2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 4 
crops of fruit that can be marketed at paying prices 
from October 1 until May 1—a period of seven months. 
This is possible with no other fruit. A well-grown 
apple orchard will yield handsomely for two genera¬ 
tions. If a man cares for his own orchard, he need 
not fear diseases from his neighbor’s orchard ; as he 
does in the case of peach yellows. wesley webb. 
Delaware. 
Some Difficulties and Advantages. 
As to growing winter apples in a commercial way 
on this Peninsula, I can discover that only one essen¬ 
tial is lacking to make it a success, viz., the men to do 
it. There are several exceedingly fine kinds of apples, 
in a commercial sense, that actual trials have proved 
to be well adapted to the early springs, late autumns, 
and hot sun peculiar to this geographically unique 
portion of the Union. There can be no reasonable 
doubt, that there would be greater certainty of a 
crop of apples, than of peaches. The yield per acre 
would not, of course, equal that of Keiffer pears. 
There is room, however, for the hope that good apples 
would sell for better prices than common pears. 
A hesitancy in entering upon this particular field of 
fruit growing, arises from the fact that the planter 
has so long to wait for returns, as it takes a good part 
of an ordinary or average lifetime to grow a good, big 
apple tree. To make it a side issue, is flatly in opposi¬ 
tion to the trend of what is at the pi-esent day regarded 
as good, sound business policy. One of two ways only 
is open to success now—wholesale or cooperative 
methods. The man who doesn’t grow fruit enough 
(apples, pears and peaches, especially) to load a car, 
at a picking, is at a disadvantage with the man who 
does. Facts are facts; we may dread them, but dodge 
them, never. 
Thousands of acres of land on this Peninsula arc 
well adapted to commercial apple growing, land 
which, under a gold standard, can be bought for one- 
fourth its value, and the opportunity of a lifetime is 
presented to young men who wish to engage in honor¬ 
able, clean and pleasant business ; that is, young men 
who have self-respect enough to work, to use their 
talents and physical energy as God intended that they 
should. Young men of this type could leave the 
world a fraction better than they found it, by intelli¬ 
gently selecting a farm on this favored Peninsula, 
and growing winter apples. And summer apples, too, 
in my opinion, if they will exercise good, sound, busi¬ 
ness sense in their operations. I forbear any further 
allusion to berries, than merely to state, that they are 
grown here to as high a standard of excellence every 
way, as anywhere else. The alphabet of berry grow¬ 
ing is not thoroughly learned yet. j. w. kebr. 
Maryland. 
SOME “ DUNG WORMS” EXAMINED. 
HOW THEY DIFFER FROM WHITE GRUBS. 
In my answers to H. 11. L., in The R. N.-Y. of 
March 30, and to W. C. L., on May 18, 1895, I ex¬ 
pressed much doubt whether White Grubs were ever 
found in manure ; and specimens of “ dung worms” 
were solicited. On May 29 I received the following 
letter, accompanied by about 30 “ dung worms” : 
In accordance with the request in The R. N.-Y., I send you some 
grubs found in manure. I have noticed, for many years, grubs 
in the manure in the barnyard, especially where left piled up for 
some time; but these I send you I found in manure which I hauled 
directly from the horse stable during winter and left in piles in 
the field to be scattered on the ground after plowing. I found 
them in almost every pile I scattered. Last spring, I had the 
scrapings of the barnyard wheeled out and put in rows where I 
planted melons, and between the melon hills I set strawberry 
plants, the manure extending through the whole row ; a large 
proportion, in fact, nearly all of the strawberry plants died, and 
in re-setting, I found a great many grubs. I thought that it was 
on account of the manure having been left piled up since the 
year before, but now I am convinced that it does not have to be 
left over one summer. How and where were the eggs deposited ? 
They must have been laid either in the stable, or this spring after 
the snow went off. I can’t see the matter clearly, for the manure 
was made during the winter, hauled to the field during January 
or later, and it hardly seems possible that the eggs were laid, 
hatched and the grubs attained the size they have, in so short a 
time. s. c. gokdon. 
Brown County, O. 
On June 10, several specimens of the same kind of 
“ dung worm” were sent in by a correspondent in 
Westfield, N. Y. These “dung worms” did strikingly 
resemble young White Grubs ; one of them is shown 
natural size at g in Fig. 2, and enlarged to about 
the size of a full-grown White Grub at l. Unfortun¬ 
ately, I could not find any young White Grubs for 
comparison, so that I cannot point out the character¬ 
istics in which they differ from the “dung worms” 
received. But these little grubs had the appearance 
of being nearly full-grown, and I was thus not sur¬ 
prised to see them show signs of undergoing a trans¬ 
formation only a day or two after they were placed in 
my cages. By June 4, some of them had changed to 
the form shown at p— that is, to the pupa stage in 
little smooth cells made in the manure by the grubs. 
Ten days later, their final transformation had 
pcQiirred, and the adult insect—the little beetle shown 
natural size at b, had appeared. Its minute size at 
once shows that it is not a May beetle, the parent of 
the White Grub ; and even when enlarged as at a to 
the size of a May beelle, striking differences are 
easily seen. For instance, its legs are not more than 
half as long as those of a May beetle. 
In short, the “ dung worms ” proved to be the full- 
grown grubs of one of the Aphodian dung beetles, 
known to science as Aphodius fimetarius. The beetle 
is about one-third of an inch in length, has red wing- 
covers, and a black head and thorax. It is a member 
of the Scavenger group of the great family of Scara- 
bseid beetles; the familiar Tumble bugs, including <he 
famous Sacred beetle of the Egyptians, are among its 
near relatives. The May beetles belong to the Leaf¬ 
eating group of the same family. More than a hun¬ 
dred of these Aphodian dung beetles are known to 
occur in North America, but A. fimetarius is the most 
common of all. It is a European insect, and was in¬ 
troduced into this country many years ago. It is now 
very common all over the United States east of the 
Mississippi River. The beetles are often seen in large 
numbers in early spring and autumn, hovering over 
horse or cow manure, either freshly dropped or partly 
decayed. If carefully watched, they will be seen to 
disappear in the manure, and will be found burrow¬ 
ing about in it. They feed upon the manure, and 
doubtless lay their eggs in it, for the grubs which 
hatch therefrom also live in and eat the manure. One 
can scarcely find a cow dropping in our pastures that 
does not contain several of the beetles or their grubs. 
The insect in any stage does not feed upon living 
vegetation, so that it is not an injurious species. 
“ DUNG WORMS ” FOUND IN MANURE. Flo. 2. 
Manure thickly infested may be freely spread on any 
crop without fear of injury to the plants. 
From the correspondent’s letter, it will be seen that 
the beetles probably laid their eggs in the manure 
early in the spring, and the grubs grew so rapidly 
that they were full-grown when they reached me on 
May 29. The beetles from this brood of grubs emerg¬ 
ing about June 15, would indicate at least one and, 
possibly, two more broods during the year. It is 
stated that the insect winters both in the grub and 
pupa states. Although the grub and pupa have been 
known since 1720, but little definite knowledge has 
been recorded of the life of this interesting dung- 
beetle. 
I am still open to conviction regarding the occur¬ 
rence of White Grubs in manure, and shall be glad to 
receive other invoices of “dung worms.” Another 
larger grub occurs in manure, which could be more 
easily mistaken for a White Grub, and I am particu¬ 
larly desirous of getting some of these. Send me any¬ 
thing in the shape of grubs that you find in manure, 
with full notes about them and their habitat. 
M. V. SLINGERLAND. 
A FEW DESIRABLE HOUSE PLANTS. 
The surroundings of a living room are so different 
from those of a greenhouse, that it requires some 
judgment to select flowering plants for it. Many 
fail to succeed with window plants because they do 
not give them enough water. A plant which in a 
greenhouse would be amply supplied with water given 
once a day, may safely be given double the quantity 
when in a living room. More care is required in this 
respect, and it is useless for one who does not love 
flowers to attempt their growth in a window ; for 
without this love, there will hardly be the patient 
waiting-on which must be accorded to gain success. 
Some useful plants, and ones not hard to manage, 
may be found in the following list: Begonia Saun- 
dersii, Ruellia macrantha, Ardisia crenulata, Azalea 
Indica alba, Cypripedium insigne, Acacia lineata, 
Rubus rosafolius, Abutilons, Streptosolen Jamesonii, 
and Libonia Penrhosiensis. Begonias of the Rex 
type, which are those with large, handsome leaves, 
do not do over well in dwelling rooms; but the 
older known sorts, of w T hich maculata and Saun- 
dersii are good representatives, do very well, indeed. 
The thick, dark-green leaves of the latter sort, with 
its pretty scarlet flowers, have made it a well-known 
and popular winter blooming plant. Ruellia macran¬ 
tha is an admirable one for the purpose. It has large 
leaves, and bear slarge, trumpet-shaped, rosy-purple 
flowers, conspicuous and beautiful. Usually it flowers 
towards the close of winter. 
A valuable winter plant is the Ardisia. The flowers 
are light colored, and not esteemed as are the clusters 
of bright red berries it bears throughout the season, 
one crop keeping in good condition until tile follow¬ 
ing one appears. It is, too, an easily managed plant. 
Indian azaleas are by no means hard to manage, 
being nearly, or quite hardy enough to live out of 
doors. Small, bushy plants in small pots are easily 
obtained from florists, and are beautiful and useful 
about Easter time, which is when the flowers usually 
appear. Cypripedium insigne is an orchid, but the 
old-time idea that orchids required extreme skill to 
manage does not now obtain. This one is quite tract¬ 
able in ordinary hands. Placed among other plants 
in the window, and not allowed to suffer for water, 
the flowers expand in early winter, and remain open 
for from six to eight weeks. It will become a popular 
window plant, as its good qualities become bettei 
known. The yellow flowers of acacias are generally 
in place in a window, there being, as a rule, but 
few flowers of this color at this season of the year. 
Rubus rosaefolius is an old, but valuable winter¬ 
blooming plant. Its double white flowers, though not 
produced numerously, are very much admired. 
Abutilons exist in so many kinds, and flower so freely 
through the winter, that one or more sorts are found 
in most collections. After their use indoors, they 
continue blooming out of doors in summer if taken 
out of their pots, and set in the open ground. Strep¬ 
tosolen Jamesonii has lovely orange-colored flowers, 
which are produced quite freely towards the close of 
winter. Libonia Penrhosiensis is a valuable winter¬ 
flowering plant. Its rich, crimson flowers are pro¬ 
duced freely, and in great abundance throughout the 
winter months. Joseph meehan. 
Pennsylvania. _ 
SUGAR BEETS FOR DAIRY COWS. 
A MONEY-SAVER AND A MIL K-PRODUCER. 
How best to keep up the flow of milk at all seasons, 
on a dairy farm, is often a vexatious question. The 
price of hay and the different grains must be consid¬ 
ered, as well as the results of feeding each or all. In 
our herd of Jerseys and Holsteins, we plan to have 
between 60 and 70 cows constantly giving milk. 
Twenty years’ experience with a large dairy, where 
much of the feeding was, of necessity, intrusted to 
men not particularly interested beyond the day’s or 
season’s work, proved that corn meal could not be 
safely fed. A little overfeeding too often resulted in 
ruined udders, and so necessitated the turning of 
valuable cows over to the butcher. So, for the most 
part, wheat bran was the chosen feed. Even this 
was withheld when the pastures were green with 
juicy grass, and our small market became over¬ 
crowded. That seemed the better way of keeping 
down the debtor side of the account. 
The amount of bran fed to our animals per month, 
generally averaged a bill of $100. As grass grew 
scant and dry, something to feed as a milk producer 
became imperative. Many times had we paid more 
per 100 pounds for the bran our animals ate than the 
miller paid per 100 pounds for the wheat he purchased 
of the farmer. This fact and the continued shrinkage 
in the price of milk, cream and butter, soon demon¬ 
strated that it was a losing business to buy bran for 
our herd. Something else must be tried. For three 
years, crops had been raised and a large silo filled. 
The cows liked the ensilage, ate it greedily, but some 
things not so satisfactory were connected with its 
feeding. It had to be fed sparingly, or straightway 
a disagreeable odor and flavor crept into the milk. 
Sorghum was the crop with which the silo was filled. 
Corn might have been less objectionable ; we never 
tried that. Salting the cows liberally overcame the 
trouble in a measure—or seemed to. Besides this, 
estimating the low cost of Alfalfa, and the high cost 
of labor, it did not pay to raise crops and fill silos, 
and hire men to do the work. 
It was under these circumstances that the project 
of raising sugar beets for the dairy cows was enter¬ 
tained. Vilmorin’s Imperial was heartily recom¬ 
mended by a well-known seedsman, for that purpose. 
His catalogue told us that it was an improved French 
variety, exceedingly rich in sugar. It further stated 
that under average conditions, it had yielded 14 tons 
of roots to the acre, containing about 16 per cent of 
sugar. We decided to try it, purchased 35 pounds of 
seed, and planted it between April 15 and 20. It was 
