802 
THE RUR-A.L* NEW-YORKER 
the bodies of the half-dead green-bugs containing 
these little parasites and scatter them in fields where 
no parasites were present. As a matter of fact, the 
act of collecting and transporting these parasites to 
new fields was easy enough, but the beneficial results 
gained thereby have been much questioned. Much of 
this work was done and great results were hoped 
for, and many newspapers declared that great results 
were obtained. However, later and more extended 
investigation has shown that this little parasite mul¬ 
tiplies only when the temperature remains at or above 
a certain point, and that it is useless to carry them 
from one locality and put them in another when the 
temperature of the latter place is below a certain 
point. Moreover, it has been found that when the 
temperature is at or above a certain point the para¬ 
sites will develop naturally and in great abundance 
without the help of man. In this connection, Prof. 
Webster again says: “The parasites seem to go nat¬ 
urally with their host (the green-bug) and will over¬ 
comes it as soon as the temperature will permit them 
to breed freely. These experiments appear to show 
conclusively that this parasite cannot be used to the 
advantage of the farmer in this manner.” “In this 
manner” refers to the artificial introduction of the 
parasite from one wheatfield into another. 
In the foregoing I have given some of the facts 
regarding this question of “bug against bug.” The 
whole question is a very complicated one, and one 
that is only in its infancy. Before we can say any¬ 
thing more positive, much careful, laborious, and 
detailed investigation must be made. Of this one 
thing, however, I feel very certain. It will never 
do for the farmers or fruit growers to relax, for 
one instant, their present care and work in spraying 
and fighting insect pests with the hope or expectation 
of finding their enemies vanquished in some magical 
way by an introduction or distribution of parasitic 
insects or diseases. Whether the Gypsy and Brown- 
tail moths will be greatly affected by the parasites 
now being imported from Europe remains to be seen. 
This much can be said, however. The Bureau of En¬ 
tomology is doing a very great and praiseworthy 
work in this line, and as Dr. Howard says, “Success 
seems an ultimate certainty, but the time at which 
perfectly obvious results will be apparent is as yet 
uncertain.” 
We have abso’ute and indisputable evidence that 
many injurious insects are often held in check by 
their parasitic predaceous enemies, and the balance 
of nature thus maintained. But the conditions sur¬ 
rounding this interrelation of host and parasite are 
so complicated, so little understood at present, and 
so difficult to control that the fighting of one insect 
with another by artificial methods is doomed to meet 
with many failures and disappointments. On the 
other hand, if we 'succeed, even in one case, it will 
be worth the labor involved and should encourage 
us to keep up the fight. Personally, the writer is of 
the opinion that the future holds much in store for 
us in this method of overcoming farm and fruit 
pests. In fact, so far as one can see, at present, the 
only real hope of ever controlling the Gypsy and 
Brown-tail moths and the Mexican cotton boll-weevil 
rests in the fact that these important pests are subject 
to the attacks of many species of parasite and- preda • 
ceous insects. In time, nature will surely do its 
work, but perhaps more slowly than we should like 
to see it done. Moreover, I am convinced that 
nature can be aided and accelerated in its work 
against these pests by the very methods now being 
followed by the Bureau of Entomology in Massachu¬ 
setts and Texas. As time goes on, entomologists will 
become better acquainted with the conditions govern¬ 
ing the relation of parasites to their hosts, and the 
work will become easier and more certainly success¬ 
ful. Figs. 477, 478, 479 and 480 show some of the 
he'pful insects referred to above. 
GLENN W. HERRICK. 
THE FIRE SCREENS ON LOCOMOTIVES. 
The article on page 783 regarding railroad fires re¬ 
minds me of something I heard recently which may be 
of interest. I heard it from a man who claimed to 
know what he was talking about, and he was talk¬ 
ing of locomotive screens at the time. He said that 
the engines undoubtedly were properly screened 
when they left the round-house, but that about the 
first good hard grade the fireman was quite apt to 
punch that screen more or less to pieces. Interesting 
if true, and it may be that the railroad officials are 
honest when they claim that their engines are prop¬ 
erly screened, only they do not know what the fire¬ 
man did about it when he wanted more draft for his 
fire. I settled a fire claim with a railroad some years 
ago; got my money without any- trouble. Others who 
had claims pending for the same fire did not get theirs, 
at that time, and I don’t know that they ever did. 
The company thought their claims exorbitant, and, as 
the adjuster remarked, having put their claims with 
lawyers for collection, they might wait for their money 
until the court decided the matter. Sometimes it is 
better to arbitrate than to fight, and I think this was 
one of those times. I think if a few firemen can be 
caught “monkeying” with their screens, it might help 
the railroad people to be less positive as to the condi¬ 
tion of screens when asked about it. 
Herkimer Co., N. Y. Herbert grant. 
BERMUDA GRASS. 
The Oklahoma Experiment Station (Stillwater) 
prints an interesting bulletin on this grass. In 1892 
Bermuda seed was sown in Oklahoma. A very severe 
Winter killed out part of the seeding. The plants 
that were left made a good growth, and it has been 
demonstrated that they are specially hardy. There¬ 
fore these plants have been propagated and the roots 
have been sent dbout the .State for p'anting—with 
good success. Several different types of Bermuda 
have been found with quite different habits of growth. 
They will be separated and bred for special pur¬ 
poses such as pasture, bay or for preventing the 
washing of soils. The Bermuda seems to be superior 
to the Blue grasses and many others for Oklahoma, 
especially on the poorer soils of the uplands. On the 
rich creek bottom lands Alfalfa will thrive and give 
better returns than Bermuda. Therefore the Station 
authorities advise putting the best land into Alfalfa 
and the poorest in Bermuda. A typical plant of 
Bermuda grass showing its peculiar habit of growth 
is pictured at Fig. 481. The following description is 
taken from the bulletin: 
Bermuda grass is perennial in its habit of growth, and, 
when once started, it will continue to produce pasture 
or hay for many seasons in succession. It is a low 
spreading grass and makes a very desirable type for 
pasture purposes or for lawns. The creeping stems take 
roof at the nodes, and. under favorable soil conditions, 
they may extend some five or six feet from the original 
PLANT OF BERMUDA GRASS. Fig. 481. 
plant. The flowering stems are upright in growth and 
resemble in some respects the panicle of crab grass. Ber¬ 
muda grass is propagated by root cuttings, and it may 
also be grown from seed. The supply of seed which is 
placed upon the markets of the South is imported mainly, 
and as it is produced under a different environment as 
compared with conditions in our own State, the plants 
which come from seed usually lack somewhat in vigor. 
If the frosts of Winter are severe, very few plants will 
come through. It is advisable, therefore, to start this 
crop by planting root cuttings, and as far as possible, 
material should be selected which is known to possess 
the hardy characteristic referred to in preceding para¬ 
graphs. 
As explained above, seeding does not give the best 
of 'satisfaction. The best way to start the grass is 
to prepare the land as for potatoes. Make furrows 
about three feet apart and drop the roots every IS 
inches—lightly covering. But little cultivation is 
needed, for the roots spread and soon possess the 
ground. Of course, it is understood that this grass 
is adapted to Southern conditions and not so much 
to the North. We speak of it chiefly to show l.ow 
the experiment stations are working to improve 
farming by hunting for new plants, and trying to 
adapt them to local conditions. 
SHALL WE CLIP ALFALFA? 
I am constantly receiving inquiries from Alfalfa 
growers as to the advisability of clipping Alfalfa at 
the present time (the middle of September), or let¬ 
ting it stand to protect the plants through the Winter. 
Most of the inquirers write that their Alfalfa is 
from 6 to 12 or even 15 inches high, and coming 
into bloom. They refer, of course, to this year’s 
seeding. It is absolutely necessary, in Ohio at least, 
that Alfalfa should go into Winter with some growth 
of stubble to protect it, as our Jight snows blow 
entirely off our fields unless we have something to 
hold them. We have frequently found that young 
meadows, if clipped too often the first year, lie bare 
all Winter, and are in very poor condition the suc¬ 
ceeding Spring, while even old meadows will some¬ 
times suffer seriously from the same cause; conse¬ 
quently, we tilways advise growers to leave an 
abundance of growth in the Fall to hold these snows 
for the protection of the plants. Twelve inches of 
growth is none too much, and if the plants are 
October 2, 
clipped as late in the Fall as this, it will require a 
very warm Autumn indeed to secure the needed 
growth. It does seem a shame to allow a 12-inch 
growth of Alfalfa to go apparently to waste, but as 
the leaves will fall and enrich the ground, it is not 
a total loss. 
A few men have written that their Alfalfa is as 
much as 18 inches tall, and I have advised these to 
remove the hay, and before severe Winter weather 
comes to scatter some straw over the ground. This 
scattering of straw will afford quite a little protec¬ 
tion to the plants during the Winter. The same 
principle that applies to young meadows applies also 
to old ones. Some seasons we have had a very good 
fourth cutting of Alfalfa and have felt very proud 
of ourselves, when we cut it, but the succeeding 
Springs have shown that we killed so many plants 
by this late clipping, that we lost as much from the 
first cutting of the next Spring as we had gained on 
the fourth cutting the previous Fall. 
Ohio. CHARLES B. WING. 
AN ENGLISH MOTOR PLOW. 
The picture shown at Fig. 483 is taken from The 
Mark Lane Express. The machine is called the 
“Ivel” agricultural motor, and is used for hauling 
many kinds of farm machinery as well as for station¬ 
ary work. In the picture the motor is shown hauling 
a three-furrow plow—according to the Mark Lane 
Express, accomplishing this work with ease, although 
the soil was so soddened, due to heavy rains, that 
it necessitated the wheels of the tractor being fitted 
with paddles. The depth of the furrows averaged 
about six inches, with a speed of three-and-a-half to 
four miles per hour; it was very noticeable how 
satisfactorily the turns were made at the headlands, 
the space covered not being more than that required 
when plowing with horses. The machine weighs 
about two tons and travels about four miles an hour. 
With the outfit shown it is possible, on medium soil, 
to plow about six acres in nine hours. The cost of 
this, including oil, wages and “wear and tear” is 
figured at about $0.80. This motor is also used to 
haul grain binders—handling two at a time and thus 
cutting about four acres an hour. 
SWEET CLOVER NOTES. 
There has been some little discussion lately about 
the value of Sweet clover for stock food, or for 
improving the soil. It was reported that the seed 
could not be obtained, but several of the seedsmen 
offer it—mostly thus far for bee pasture. 
Sweet Clover Soil and Alfalfa. 
And as Sweet clover is everywhere growing along the 
roadsides there is no reason why men (here should not. 
inoculate when first they sow the seed. It is a simply 
done thing—just a quantity of soil, say 100 pounds, 
mixed carefully with 20 pounds of seed, sown together 
and instantly harrowed in will give the desired inocula¬ 
tion. Early August or July seems a good time to sow 
Alfalfa here, though some sow in Spring with success. 
A man could get this inoculated earth in wagon loads 
and put it on with a manure spreader, if he chose, and 
all the better, so he harrowed it in promptly. We were 
interested in studying Sweet clover as it grew along the 
roadsides and in waste places. Every man’s hand is 
against it (save the beekeeper's), yet it is evident that, 
even here cattle graze it, for we saw none in the pas¬ 
tures; it had been grazed down close there. Not that 
it is worth while sowing it in Iowa, but there are many 
regions where it can be grown with profit, I am sure. 
We will sow it in Louisiana, for instance. 
This clipping is from a recent Breeders’ Gazette, 
and is part of an article by Joe Wing. Mr. \\ ing 
recently told me that much Sweet clover was growing 
in the Gulf States and that some preferred it to 
Alfalfa. He is intending to sow it on the Louisiana 
plantation in a mule pasture, but intends to sow 
Burr clover with it. For hay, he says it must be 
sown thickly and cut earlier than Alfalfa. 
w. e. duckwall. 
Where Sweet Clover Comes From. 
Some years ago the earth from the excavation of 
Jerome Park Reservoir, New York City, was used to fill 
in salt meadows near Pelham Park. The material was 
practically all subsoil, rocks, gravel and clay. For the 
past three years or longer this has been covered with 
an almost unbroken growth of Sweet clover, 50 acres 
of it or more. The average height is six feet, though 
many stalks are. eight and 8% feet high. The growth 
is so dense that it is difficult to force one’s way through. 
The roots of the plants of this year's growth are abund¬ 
antly noduled, the old seeding plants have very few 
nodules. The old roots are 1% to two feet long, and 
there is already a good deal of humus from the dead 
plants' and roots. In places grass is coming in, and 
there are hundreds of very thrifty locust trees scattered 
about. How came the clover there? It extends also 
along and beside the embankment of the now disused 
railroad on which the filling was conveyed from the 
reservoir. I have taken some of the soil and seed anil 
sown it on a rundown field on my farm in the hope that 
what it has done for the tilled meadows it may do for my 
field. The Department of Agriculture recommends sow¬ 
ing the seed in early Spring, hut in the ease of these 
meadows the seed is evidently self-sown from now on. 
A horse to which I offered some of the young plants ate 
them with avidity. The taste to me Is not unlike that 
of Red clover. Do not these facts indicate great possi¬ 
bilities for Sweet clover? w. C. i>. 
R. N.-Y. —Sweet clover usually works into a new 
territory along the railroads. The seed falls out of 
a passing car, or conies in baled hay fed to horses. 
We know of one case in Bergen County, N. J., where 
this clover started in a railroad cut where freight 
ears stand. We shall be interested to know how 
this experiment of scattering the soil turns out. 
