 
dormant for the winter. Then continue the warfare 
the next spring along the same lines as the preced¬ 
ing season. Only eternal vigilance, faithful spray¬ 
ing and thorough work, will ever control this fearful 
pest. 
Fortunately, or unfortunately, whichever one may 
consider it, we shall have here at the Cornell Experi¬ 
ment Station a chance to practice what we preach 
about this pest; for 25 or more infested trees, in¬ 
cluding choice ornamentals and fruit trees, have just 
been discovered within a few rods of the door leading 
into the horticultural greenhouses. It is a very 
mysterious and unexplainable infestation. The worst 
infested trees were obtained from 1888 to 1890 of a 
leading nurseryman on whose plantation the scale 
has never been known to occur. Whether the 
trees were infested when they came, or have been 
near other trees from infested localities since, 
is not known. The indications are that the insect 
has been on the trees for some time, but has 
“ smouldered”, as it were, not having found a 
favorable season to develop with its normal vigor, 
until last year. Mr. Lodeman and Prof. Bailey 
both have worked around and have had some of 
the trees under almost daily observation for several 
years, yet neither ever suspected the presence of the 
insect until it was discovered almost encrusting the 
trunks of some dwarf apple trees, and had already 
killed some bushes nearby. With this experience, I 
can now readily see how the insect may be present 
in a fruit plantation for a long time without the 
owner knowing of it or being able to discover it. 
This is a startling and important fact, and should set 
every fruitgrower on edge until he has scrutinized 
every tree he has with eagle eyes and a microscope. 
Anything of a scale-like nature should be at once 
dispatched to the proper authorities for identification. 
As the Hudson River Valley and the counties along 
the southern shore of Lake Ontario are the portions 
of New York State which are in the normal life zone 
of this pest, it behooves orchardists in these regions, 
especially, to keep their eyes open for any signs of 
the creature on their trees. I believe that not less 
than 1,000 fruit trees are badly infested with the San 
Jos6 scale in the Hudson River Valley to day ! Speci¬ 
mens have just come to us from trees which have 
been recently killed by it at Germantown, Columbia 
County. Furthermore, I shall not be surprised to 
receive specimens of the insect from any county in 
the State within the next few years. I believe that 
it is a hopeless task to think of ever exterminating 
the pest in any Eastern State, so thoroughly is it 
scattered over the country, as recent records show. 
In short, eastern orchardists will, doubtless, have this 
pest to fear and contend with for many years, prob¬ 
ably always. This is surely not a pleasant or promis¬ 
ing outlook, but it is better to be prepared for the 
worst as soon as possible. 
While I believe that the scale can be killed and, 
doubtless, exterminated on fruit trees, it will mean 
several years of faithful, thorough, and intelligent 
work. For this reason, I think it always wise to burn 
all badly infested trees at once, thus cutting off the 
principal source of the spread of the scale to other 
trees, and enabling one to confine his energies to the 
less infested stock. The worst infested trees found 
here at the station have been burned, and we shall 
make a desperate effort to control the insect on the 
other trees. The hibernating scales have already be¬ 
gun to grow, and will be rearing young in a short 
time. It will not be safe to apply the strong whale- 
oil soap solution now on anything but the trunk and 
larger branches. This should be done, and then every 
young louse that crawls from under the mother scales 
should not be allowed time to secrete its impervious 
scale. 
The pear leaf sent in by E. T. V. was too dry to de¬ 
termine definitely, but I think the spots on it are the 
galls of a minute mite known as the Pear-blister 
mite. It can be reached successfully only, so far as I 
know, by spraying the trees during the winter with 
kerosene emulsion diluted only four or five times. 
The mites winter under the outer scales of the buds, 
