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447 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
series of years, and large sums of money will surely be 
needed to exterminate it entirely. Indeed, it is an open 
question whether it can ever be extirpated, owing to the 
fact that it may have been carried in the wood and pro¬ 
duce from farms in the locality to which it is supposed to 
be now confined, to other markets in the State, there to 
continue to increase. 
In Europe the moth has 18 species of insect foes that at¬ 
tack either the eggs or the caterpillars ; but it is not known 
that there are in this country any parasitic insects that 
destroy It. Prof. C. V. Riley’s success in combatting the 
Cottony Cushion Scale in California by the importation of 
its Australian parasites, very naturally raises the question 
whether the outlay of money spent in the introduction of 
some of the most effective parasites of .the Gypsy Moth in 
Europe, may not finally be the best method of keeping it 
within reasonable bounds in this country. 
After the organization of the commission the first opera¬ 
tion was to attack the clusters of eggs. These were found 
on the branches of the trees and shrubs, on fences, walls, 
buildings, piles of lumber, etc. The principal means of 
destruction consisted of lighted kerosene torches, by which 
the eggs were burned in the position in which they were 
found. This work was begun at the end of March. About 
100 men were employed and 100 barrels of oil were used. 
Many acres of infested woodland have been cut down or all 
the underwood has been removed and burned. Early in 
May the eggs hatched and the young larvae were found 
feeding upon the foliage; spraying with Paris-green 
and water (about one pound of Paris-green to 150 gallons 
of water) was then begun. The equipment now consists 
of about 25 hogsheads, each mounted upon a cart or 
wagon, a force pump and from 100 to 200 feet of hose to 
each outfit, with spraying nozzles. Two men are employed 
with each apparatus. A systematic regulation has been 
A LISTENER’S NOTES. 
Ferocity of the Hen.— Some hens while brooding will 
attack strange chickens with the ferocity of tigers. They 
will kill the little visitors if they can possibly do so. I 
have never been able to understand how a hen can distin¬ 
guish a strange chicken. As it happens, I have two broods 
of Wyandotte chickens hatched within two days of each 
other. Let a chicken from one brood run to those of the 
other and the hen will attack it at once. How does she 
know it ? Henry Hales tells me that the hen distinguishes 
the chicks by sight entirely. Hens with broods of colored 
chickens'are particularly savage at white chickens. 
Mr. Hales says that whenever he breeds White Dorkings 
he makes it a point to put one White Dorking egg in every 
clutch of colored. The hen will always pay particular 
attention to her one white chicken, and she is less savage 
when other white chickens come near her. Speaking of 
the general belief that all white animals are inferior, Mr. 
Hales says there is no more ridiculous notion than that a 
white cow will be sure to make white butter. 
Frightening Cream from Milk.— A considerable 
number of people have spoken about the necessity of hav¬ 
ing a wide difference between the temperature of the milk 
and of the water in which it is set. It is proposed to have 
the milk quite hot when it is placed in the water. The 
cream is given such a chilly reception that it becomes 
“ scared ” and gets to the top of the milk as fast as it can. 
At the summer conference of the Connecticut State 
Dairymen’s Association and State Board of Agriculture 
held at Wapping, Conn., recently, the scarcity of ice gave 
rise to an interesting discussion “ as to the best methods of 
overcoming the necessity for its use,” and the method re¬ 
ferred to in Mr. Stewart’s article on this subject in The 
Rural of May 14, was inquired about and an invitation 
was given for reports of any trials of the system. Mr. 
milk raised to 100 degrees before setting shows that the 
separation was more thorough than was the case in other 
processes than the Cooley, even under the most favorable 
circumstances. This method is not recommended except 
where cold water and ice are not convenient, but has been 
used very successfully in past seasons by creameries in lo¬ 
calities where neither cold water nor ice could be obtained. 
The body of water in which the milk is submerged should 
be large enough so that its temperature will not be raised 
by the warm milk, or if so affected the water should be 
changed once or twice in the tank. 
An Agricultural College Education.— I have always 
held some very positive views regarding the value of the 
education to be obtained at an agricultural college. While 
these views have been confirmed by many years’ observa¬ 
tions and experience, I am very certain that I cannot ex¬ 
press them more forcibly and tersely than Prof. W. A. 
Henry of Madison, Wis., has done in the following letter: 
“ The efforts of The Rural to interest our young people 
in securing scholarships at the agricultural colleges is 
most worthy, and should be productive of great good in 
several ways. The pay is certainly very large for the 
number of subscribers required, though, no doubt, those 
who succeed will fully believe they have earned every cent 
they get. Whether many or few succeed, time only will 
tell, but certainly thousands of young men will be set to 
thinking on the question of whether or not they should go 
to college, and of how they can get there, and a little hard 
thinking in this direction at the right time maybe just 
what is needed in the lives of many. Upon this question 
of obtaining an education there seems, even at the present 
time, lack of information, or else there is much misdirected 
intelligence. Many young men seem to have the idea that 
going to college is for others, but not for them, and thus 
allow the opportunity to pass by. It should be understood 
SOME GOOD BUTTER COWS. From a Photograph. Fig. 162. 
instituted, and all farm produce, manure, etc., carried out 
of Medford are inspected, and all suspicious loads are 
sprayed. The law imposes a severe penalty, by fine and 
imprisonment, upon any one who knowingly carries the 
living insects to other places. It is, however, maintained 
by some that the sluggish habits of the large female moth 
are against its having spread far, and that such a conspicu¬ 
ous insect could not have reached other places without 
having been detected. 
In order that readers of The R. N.-Y. may detect this un¬ 
welcome visitor, should it chance to have strayed into their 
neighborhood, I will, by the aid of the accompanying cuts, 
describe it. Figure 158 is the male and a very active fellow 
he is. In color he is yellowish-brown with markings of a 
much darker brown hue. Figure 15!) is the female, yel¬ 
lowish white in color with dark brown cross lines and 
spots like those of the males. The body is much stouter 
than the male’s, and the antenmu are not so heavily feath¬ 
ered. The expanse of the wings is from \% to 2 % inches. 
The eggs are globular about one-eighteenth of an inch in 
diameter, nearly salmon-colored and with a smooth sur¬ 
face, oval masses covered with yellow hairs upon trunks 
and branches of trees and not infrequently on fences and 
buildings. They are deposited in the early part of July; but 
do not hatch till the following spring. After hatching, the 
caterpillars, shown at Figure 100, remain together feeding 
upon the leaves, but when not feeding they habitually rest 
side by side on the branches and trunks of trees. The full- 
grown caterpillar is about 1 % inch in length, very dark 
brown or black. A pale yellow line extends down the mid¬ 
dle of the back, and a similar one along each side. The 
whole surface of the body is somewhat hairy; but along 
each side the hairs are long and form quite dense clusters. 
The pupa—Figure 101—is aoout three fourths of an inch in 
length and of a reddish-brown color. On each side at the 
base of the wing covers is a reddish-brown, oval, velvety 
spot. The moths emerge from the pupm, from the first to 
the middle of July. e. p. K. 
Williams, Manager of the Vermont Farm Machine Co., 
being present, gave accounts of a number of experiments. 
The object of the method is to bring the temperature of 
the contents of the milk can to such a point that 
there will be more than 40 degrees between it and the water 
in which the milk is totally submerged in the Cooley 
creamers. That is, the best results are obtained, in the 
case of persons who have neither cold water nor ice, when 
the temperature through which the milk must pass before 
reaching the temperature of the water in which it is sub¬ 
merged falls over 40 degrees. The water also has a ten¬ 
dency to dilute and free the butter globules from the 
fibrine. In an experiment at one dairy the milk was 
strained into the can, filling it three-quarters full, the re¬ 
mainder being filled in with pure water at 135 degrees, 
which brought the temperature of the milk to 102 degrees. 
It was then submerged in water at 62 degrees and remained 
12 hours. It was then drawn off and three samples were 
sent to the Vermont Experiment Station for analysis, with 
the following result: 
one sample, .04 of one per cent, of fat. 
“ •• .05 “ “ “ “ “ “ 
“ “ No trace of fat was found. 
Dairy No. 2 had its milk thoroughly mixed and one part 
was set at 88 degrees, without diluting with hot water. 
The other portion was diluted with about one-fourth of 
hot water at 135 degrees. This raised the temperature to 
100 degrees. Then both portions were submerged side by 
side in a Cooley creamer, the temperature of the water be¬ 
ing 58 degrees. They remained there about 12 hours. 
When the cans were taken out, the milk of each was drawn 
off and a sample from each was sent, as before, for an¬ 
alysis. The analysis of the milk ot the first part showed 
.76 of one per cent, of fat; that of the second part only .16 
of one per cent., showing that the separation was very 
much more thorough in the milk whose temperature was 
raised by the addition of the hot water than in the milk 
that was set in its natural condition. The analysis of the 
that not one person in a hundred is really prevented from 
gaining a liberal education, by circumstances entirely 
beyond his own control, and that a failure nearly always 
lies within the person himself rather than with his stars. 
The lack of means is the great objection with the majority 
of young men who consider themselves brimful of 
ambition, hut no boy with a sound mind in a sound body 
should allow this to stand in his way, and he who does is 
not worthy of a higher education in these days when there 
are so many ways of turning an honest penny. 
The next objection is age. The boy whose parents 
furnish the means usually starts to college wnen 16 
or 18 years of age, and is through by the time 
he is a voter. Because this is the rule, those who 
have to make their own way often feel greatly discouraged 
at the thought of first having to earn money and later 
having to give four years to study. I can sympathize with 
such young men, for I was 23 years of age before I laid up 
the first dollar that was to take me through college, and 
was past 26 when I first saw the buildings of grand Cornell 
rise from among the trees on high East Hill at Ithaca, 
where I spent four of the most pleasant years of my life. 
It is true enough that one starting so late is somewhat 
handicapped ; but, on the other hand, by starting out after 
we have some maturity, we are in much better position to 
select our studies and prosecute our work than are many 
of the mere boys who sit in the class beside us. 
Whether or not it pays to acquire a college education de¬ 
pends entirely upon the individual, and what we mean 
when we say a thing 'pays.’ There is great need in this 
country to day of educated farmers ; there is not an agricul 
tural community that does not need well educated, thought¬ 
ful men for leaders, and such could accomplish a world 
of good. No one can attend meetings in rural communi¬ 
ties without observing how seriously handicapped many 
of those present are through the lack of proper training. 
Men that are well versed in their vocation, in a general 
way, appear at a great disadvantage and remain in the back- 
