766 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
October 19, 
low, the wood below the bark being sound in most 
cases. It was no respecter of varieties, Missouri Pip¬ 
pin, Gano, York Imperial, Grimes and Ben Davis all 
were attacked. 
At this stage it seemed desirable to get additional 
counsel, so specimens of the disease were shown to 
Prof. Waite, of the division of Orchard Disease In¬ 
vestigations, Washington, D. C., and he was invited 
to see the orchard. As a result, it was shown by com- 
SEBD CORN HUNG UP TO DRY. Fig. 377. 
plcte inoculation tests that the whole trouble was due 
to the Pear blight bacterium (B. amylovorus). This 
is an unusual attack for this organism, Pear blight on 
the roots and “collar” of apple trees, with no evidence 
of having come down the trunk. So new is it that 
when the case was reported by the writer to the dis¬ 
coverer of the Pear blight organism, Dr. Burrill, of 
the University of Illinois, he responded “impossible’,’ 
and added with a twinkle in his eye, “because I have 
said so.” The evidence was conclusive, however, and 
it is necessary to add this new capacity for destruction 
to the already unenviable record of the Pear blight. 
Proper remedial measures were set in operation by 
the owner of the orchard, and from present indications 
the prospects for complete control are good. These 
consist in checking succulent growth by omitting cul¬ 
tivation, in rigorously cutting out all signs of the dis¬ 
ease wherever it appears in the orchard—on twigs, limbs 
or crown—and in properly sterilizing the wounds and 
implements, when necessary. The sterilizing is done 
with corrosive sublimate in water, one tablet to a pint. 
In large wounds, the re-entrance of disease is avoided 
by painting with a white-lead paint, mixed with raw 
linseed oil so thick as not to run on the trunk. Where 
the disease has practically or completely girdled the 
tree, of course nothing can he done but remove the 
tree to prevent infecting others. The disease must be 
caught in its earlier stages. When this is done the 
procedure is to cut out all diseased tissue, sterilizing 
and painting the wound as indicated above. 
Pennsylvania State College. j. r. stewart. 
HUMUS AND LIME NEEDED. 
This land is originally gray sandy soil on red subsoil, 
but in places acres of the top soil have been washed off 
down to the red subsoil, which is good strong land but hard 
to work, while the gray, on account of the sand in it, is 
as kind and friable as you ever saw. It all holds manure 
or fertilizer where underlaid with the red, but look out if 
you strike clay or crawfish. It has been farmed in 
tobacco and oats or wheat for away over a hundred years, 
maybe two hundred, for we are right down near Jamestown 
where they are now celebrating the three hundredth anni¬ 
versary of its settlement. The land is entirely devoid of 
humus, and most of it will produce nothing until you grow 
a crop of clover or cow peas on it. The more crops the 
letter but one will do if you follow it in a year or so with 
more. Red-top pastures do well after plowing down sods 
of the above and if the land is limed it produces Blue grass. 
I have noticed that where there is a brush heap burned 
there will be a spot of rank dark green wheat, oats, cow peas, 
corn or anything that grows, so I took it that potash was 
what was needed, but when I went to the place in Black- 
stone where they mix fertilizer by different formulas they 
told me that the potash in ashes was a different kind from 
what thev could get in chemicals, and they could not mix 
an article that would produce the effects that ashes did. Is 
this so. and if not what kind and how much potash do I 
n°ed? They recommended a small per cent of nitrogen with 
phosphoric acid as better, and say half rock and half bone 
makes an excellent fertilizer. A mixture of 1-10-0 brings 
good corn drilled in the row, and keeps it up for several 
years, as I have seen, so that looks as though they were 
right in part, but one per cent of any cement looks very 
small. w. b. c. 
Nottoway Co., Va. 
From what you say your soil needs humus and lime 
most of all. The evidence that lime is needed is clear. 
Red-top does quite well in sour soils. We have seeded 
Timothy and Red-top together. When lime was used 
the Timothy dominated, hut without lime, in two years 
the Red-top filled the field. The heavy growth after 
burning the brush heap is not a sure sign that potash is 
needed. There is over six times as much lime as of 
potash in ashes, and the action of fire on some soils 
acts to improve them. A ton of wood ashes will con¬ 
tain about 650 pounds of lime, 100 of potash, and 40 
of phosphoric acid. The potash is in the form of a 
carbonate, which will act much the same as the lime to 
neutralize acids in the soil. Most of the potash used 
in the South is in the form of muriate or kainit. 
These are mostly chlorides being very much like salt 
in their effect upon the soil. Instead of sweetening the 
soil as the carbonate of potash in the ashes would, the 
muriate and kainit would be more likely to add to the 
acid effect. The manufacturer is right therefore in 
saying that a mixture containing muriate of potash 
would not be like ashes. He could, however, make a 
very good imitation by using lime, sulphate of potash 
and basic or iron slag. The lime would be the same as 
that in the ashes, and 200 pounds of sulphate would 
give as much potash as there is in a ton of the ashes. 
This sulphate would not sour the ground. By using 
250 pounds of the iron slag you would have as much 
phosphoric acid as is in the ashes and also 100 pounds 
more of lime. Thus by mixing 700 pounds of lime, 
250 pounds of sulphate of potash and 250 pounds of 
slag you would have more actual plant food and more 
lime than in a ton of ashes. Wc cannot say that it 
STALKS AT LEFT BEST FOR SEED CORN. Fig. 378. 
would give better results, for there is something about 
pure wood ashes which defies the chemist to explain 
its value. One per cent of nitrogen seems like a very 
small amount, yet we have known cases where a mere 
pinch of nitrogen in addition to that added in green 
manuring made a difference in the crop. 
It is a good plan to use two forms of phosphoric 
acid. We explained on page 682 how ground bone 
becomes more and more soluble in the soil, while acid 
phosphate becomes insoluble. We would test the soil 
with nitrogen and potash. Get nitrate of soda and 
sulphate of potash for this testing, and use small, meas¬ 
ured quantities here and there along entire rows of 
corn or other crops. Any gain from the nitrate will 
SELECTED EARS FOR SEED. Fig. 379. 
be due to nitrogen, and any from the sulphate will be 
due to potash, and observation and figuring will show 
you how much you can economically use. 
CROW AND WOLF HUNTERS. 
Some of the Illinois and Wisconsin farmers who 
were forced to wait until their land was dry enough 
for Spring plowing, put the time to good use. A deal 
of it was spent in hunting and killing wolves, and in 
destroying crows. All farmers know that the former 
are a menace to their flocks, and at least a great ma¬ 
jority believe that the crow, in destroying the eggs and 
young of our songsters, and of game birds, does more 
injury than good. Now and then is found a farmer 
in the West who sticks to the theory that a crow earns 
all the corn he digs up, and deserves to be forgiven 
for the eggs he steals, because of the number of bugs 
that he kills. Now and then is found a soil tiller who 
sticks to it that a crow will follow him in his furrow 
and eat up bugs and worms that are disturbed in their 
hiding places. Where one man of this belief is found, 
99 others are loudly calling for a State bounty that 
will encourage wholesale destruction of the black- 
feathered creature. 
In Kane County, Illinois, there exists an odd or¬ 
ganization. Its members annually hold a crow hunt. 
Marksmen are chosen on sides just as we used to do at 
spelling schools. A hunt lasts one week, including 
Sunday. The farmers encourage the shooters to pass 
over their places and take all the crows that may be 
found on or off the wing. Now and then a soil tiller 
invites a dozen shooters to dinner. Two or three town¬ 
ships are covered in the hunt. At the end of the week, 
the hunters come in with their trophies, including hawks 
and butcher birds. The side that has lost in the con¬ 
test must put up the expense of a banquet that always 
closes the hunt. But perhaps the most successful pair 
of crow hunters in all Illinois belong to De Kalb 
County. They are T. J. Adams and Sidney Rowe. 
These two marksmen during the last year have taken 
on the wing more than 1,000 crows. They have a 
small instrument that is made to imitate closely the call 
of a crow in distress. The sound of this call when 
sent out from a hiding place serves to attract scores 
of crows. They venture within gunshot and are killed 
on sight without any compunction. Possibly The R. 
N.-Y. has readers who will estimate this as a mean 
advantage to take of a creature that has flown to the 
relief of one of his tribe. Even a crow may have a 
certain amount of heroism of the brand that wins a 
medal from Andrew Carnegie. But the farmer who 
has been forced to replant his corn and is deprived 
of the pleasure of song birds and the service of in¬ 
sectivorous fowls loses no sleep over the destruction 
of the caw family, no matter what means are taken 
to despatch him, barring only uncalled-for cruelty. 
Farmers whose farms closely adjoin timber have 
been greatly annoyed by wolves. One would think 
that the days of this animal in the thickly settled por¬ 
tions of the Middle States had gone by. Most all of 
the States are still giving bounties for the killing of 
wolves. In some instances there is a county as well 
as a State bounty. The accompanying picture, Fig. 381, 
is that of W. A. Davis, of Walworth County, Wis¬ 
consin. In a dozen different counties of the Badger 
State this man is known as “Wolf” Davis, because of 
his unconquerable spirit in hunting wolves. It is 
claimed that in an experience of 20 years he has taken 
500. Quite recently he, with the aid of his dog, cleaned 
up $62 in a single afternoon. FIc captured a she wolf 
and then dug out seven young ones. The dog is a 
Russian wolf hound, answering to the name of Orliff. 
Davis says that there is great difficulty in getting a 
good wolf dog. The quality most desired is that he will 
take the back track or scent. Orliff has this quality in 
the most pronounced degree, and the result is that 
few wolves get away from this hunter and his dog. 
During the Spring it has been a common occurrence 
to capture all the way from 10 to 15 wolves, both in 
Illinois and the lower counties of Wisconsin. 
Illinois. _ J. L. GRAFF. 
People do not generally know that drain tile is now 
made of concrete. In some sections where there is little 
or no clay, sand and cement arc used to make tile, 
A GOOD STOPPER FOR HUNGRY MOUTHS. Fig. 3S0. 
which are said to be superior in some ways to baked 
clay. The tile are made in molds, by hand, or in a 
machine which will turn out about 300 an hour. In 
some cases sewer pipes are made in one continuous 
piece, around a tube which can be pulled out and along 
the ditch when one section is surrounded with con¬ 
crete. The wonders that are done above ground with 
cement leave no reason why it should not also serve 
us under ground. 
