1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 6ii 
THE OLD FARMER AND THE NEW. 
The R. N.-Y. Touches Both. 
This issue is No. 2693 of The R. N.-Y. We have sub¬ 
scribers now on our list who have taken the paper 
almost from the first issue. A picture of one of these 
old-time readers is shown at Fig. 268. William 
Wildey is still a hale and vigorous man. The writer 
met him last Winter at Medina shortly after he made 
the statement given below; 
This is to certify that I, William Wildey, have been 
a resident of the counties of Orleans and Geneseef, State 
of New York, for 60 years past. Forty-eight years ago 
I subscribed for the paper that was known as Moore’s 
Itural New-Yorker at that time, since changing its name 
to The Rurae New-Yorker. The length of time that I 
liave taken the paper should be evidence of the fact of 
my approval of the same, as the knowledge that I have 
derived from reading it has been of great advantage to 
me. It has gradually growm better, keeping its editorials 
and readings up to date as to all points of interest to the 
agriculturist, and during the last two or three years, the 
paper has improved greatly in my estimation, and en¬ 
tirely to my satisfaction. My appreciation of It Is such 
that it has become a part and parcel of our household. 
Medina, N. Y. william wildey. 
Wherever we go among the people we find men 
who say: “Why, Father used to take Moore’s Rural 
.New-Yorker—I was brought up on it!” We find such 
men everywhere. 'Some of them have remained on 
the farm, and most of them, like Mr. Wildey, still 
take the paper. Others left the farm years ago, and 
have been siiccessful in town or city. Some of these 
men continue to read The R. N.-Y. While their life 
work has branched away from farming they still look 
hack to the old home where Father and Mother lived, 
with grateful and happy memories, and The R. N.-Y. 
helps keep up the connection. We fully realize what 
a strong hold the old paper had upon the heart and 
confidence of the old-time farmer. There is far more 
competition now, and there are hundreds of new 
things to attract attention—^^therefore, it gives us 
great satisfaction to feel that the modern R. N.-Y. is 
still going into the old homes, even though in many 
cases the old readers have passed away. 
While referring to Mr. Wildey and his 48 years as 
a subscriber, it will not be out of place to mention 
our youngest subscriber. A picture of Master Ciement 
G. Yates, of Connecticut, is shown at Fig. 269. He is 
now 11 years old, and has read The R. N.-Y. thor¬ 
oughly for the past three years. He is whait we call 
a loyal subscriber, for he reads the advertisements 
and patronizes those who patronize The R. N.-Y. He 
said one day: “I saw-’s seeds for sale, but they’re 
not advertised in The R. N.-Y., so I wouldn’t buy 
them.” That is certainly what we call a loyal sub¬ 
scriber! This boy is specially interested in studying 
the diseases of horses and other domestic animals. 
It is good testimony in respect to the clearness of Dr. 
Kilborne’s articles that Master Yates well under¬ 
stands what to do for the common diseases. When he 
hears of a sick animai in the neighborhood he gets 
out to help prescribe for it, and the first part of his 
prescription is the advice to subscribe for The R. 
N.-Y. The cat shown in the picture was taken sick 
last year. Its owner wrote to TirE R. N.-Y. about it, 
and was fully answered, so that the cat was quickly 
cured. No wonder both face the reader with confi¬ 
dence. This boy will probably make a farmer. He 
loves the country, though until three years ago he 
lived in the city. If he does choose agriculture as a 
profession he will make a good farmer, for he is 
building broad and deep in the science and practice 
of the business. It is a pleasure to think that The 
R. N.-Y. can not only go down the shady side of life 
with the older men, but climb up the sunny slopes 
with those who have only a look ahead. 
THE DESTRUCTIVE FRUIT ROT. 
Fruit rot, soft rot, brown rot, known to the mycolo¬ 
gist by the name of Monilia fructigena, causes every 
year more or less loss of early plums and peaches. 
This season, in central New York the damage has 
been severe. It is all the more apparent because of 
the comparatively small crop of fruit. When Alex¬ 
ander began to ripen, a couple of weeks ago, rot ap¬ 
peared and spread with aggravating rapidity. Sound 
peaches to-day were a mass of pulp to-morrow. Our 
men were certain that they rotted over night. Weather 
conditions were undoubtedly favorable. The days 
during the first half oj. August have been character¬ 
ized by a high percentage of humidity, while the 
nights have been comparatively cool, yet not cool 
enough to arrest the progress of this destroying 
agent. At the present writing, plums, particularly 
Domestica varieties, are rotting badly. The natives, 
especially those of the Hortulana section, are more 
immune than the Europeans, while Japs occupy a 
somewhat intermediate position. Prunus Slmonl, 
represented on the Cornell grounds by three trees 
very heavily laden, has been very slightly affected. 
Is not this a good point in favor of this plum, particu- 
aily from the plant breeder’s standpoint? 
A pointed question is, what shall we do? Bordeaux 
Mixture cannot be satisfactorily used on peaches and 
plums at this season of the year. It seems to me that 
remedies should fall under three heads—^thinning, 
spraying, sanitation. While thinned fruit on our 
grounds was rot by any means immune to rot, yet it 
was much less susceptiole than fruit unthinned. 
Plums or peaches touching each other transmit the 
disease with great rapidity, while properly thinned 
fruit is safer to that degree. What shali we spray 
with? I am inclined to think that fruit growers have 
overlooked too much the advantages of the am- 
raoniacal copper carbonate spray. This is not much 
more expensive than Bordeaux Mixture, is applied 
with a great deal more ease and comfort, does not 
stain the fruit, and is just about as effective as Bor- 
WILLIAM WILDEY. Fitf ^68. 
An 01(1 Reader of The R. N.-Y. 
deaux. We have got into the habit of using Bordeaux 
almost exclusively, and nave paid too little attention 
to some of the other fungicides which have special 
features of usefulness. Can we help the situation by 
good sanitary practices? An affirmative answer seems 
reasonable. How many orchardists carry out the 
practice each Autumn of picking off and burying the 
mummified plums? How many cut off and burn the 
dead twig ends on their peach trees caused by this 
fungus? If spraying and sanitation were practiced a 
great deal of seed of this destructive disease would 
be destroyed. john craig. 
Cornell University. 
R. N.-Y.—Readers will remember that the Bordeaux 
Mixture is composed of lime, sulphate of copper and 
MASTER CLEMENT G. YATES. Fie. 269. 
The Youngest Subscriber of The R. N.-Y. 
water. The other spraying mixture mentioned by 
Prof. Craig is composed of carbonate of copper dis¬ 
solved in ammonia and diluted with water. 
BLIGHT AND WILT ON MELONS. 
I wish to Inquire regarding the article in a- late R. 
N.-Y. about the muskmelon crop at BrIarcllfC Manor 
School. You say that the entire crop was destroyed by 
blight last year within a few days of ripening, but that 
the growers think they can pull them safely through 
this year. We would like to know how they are going 
to do it. Have they been attacked by wilt? If so, what 
preventive or cure has been used? l. j. b. 
Central Ohio. 
Hast season our muskmelons were destroyed within 
10 days of marketing because no attention could b'' 
given them in the way of spraying, the school not 
having started, nor was there any apparatus at that 
time. This year, by starting the plants in the g eon 
house and transplanting to the field we hoped to se¬ 
cure the crop, due attention being given to spraying 
and other essentials. In this exceedingly trying sea¬ 
son we have gathered some melons, not a full crop 
by any means, but still enough to give us great hopes 
for future crops. Vines when put out were a little 
larger than they should have been, owing to unfavor¬ 
able weather for setting, and after being transplanted 
they were severely checked by cold weather. Rain 
has fallen in torrents upon them through the whole 
Bummer, and the Bordeaux Mixture with which they 
have been sprayed has often been washed completely 
off within a few hours of its application. Under such 
conditions the surprise is that we gathered any fruits 
at all. Those that we picked were of far better qual¬ 
ity than melons purchased in the New York market 
at the same time, and we have great hopes for the 
success of future crops. The blight can be controlled 
by Bordeaux Mixture, the 75-gallon formula, if the 
plants are sprayed every week from the time they 
show their first leaves until they are robbed of their 
fruit. It is essential to apply the Mixture to the 
undersides of the leaves from the very start. A bent¬ 
necked Vermorel nozzle is the best we have, since it 
makes a very good mist-like spray. Enough of the 
fungicide will fall uimn the upper surface without any 
effort to place it there. This disease makes its ap¬ 
pearance usualiy in August. 
Vine wilt is more serious. We have no remedy. 
Our plhn for next year with respect to it is to plant 
upon land that has not grown any cucumbers, melons, 
squashes, etc., for years, and to prevent the attacks 
of Squash bugs and other insects, since they carry 
infection. This is not easy. Bugs must be caught by 
hand, and the striped beetle repelled by tobacco dust. 
We shall also cover the vines with netting to keep 
bugs off. Our other vines have suffered from wilt; 
late squashes will not be more than half a crop, even 
though thousands of bugs were picked off them, and 
no eggs were permitted to hatch until the vines com¬ 
menced to run and the picking became too extensive. 
This was a grand year for Squash bugs, and the 
“radish cure,” if I may cali it such, referred to in 
The R. N.-Y. several weeks ago, was utterly useless, 
though the radishes, which were planted in the hills 
by students, were thick enough for lawn purposes. In 
fact, the bugs seemed to enjoy the shade of the rad¬ 
ishes while they lay out at full length to sip the lus¬ 
cious squash juice. Our Summer squash is but little 
affected, either by bugs or diseases, and considering 
the bad weather has done nobly. m. g. k. 
A TRAP FOR THE HESSIAN FLY. 
About a year ago Prof. Roberts visited the writer 
of the following letter, and advised him to sow a de¬ 
coy strip of wheat around his field, w'hich he did. The 
results, as set forth in the letter to Prof. Roberts, are 
so satisfactory that it is deemed wise to lay the mat¬ 
ter before the farmers without delay. 
Prof. I. P. Roberts: August 19, 1901. 
Dear Sir—I have just read with a great deal of Interest 
your latest bulletin. No. 194, on the Hessian fly, and it 
reminded me of my promise to inform you of my success 
with the “trap or decoy’’ strip that you recommended 
me to sow last Fall. I sowed two widths of the dril! 
around a 20-acre field August 25 last year, then sowed 
the remainder of the field September 27-28, and just be- 
Ibre the last sowing came through the ground, plowed 
the “decoy strip’’ under just as you advised, and resowed 
it. When I plowed that strip under I found that practi¬ 
cally every leaf and stalk of wheat was completely cov¬ 
ered with the eggs of the fly, so that the strip looked 
brown, and myriads of the fly swarmed up in front and 
under the horses as they walked over it. 
Now for the result of my extra labor, amounting to 
one-half day’s work for man and team and two bushels 
of wheat used on the “trap strip.’’ I have just thrashed 
as fine a sample of No. 6 wheat as you could wish to sea 
averaging 21*4 bushels per acre, this average Including 
seven acres on a nearby field that was sowed after beans, 
where I could not use the trap strip. From the amount 
of straw harvested on the 20-acre field, in comparison 
with that grown on the bean ground, and the difference 
in the condition of the two fields at the time of harvest¬ 
ing, I am confident that the 20-acre plot gave me 25 
bushels per acre of first-class wheat. You will perhaps 
remember that we called upon some of my neighbors, 
when you were here, and you advi.sed them to sow the 
“trap strip,” and I went to them afterwards and begged 
them to cooperate with me In this fight against this 
terrible pest; but I could not get one of them to do so, 
with the result that they are thrashing out from two to 
eight bushels per acre of poor chicken feed. Most of my 
neighbors are now preparing the trap strips, and we are 
going to sow them this week, and I am besieged with 
questions from those at a distance who have heard of 
my success along this line. I would rather risk the 
“trap strip” and thorough preparation of the soil and a 
good fertilizer and late sowing with No. 6 than to at¬ 
tempt to raise Dawson or any other so-called fly-proof 
wheat of an inferior milling quality. 
I have a scheme to catch the fly that we found lodging 
in the "trap strip” when we plowed it under, 1. e., to 
plow this strip under in the night or very early morn¬ 
ing, while they are stiff with the chill of the late Sep¬ 
tember nights, and I believe that we can rid ourselves of 
Imillions more of them. s. w. wadhams. 
It is urged that farmers sow decoy strips of wheat 
around their fields. The season seems to be favor¬ 
able for an early development of the fly and these 
decoy strips together with late sowing of the main 
crop on well fitted ground will probably go a long 
way towards circumventing the pest. .i. i.. stone 
College of Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y. 
