1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
35 
experiments in pots and field in Britain. I obtained 
my apparatus, but in the meantime so much doubt 
was thrown on the accuracy of these experiments, 
that I have left this question to be tested and settled 
by the experiment stations, if any have faith enough 
to make the trial. Squibs like this appeared in the 
papers: “It is said that with proper care by the use 
of galvanism we can so hurry up growth that we may 
plant the seeds of cress in the morning and raise a 
salad for a late dinner.” While we have not yet got 
the hasty-grown salad has not galvanism done more 
wonderful things for us in modern civilization? 
Connecticut. t. s. gold. 
Why They Are Called Insfifufes. 
Teachers’ institute (U. S.), a gathering of school 
teachers for instruction and mental‘assistance. In¬ 
stitute, V. t., to educate; instruct. We speak of the 
Cooper Institute: the institute of technology. The 
lectures of Dr. George Birkbeck to workingmen in 
Glasgow, about the year 1800, were the beginning of 
the first mechanics’ institute. The above definitions 
are mostly taken from the Standard Dictionary of the 
English language. The use of a word with a certain 
meaning, by educated persons, after a time makes it 
correct. The Institute of Technology in Boston, Mass., 
might be called a college as we now use the term. The 
Pratt Institute in Brooklyn is a technical school. A 
farmers’ institute is now spoken of as college-exten¬ 
sion work. On August 30, 1871, the trustees of the 
Illinois Industrial University, now known as the Uni¬ 
versity of Illinois, passed a resolution that the regent 
and corresponding secretary be authorized to make 
such arrangements for holding during the coming 
Winter farmers’ institutes at the University and in 
other parts of the State, as they might find advisable. 
“We want to bring the live, practical men and the 
live scientific men together that all may be benefited.” 
The regent of the University, Dr. John M. Gregory, 
was the leading spirit in starting institutes in Illinois 
Formerly he had been State superintendent of public 
instruction in Michigan, where he planned teachers’ 
institutes to be held in different portions of the State. 
Within 10 or 15 years we have heard much of exten¬ 
sion work by universities, which some have said 
originated in England, but the Illinois University be¬ 
gan university extension two years before Cambridge, 
England. w- seal. 
Michigan. _ 
A UNTERN MOTH TRAP. 
I send circulars of a new moth trap. What do you 
think of it? I am a firm believer in spraying, but if this 
trap will catch the Codling moth will use it, too. 
Bradrlck, O. 
Most of the claims made for this new moth catcher 
or trap in the advertising circulars sent out are pre¬ 
posterous; and the use of such terms as “stinging 
fly,” “borer fly” and others, shows that the inventor 
is not familiar with the insects which infest orchards 
and other crops. While it is true that an ordinary 
lamp or other sources of light will attract many dif¬ 
ferent kinds of insects, it is also equally true that 
many other insects rarely fly to lights. Again, while 
lights or “trap lanterns” or “moth traps” will attract 
some of the adult forms of injurious insects, like cer¬ 
tain moths and beetles, there are many injurious in¬ 
sects of which a few of the adults are only accident¬ 
ally caught in such a trap, and, furthermore, many 
beneficial insects are also caught, sometimes enough 
to offset all of the injurious kinds. I make these gen¬ 
eralizations regarding insects attracted to lights, and 
thus liable to be caught in a “trap-lantern,” from a 
season’s experience in experimenting with a series of 
such lanterns in various locations on a large farm. 
My “trap-lanterns” were set near or in orchards, near 
gardens, in cornfields, in grain fields, and in meadows. 
Thousands of insects were captured in these lanterns, 
and their dead bodies carefully preserved an dstudied. 
Large numbers of cutworm moths and of tent cater¬ 
pillar moths flew into our lanterns, but a large pro¬ 
portion of these were males, so that we doubtless re¬ 
duced the numbers of the progeny of these insects, 
but very little. With most of the insects we caught 
it was also true that a large majority were males. 
Most of the beetles we trapped were May beetles or 
“June bugs,” but few of them were females. We 
caught no Plum curculios, no Potato beetles, no bee¬ 
tles of either of the Apple-tree borers, none of the 
moths of the Peach-tree borer, no Codling moths, and 
in fact, but comparatively few specimens of any seri¬ 
ous farm or orchard insect pest, except the cutworm 
moths, tent-caterpillar moths and “June bugs” men¬ 
tioned above. I do not believe the “new moth catch¬ 
er” will entrap enough Codling moths. Plum curcu¬ 
lios, Potato beetles or any orchard pest to pay for one 
of the lanterns. 
The fact that many different kinds of moths are 
thus often attracted to lights or to alluring bait in 
large numbers has led many to believe that the Cod¬ 
ling moth could also be lured in sufficient numbers to 
make it pay to build fires or to place trap-lanterns in 
an orchard, or to hang sweetened or other baits of 
various kinds in the trees. Many experiments have 
been tried along this line by such reliable observers 
as Riley, Cook and Atkins, and so few Codling moths 
were captured as conclusively to show the entire fu¬ 
tility of attempting to check the pest in this way. 
Many collectors of insects also report very few cap¬ 
tures of the moth at their lures or at lights. Most 
of the reported captures of the insect in large num¬ 
bers at baits or traps are the results of mistaken 
identity. In short, practicany all of the definite evi¬ 
dence we have regarding “trap-lanterns” or “moth 
traps” shows that they arc of no use in reducing the 
numbers of orchard insect pests. One thorough 
spraying with Paris-green and Bordeaux Mixture at 
the right time (just after the blossoms have fallen in 
an apple orchard) will be more effectual against in¬ 
sect enemies than a haif-dozen “new moth catchers” 
in each tree. This notion that insects can be caught 
at wholesale with a light and trap has been an allur¬ 
ing one to many inventive or restless minds, and hun¬ 
dreds of such devices have been exploited, many of 
them patented. But none of them has fulfilled the 
hopes and claims of the inventor when they are put 
into the hands of experimenters or hard-headed prac¬ 
tical agriculturists. m. v. slingerland. 
BUILDING A STONE ROAD. 
Ordinarily we find that stone broken uniformly will 
compact together upon a dry hard earth foundation 
so that eight inches in depth is sufficient for all prac¬ 
tical purposes. It is put down in courses as follows: 
After the earth foundation has been thoroughly com¬ 
pacted Dy rolling, and made as uniformly as possible 
with the proper slope from center to side ditches, a 
A H.4ND-KAISED PIG. Fig. 16. See Page 46. 
shoulder is placed at the outer edges of the stone con¬ 
struction. The first course is four inches in depth. 
This is put on uniformly, and the roller passed over 
it a few times to bring the pieces of stone together as 
nearly as possible; thus lessening the voids. The voids 
are then filled with ground stone from the crusher, 
by placing it on top of this broken stone and rolling 
it. A light sprinkling to work the particles down in¬ 
to the foundation is serviceable, but water ought not 
to be put on in quantities so great that it will run 
through the stone and soften the foundation. The 
rolling should be repeated until the mass becomes 
consolidated together, and if it is left for a while for 
the action of the air and sunshine it will take a set 
and become hard. This course we call the “stone 
foundation.” This may consist of large stones from 
two to 2% inches in diameter on the average. The 
larger stone is used so that the whole product of 
the crusher can be utilized. 
The second course is of stone not greater than 1% 
inch in diameter on the average placed on the road 
in the same manner as the foundation stone. More 
water can be used on this course, as it will not be 
likely to pass through, and on the surface we put the 
ground stone about an inch thick, and as it disappears 
down in the stone to fill the voids we place more on 
when necessary, and wet and roll until the whole sur¬ 
face becomes smooth and hard. In this way we get 
the voids filled in the bottom of the course first. It 
may be necessary to put on the ground stone several 
times before we get all the voids filled. Too much 
shade is damaging to a road, while a little shade is 
no injury. Trees ought to be at least 50 or 60 feet 
apart to allow the air and sunshine to dry the roads 
after rains. When the leaves fall they should be re¬ 
moved by sweeping or raking them up when they are 
dry and burning them. This is very important, and 
should not in any case be neglected, as the leaves 
retain moisture which in time will soften the surface 
of the road bed, and cause it to become rutty, work 
up into dirt and cause a certain amount of mud as a 
result. 
The road should, at all times, be kept clean and free 
from mud and dirt, and any vegetable matter that 
would tend to cause it to be soft and muddy should 
be removed. As to the cost of the road, that depends 
upon so many conditions that it would be impossible 
for me to tell. It depends largely upon the cost of the 
stone, which embraces the quarrying and hauling. 
The cost of hauling depends upon the distance, the 
quarrying upon the condition of the stone in the 
quarry. The crushing, however, with a portable 
crusher will cost about 20 or 25 cents per cubic yard. 
Bowlders found in glacial districts make excellent 
material for roads, as they are generally found to con¬ 
sist of igneous rock. Flinty rock is not suitable for 
surfacing a road, as they crush too easily under heavy 
travel, but flinty rocks and fine dust, sand or shale 
can be used in the foundation course. I may say in 
regard to cost of roads where the stone is furnished 
free of charge and the haul is not over a mile or two, 
and not include the cost of grading, or preparing the 
roadbed, the stone construction can be made from 
$1,200 to $2,500 per mile. e. g. harrison. 
United States Special Agent and Road Expert. 
COYER CROPS IN APPLE ORCHARD. 
The articles that have recently appeared in The R. 
N.-Y. by Prof. Craig and others lead me to say that 
about the best cover crop I find for my orchards is 
chickweed. If the land is as rich as it ought to be 
this weed will take care of itself; with the first Fall 
rains it will come up quickly, a perfect mat, grows 
rapidly. Often with us it gets “knee high”; grows 
all Winter whenever there is an open time. It catches 
most of the leaves and holds them firmly until time 
to be plowed in Spring. When the proper time comes 
chickweed is quickly worked into the soil, furnishes 
with the retained leaves much humus, and never 
grows during the dry weather of Summer. But why 
plow the apple orchard at all? Another year’s experi¬ 
ence has more fully grounded me in the faith, that 
constant cultivation is not the best way to treat an 
apple orchard. Keep it constantly in pasture, and 
treat it properly, and it will be more healthy, grow 
more fruit of a higher color, better texture and flavor, 
and that will keep longer and shrink less than it can 
be made by any system that involves constant culti¬ 
vation; treated properly, remember that. 
J. S. WOODWARD. 
A HEMLOCK HEDGE. 
If Reader, page 864 (December 29) wishes to set a 
native hemlock hedge and not have to fill in or leave 
spaces where little trees die, he will take Mr. Van 
Deman’s advice, and select grass-grown bushy little 
trees. He will do well to get all as nearly two feet 
high as possible, and cut back to about 15 inches, 
taking off no branches. He will wait till past the time 
for setting trees that shed their leaves, and until he 
can see the little pale-green new growth starting out. 
Then, if he is careful in taking up, puts in plenty of 
water while the earth is being filled in, and packs the 
ground firmly, he will probably lose few, if any, 
plants. If he wished to be quite sure in setting his 
hedge he could take up his wild trees and set them 
in an easy place to dig, leaving them for two years. 
They will then, the living ones, have a mass of fibrous 
roots that will insure them being safely transplanted 
if reasonable care is used. He will get a hedge that 
way about as quickly as by setting wild trees in the 
hedge row, and if he cuts it properly a little every 
year he will have as beautiful a hedge as grows, taken 
the year round. R- s. hinman. 
Connecticut. _ 
FISH FOR CORN FERTILIZER. 
I notice in your issue of December 1 this question: 
“Will whitefish at $1 per 1,000 do for manure alone 
for corn? ’ In the Spring of 1899 I put on to one acre 
of land 20,000 whitefish, for which I paid $25. The 
fish were spread and plowed in, and when well har¬ 
rowed the lot was planted to Sciota corn. It was 
planted in hills three feet 10 inches each way, culti¬ 
vated and hoed twice. No other fertilizer of any kind 
used. Result, over 110 bushels of ears of corn, good 
and sound.- The corn a little more than paid for the 
fish. The stover nearly paid for the labor, so that 
I called it an even thing. In the Spring of 1900 the 
same ground was plowed and planted just the same 
without any fertilizer whatever. Result, 125 bushels 
good, sound, nice Sciota corn, stover nearly paying 
for the labor. The corn cost me the Fall of 1899, 50 
cents per bushel, shelled. In 1900 it cost me only five 
cents per bushel, shelled. The land is in better con¬ 
dition for any crop now than in the Spring of 1899. 
This plot had been planted two previous years to corn 
and potatoes; with a little phosphate in the hill and 
a promise of fish (which it did not get). I have seen 
fish used for manure for corn more or less for 60 
years, and cannot call to mind a single failure to 
bring a fair crop if put on before June 15. I do not 
know how it may be elsewhere, but I do not think 
any one who had to buy fertilizer for corn should 
be afraid to buy fish at $1 per 1,000. On my land I 
can get better results (in corn and rye) with $1 worth 
of fish than $2 worth of any other fertilizer. 
Madison, Conn. h. j. m. 
