1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
8_S 
A POTATO PROBLEM. 
I planted three-fourths acre of pota¬ 
toes, Green Mountain, on a sandy loam, 
and sprayed thoroughly with Boxal. On 
one side are nine rows that stand up 
well and very green. The remainder 
of piece is practically dead, only now 
and then a hill alive. In some of the 
hills there will he one stalk green, the 
rest all dead and dry, shriveled up to 
nothing; the dead stalks arc hard above 
ground, below the surface they are soft 
and spongy. Potatoes all planted at 
one time, same fertilizer, same care. 
Can you tell me what the trouble is? 
Many of the potatoes in this section are 
a failure. The field was sprayed first 
when about six inches high; then in 
about 10 days, then again in about 10 
days a third spraying. I used Boxal, 
and have done so for several years with 
good results; I use a five-gallon sprayer. 
I planted another small piece of ground, 
same seed, same care, in every way, 
that arc quite green yet. F. E. n. 
Long Island. 
R. N.-Y.—We shall have to turn this 
over to the plant doctors for answer. 
We had this year one strip in the potato 
field that went in much the same way— 
the vines dying before the rest of the 
field, while the culture and care were 
practically the same. We attribute our 
failure to the soil—a ledge of rock comes 
in reach of a factory where this explo¬ 
sive is made or cannot get an experi¬ 
enced shooter to handle the stuff, an 
equivalent charge of dynamite might be 
used. In either case it is far better to 
shoot lightly several times than to ex¬ 
plode one big blast, for the reason that 
much of a large charge is lost in a small 
hole. In shale, shooting three times 
with say 10 quarts each time, of nitro¬ 
glycerine, and carefully bailing out all 
the material shot down by each charge 
before setting off another, will prob¬ 
ably give the best results. 
It is doubtful, however, whether good 
water will be found in a bed 1,100 feet 
from the surface if no supply was en¬ 
countered in it when the well was first 
drilled. If water was found in some 
higher sandstone when drilling, a safer 
procedure would be to fill up the well 
almost to this water-bearing bed, put in 
a cement plug, and then shoot the water¬ 
bearing bed as described above. 
U. S. Geological Survey, h. c. rizer. 
Ants and the Scale. 
This valuable information almost 
makes me weep when I think of the 
time and bi-sulphide of carbon I have 
used to kill these same black ants, when 
I might have gathered them accord¬ 
ing to directions, set them to running, 
excepting those that preferred to run 
up my sleeve, and cleaned out the scale 
VARIATIONS OF THE SHASTA DAISY. Fig. 465. See Page 328. 
close to the surface so that, in a dry 
season, the vines suffered greatly. We 
have also had trouble with the potato 
stalk-borer on parts of the field. This 
insect works inside the stalk, and the 
vines might easily be taken for those 
killed by blight. With us the work of 
this borer is confined to patches on 
parts of the field. It is not impossible 
that part of the seed potatoes were 
diseased, and thus caused the trouble in 
such a way that spraying would not 
prevent it. We hope our potato experts 
will tell us about this. 
Blasting Out a Well. 
IF. .It , Seattle, Wash .—I have a well, 
t ' i() feet deep, six inches in diameter, and 
no water, and I want to put off a blast in 
bottom that will make a big stir 
down in the ground without doing any 
damage to the surface. I figure that if^ 
1 can do the right kind of a thing with 
it, I may -break into a stream of water, or 
will make a hole under the ground so 
l>ig that it would gradually fill up with 
water and produce a supply for the Sum¬ 
mer. Will you tell me what you think of 
it? How much explosive would you use, 
and what kind? 
Ans.— The amount of explosive neces¬ 
sary in a case of this kind is largely 
dependent upon the kind of rock at the 
bottom of the well. If it is soft shales 
a charge of 10 to 30 quarts of nitro¬ 
glycerine will be sufficient. Tf in sand¬ 
stone the amount can be raised to 80 
or 100 quarts without doing damage at 
the surface. In wells drilled for oil 
and gas nitroglycerine is used almost ex¬ 
clusively, but if the inquirer is not with- 
(San Jose), and saved so much time 
and good paying material. Query.—If 
the ants are so fond of scale, why don't 
they get after them without a sugared 
inducement? r. l. h. 
Wollaston, Mass. 
Professor Harlan has discovered that 
the ordinary black ant will remove the 
scale from fruit trees without injuring 
the trees or leaves in the least. He says 
their work is more complete than that ac¬ 
complished by spraying or by any of the 
imported insects. The ants are captured 
by placing a plate of sugar near an ant 
hill, and when covered with ants the plate 
is put in the forks of the infected tree. 
The ants leave the sugar and go to work 
on the scale. As soon as they all leave 
the sugar the plate is placed at the foot 
of the tree and as the ants come down 
after having cleaned the tree of scale they 
again assemble on the sugar and are thus 
easily removed to another tree. S'everal 
ranchers in this section have tried the 
scheme, and estimate that it will be worth 
millions to fruit growers.—San Francisco 
Call. 
California is certainly the land of won¬ 
ders and wizards. A few years ago a 
Massachusetts man wrote us about a 
great scheme he had evolved. He no¬ 
ticed that when plant lice were doing 
damage to his trees there were crowds 
of ants running about among them. He 
concluded at once that the ants were 
killing the plant lice, so he went all 
over the country digging up ant hills. 
He threw the dirt from these hills into 
his wagon and dumped it in the or¬ 
chard, thinking he was doing a great 
deed. In truth, he was doing just what 
he should not have done, for, instead of 
Idling the plant lice, these ants were 
protecting or “herding” them in order 
to obtain the “honeydew” which the lice 
secrete. This story of the ants killing 
San Jose scale is another “untested 
novelty,” the only wonder being that 
“Professor Harlan” did not charge $5 
for his “wonderful secret.” 
What 
Paint ? 
That’s the question—-not what to paint, nor 
when to paint. You know that everything 
exposed to the weather should be painted. You 
know how to utilize your spare time between 
regular work on the farm to improve your 
buildings and farm machinery. 
You may not know that there is as much 
difference in the quality of paint as there is in 
the quality of seed corn or farm machinery. 
Therefore what you need to know is the name 
of the paint that makes good every time. 
Sherwin-Williams 
Paints 
are such paints. They are made with a cor¬ 
rect knowledge of just what you will require 
of them. They last longer, protect better and 
improve the appearance of your buildings more 
than paints that cost less, because they are made 
especially for your purpose, and of the best 
obtainable materials. 
A talk with the Sherwin-Williams dealer 
in your town will be of great assistance to you. 
Write for our booklet, “Paints and Varnishes 
for the Farm.” It is sent free and will tell 
you how to save money with the right paint. 
Sher win-Williams 
Paints & Varnishes 
Address all inquiries to 635 Canal Rd., Cleveland, O. In Canada to 639 Centre St., Montreal 
