538 
July 13, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
mon June grass land. The cut will have to be cleaned, 
and recleaned, until the sides stop caving, then the 
road-bed must be dressed with crushed stone or gravel 
and clayed in order to make a permanent roadway. 
Niagara County, N. Y. T. j. j. 
STARTING ALFALFA IN RHODE ISLAND. 
I desire to write for information, as I am planning 
to sow a piece of ground with Alfalfa this Summer. 
The piece of ground which I expect to sow was old 
ground broken up in the Summer of 1904, and planted 
with fodder corn. The next two years it was planted 
with corn, potatoes, and general garden truck. Pre¬ 
vious to planting it had a good coating of stable 
manure. Last Fall it was sown to Winter rye and vetch 
in part, the rest this Spring with oats and cow peas. 
We intend to plow as soon as these crops are cut, and 
put on manure from cattle fed chiefly on Alfalfa the 
past Winter. We also intend to lime and keep fallow 
until seeding time. This piece of land in question 
lies on a rolling knoll from which the water sheds in 
every direction. It is a very good loam soil, with a clay 
gravelly under soil. What I would like to know par¬ 
ticularly is, when would be the best time to put on soil 
for inoculation, and would the lime hurt it if put on at 
once after liming? If the soil for inoculation should be 
shipped to me before it is ready to be put on will it keep 
all right? Where is the best place to buy seed, and 
where could I get soil that would be likely to do the 
best in this locality? I intend to have the ground ready, 
and sow the seed the latter part of August, as I find that 
is what is recommended by most writers as the best 
time. e. a. R. 
River Point, R. I. 
R. N.-Y.—The manure from the cattle fed on Alfalfa 
will help, but we would use soil from a good Alfalfa 
field also. We think D. C. Lewis, of Cranbury, N. J., 
can supply the soil. We should use the lime at once 
after plowing, and keep the soil well harrowed until 
ready to seed. While we doubt if the lime will hurt 
the inoculating soil, we think the lime will do more 
good if used right after plowing. The soil should be 
used at the time of seeding, and will keep. We should 
use western seed from Kansas if possible, and sow 
close to the middle of August. 
SAN JOSE SCALE ON FRUIT. 
Is There Danger From It ? 
In Oregon the law gives fruit inspectors the right to con¬ 
demn fruit found in market carrying the San Jos6 scale. In 
several cases such fruit has been destroyed and the courts 
sustain the inspectors. We often find such fruit in eastern 
markets. Is it a source of danger and would it he better to 
destroy it? 
I do not know of a single instance where the San 
Jose scale has been transferred from an infested fruit 
to a growing plant. This whole matter has been 
thrashed over again and again before the Association of 
Economic Entomologists, and while it is almost uni¬ 
versally agreed that it is theoretically possible for an 
infestation to take place, it means that an infested fruit 
with scales in reproducing condition must be directly 
thrown into a growing tree or plant. Under these cir¬ 
cumstances, of course, the hatching young could crawl 
from the fruit to the tree or plant, and an infestation 
would be complete. From the fruit which comes to the 
city market I can see no possible source of danger. I 
should certainly never favor any legislation in New 
Jersey that was intended to prevent the marketing of 
scale-infested fruit. In a country in which, as in 
Europe, the scale has not yet made its appearance, 
there is a justification for keeping out even infested 
fruit which does not exist anywhere in the United 
States. I have no criticisms to make of the laws in 
other States. The governing bodies there must be the 
judges of what their people want, and they are, of 
course, entitled to get their wants in any way that they 
see fit. In reference to cuttings, if you mean those 
things that are trimmed from the trees and left on the 
ground, the scale dies just as soon as the sap is out of 
the wood. A dead scale is not dangerous at any time. 
Wood used for grafting is, of course, a different propo¬ 
sition, and in any case you can put it down that a scale 
will remain alive on any cutting as long as the wood it¬ 
self remains alive. Any wood cut from any orchard in 
Winter can be quite safely left in the orchard without 
danger to uninfested trees. Long before the period of 
reproduction arrives for the scale the wood would be 
in no condition to bring the insect to maturity. 
New Jersey. John b. smith. 
While there may be a remote possibility of the same, 
yet I do not consider the distribution of fruit infested 
with San Jose scale on the markets, or otherwise, in 
any way a means of dissemination of the scale. I can¬ 
not imagine a condition whereby if the reproduction of 
the insect should take place on any fruit after being 
picked from the trees, and removed from the orchards, 
the young would survive being transferred to any plant 
where it would be a menace, except by a professional 
experienced hand intent for that feat. Likewise I do 
not consider it possible for the pest to be distributed by 
apple, peach or other fruit parings. Such parings soon 
die, and the insect accordingly dies, and even if the 
parings remained fresh I would not consider the dis¬ 
tribution possible for the same reason as in the case of 
the fruit. We must remember that when a scale set¬ 
tles, if a female, it remains there for its entire life, 
and, in the case of the tiny young, they are exceed- 
TIIE START OF A GOOD ROAD. Fig. 262. 
ingly delicate individuals. I would not consider a law 
compelling the destruction of infested fruit either 
wise or necessary. I think it is probable and in fact an 
existing trouble that the pest is disseminated by 
cuttings from our fruit trees; especially is this the 
case in the nursery, where buds and grafts are cut. 
It is a general rule that entomologists recommend that 
all buds from deciduous trees be fumigated with hydro¬ 
cyanic acid gas before being put in the seedlings, 
likewise the grafts should be treated. I am now em¬ 
ploying some rather extensive experiments with hydro¬ 
cyanic acid gas in fumigating buds in the nursery, 
as I believe the strength ordinarily recommended, name¬ 
ly, 16 to 18 hundredths grams per cubic foot, not suffi¬ 
cient, but of course we will have to ascertain what 
strength of gas the buds themselves will stand. There¬ 
fore, considering cuttings from this point of view, 
I firmly believe that this is a means of distributing the 
insect, and, as a whole, I would recommend the fumi¬ 
gation or other effective treatment of all cuttings from 
deciduous fruit trees. thomas b. symons. 
Maryland. 
While there is a remote possibility that the San 
Jose scale may be distributed by means of fruit and 
become established in this way, I have never known 
of a case where it was actually accomplished. If apples 
are gathered and transported during the breeding sea¬ 
son of the insect, namely, before December 1 in this 
climate, there is of course more or less danger that the 
young will hatch out and be able to reach trees where 
they can establish themselves; for instance, if small 
boys should take such infested apples and throw them 
through the branches of fruit trees so that the apples 
were crushed and portions remained on the branches 
of the trees, it would seem as though scales hatching 
therefrom might readily establish themselves on the 
bark. But where apples are gathered and kept for 
Winter use in storage, and are consumed before warm 
weather the following season, there is probably no dan¬ 
ger of spreading the scale in this way. I should con- 
£)i<L yttU/t- % out l Yi'tur 
A 
• „ "ffl(fh urt .y j 
'Ktxi. 
DIAGRAM OF SANDY ROAD. Fig. 263. 
sider it very unwise to attempt the wholesale destruc¬ 
tion of fruit in the Eastern States on account of its 
being infested with scale. Of course the climate is 
different in Oregon, and I am not familiar with the 
conditions existing there, so cannot state whether their 
law is a wise one or not. The scale certainly is dis¬ 
tributed on cuttings of wood, especially where these 
cuttings are used for propagation. If the wood is al¬ 
lowed to become dry, there is no danger of the scale 
surviving long enough to re-infest other trees and 
shrubs, but where the wood is used for budding or 
grafting, or is planted out for rooting, as is done with 
currants and gooseberries, the wood of course is kept 
alive, and the scales also live and will propagate during 
the season. Wherever a portion of a tree is severed 
from the remaining part and allowed to dry up or die, 
the scale insects upon it also die within a short time. 
Connecticut. _ w. e. britton. 
STUDY OF AN ALFALFA FIELD. 
I have been making a study of an Alfalfa field grow¬ 
ing about 15 miles from here. This field was sown in 
such a way as to make it a good object lesson—a better 
lesson for study than to follow as practice. There are 
three acres in the field; some was sown in 1906 and some 
in 1905, so the owner told me. The land had no 
special preparation, and was very foul, with weeds and 
witch grass, I should think from viewing it now. It 
had been heavily dressed with stable manure. Part of 
the field was sown with a mixture of Red clover and 
Alfalfa, and part with those two and also Crimson 
clover. I think grass was sown too, as it is there 
quite plentiful, as well as witch grass. Of all the sev¬ 
eral varieties of plants sown the Alfalfa has the best 
stand. The soil is quite compact gravelly loam, and I 
should call it moist, almost wet. The clover (Red) 
grows well, and the roots are fairly well supplied with 
nodules. The Crimson clover is making a fairly good 
growth, 15 to 18 inches high, now in bloom, but the 
roots are in only rare cases supplied with nodules. As 
a whole, the Crimson clover is of poor color, but where 
the nodules are found the color and growth is better. 
The Alfalfa shows poor color, and growth is not more 
than 18 inches tall for the best. Most of it is not more 
than 12 inches, and small, and the stems feel woody, 
though it has not yet developed buds. I saw one plant 
which looked exceptionally dark green and vigorous, 
and upon digging it up I found one cluster of nodules 
as large as a fair-sized acorn, and that was the only 
nodule I could find on any Alfalfa root, though I dug 
up many. In some cases the clover and Alfalfa roots 
interwined, and the clover roots were well supplied with 
nodules, but none was on the Alfalfa. From study of 
that field I concluded each variety of clover needs its 
own special bacteria. m. morse. 
Massachusetts. 
R. N.-Y.—Our understanding is Mr. Morse is right 
in concluding that each clover variety requires its spe¬ 
cial bacteria. We are told, however, that the bacteria 
which work in Sweet clover are much the same as those 
on Alfalfa. Very likely all have come from one or¬ 
iginal species—changed somewhat by work upon each 
variety of clover. 
HOME MIXING OF CHEMICALS. 
The article on home mixing of fertilizers on page 
325 hardly put the case in line with my experience. 
Judging from the article, a person without experience 
might conclude that it was a difficult and complicated 
process for an ordinary farmer, which is not so, if a 
little judgment is used. I use from 30 to 50 tons per 
year, and use the chemical salts, such as the nitrates, 
chlorides and sulphates of potash, and the superphos¬ 
phates, as well as the animal preparations; there is little 
trouble with any of them, and I have never seen any 
necessity for using fillers. The different materials are 
stored around the fertilizer house, which has a cement 
floor, made very smooth in the center. We mix it 
usually in batches of about half a ton or so, and the 
mixer to whom I give the formula weighs out the dif¬ 
ferent materials, crushes all the lumps on the hard 
floor till they are reduced to a coarse powder, and then 
spreads them layer by layer in a heap in the middle of 
the floor. Then he cuts it over a couple of times, and 
then screens it through a sloping sieve with one-quarter 
to one-third inch meshes, pounding up any particles 
that will not pass through the sieve, and then it is cut 
over again and put into bags and carried to the fields. 
As I apply it entirely by means of planters, drills, etc., 
it has to be in good mechanical condition to go on 
well, and I might say here that when I have tried the 
ready-mixed fertilizers, I have usually had to break up 
the fertilizer and screen it before it would work 
smoothly in our machines. This is no reflection on the 
ready-mixed goods, for they were undoubtedly in good 
order when shipped, but most high-grade goods contain 
substances that will cake if allowed to stand any length 
of time. By mixing just as I need them I avoid any 
trouble on this score. The fertilizer agent will try to 
argue that the machine-mixed product is more evenly 
mixed, and this may be true, but so long as the plants 
are satisfied with the home product this argument does 
not weigh very heavily with me, when I have to pay 
about $5 a ton more for the same amount of fertility. 
A number of times I have tested a commercial brand 
alongside of our own mixing, and in no instance did 
the. commercial brand surpass ours, and it was usually 
a little inferior, and yet as I was testing it for infor¬ 
mation, I tried to be perfectly fair. The cost of mix¬ 
ing in the manner described, using ordinary labor cost¬ 
ing $1.50 per day, comes very close to 50 cents per ton, 
and I knozv just what I am using, and can vary it as I 
see fit, and this is often of distinct advantage. 
Rhode Island. h. w. heaton. 
