600 
THE RURAL NEW-VORKEK 
July 11, 
eluding five children, and they were fed no grain or 
other feed, only what they got in the pasture grass. 
In order to get the amount per cow some of them 
must have made at least 2 y 2 pounds of butter per 
day, and with no grain at all. How much butter 
would my best cow make in 30 days, if fed high for 
two or three years to prepare her for the test and 
then fed 40 pounds grain per day, and 100 pounds 
of beets, and bedded with the hay she could not 
eat? My cows are only scrubs. The farmers of this 
AN EGG FROM CHINA. Fltj. 253. 
country are not interested in how much butter a 
cow can make in 30 days when fed at a heavy loss, 
but they do want to know what breed will give them 
the biggest profit over and above the cost of feed. 
Vermont. j. h neill. 
A CHINESE EGG. 
The Chinese in the United States import large quan¬ 
tities of food stuffs from their own country, eggs 
being one of the items. One of these duck eggs is 
shown in Fig. 253. It was covered about one-fourth 
inch thick with what appeared to be a mixture of salt 
clay and rice hulls, and came packed in a box of the 
same material. As might be expected, these eggs are 
not “strictly fresh.” They are not rotten in the sense 
that we use the word in this country, but have under¬ 
gone a change in both flavor and odor which makes 
an “acquired taste” essential to their use as food. 
The writer has experimented somewhat in this line, 
but not with sufficient persistency to acquire a liking 
for these imported eggs. They cost five cents each. 
HABITS OF CURCULIO AND ROSE BUGS. 
I notice on page 473 H. W. H. gives his experience 
with the Plum curculio. He speaks of its having ac¬ 
quired of late depraved tastes, and now feeding on 
the apple as well as the plum. I notice also Mr. 
Slingerland’s reply. In my opinion they are both 
talking about a different insect entirely, as in an ex¬ 
perience of 30 years with the Plum curculio I do not 
think I ever lost 30 cents’ worth of plums from their 
“voracious appetites.” In fact, I never could discover 
what they fed on. It is true they puncture the plums 
and they drop, but this puncture would not cause the 
apples to drop; at least it does not here. As to their 
consuming them, I never saw an instance of the kind. 
On the other hand, he is describing the work of the 
Rose hug exactly as it operates here. These will eat 
anything and everything but the old wood of the tree. 
As to the piece of woods for breeding ground, I am 
quite sure the Plum curculio is too lazy or sluggish in 
its make-up even to climb the fence to get into the 
woods. 1 am satisfied it invariably hibernates at the 
root of the plum tree, where it does its work. The 
Rose, bug, on the contrary, seeks just such places as 
they mention to breed, and will fly a long distance to 
its feeding ground. I have heard of their being found 
by the bushel in gravel banks by men working on the 
road. I am not a naturalist and may be all wrong in 
my observations and conclusions, hut give you the 
benefit of 30 years’ experience in fighting the insects 
named and learning the way they act here. They may 
do differently in Rhode Island, the same as the Jersey 
mosquito is noted the world over for its large size 
and the length of its proboscis. [That is only an evil 
reputation—not a fact.—Eds.] 
As to combating the Plum curculio it is not difficult. 
Arsenate of lead, three pounds to 50 gallons of Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture, sprayed on the trees before the 
blossoms open and after they drop, if well done, will 
take care of them, or make a henjard of your plum 
orchard and you need not worry much. Fighting the 
Rose bug is, however, altogether a different matter, 
and I will leave that to the professors, as it is too 
much for me. I hand pick my grapevines while they 
are in blossom and save the crop, and pay no further 
attention to them, as they disappear soon after this. 
Erie, Pa. s. j. A. 
The correspondent certainly has had a very unique 
experience if he has been able to grow plums for 30 
years with so little injury from the Plum curculio. 
Plums and prunes of various kinds are among the 
favorite fruits which these insects attack. Peaches, 
cherries and apricots also suffer about as much from 
its ravages. While it also often lays its eggs in apples, 
it is not able to develop in such great numbers and, 
therefore, does not cause the damage in apple orchards 
that it does in orchards of the stone fruits. While 
the •Plum curculio never consumes the fruits it often 
cats small pits or holes into them, especially late in 
the season before going into hibernation. The corre¬ 
spondent is quite right in his observation regarding 
the Rose chafer, but he is certainly mistaken in think¬ 
ing that the Plum curculio is too lazy and sluggish 
to climb fences in order to get into woods for hiber¬ 
nation. It flies freely, and does not have to climb, and 
certainly does not invariably hibernate at the- base 
of the trees. They can be found in all sorts of 
sheltered places, like an old stone wall, hedge row, 
etc. The Rose chafer breeds only in very sandy soils, 
its grubs feeding on the roots of low-growing plants, 
like grasses, etc. In regard to combating the Rose 
chafer, I have cooperated with several rose and grape 
growers in experiments with the arsenate of lead 
spray against this pest. At the rate of five pounds in 
50 gallons of water this poison was found to protect 
the foliage from the ravages of the beetle, and when 
used twice as strong killed large numbers of the 
CHICKS IN THE POTATO FIELD. Fio. 254. 
beetles. The beetles do not seem to like tne foliage 
sprayed with this poison. m. v. si.inc.eri.ano. 
DO NOT BUY CHEAP NITROGEN! 
The need of studying the nitrogen problem will be 
evident to any farmer who will stop to think for a 
moment. Nitrogen is the most expensive element 
of plant food. When we buy it in chemical fer¬ 
tilizers we must pay 18 cents a pound for nitrates, or 
the form which is available for plants. The demand 
for nitrogen has given it a regular value, and trade 
has fixed its price the same as for sugar, flour, lumber 
or other standard necessities. When a farmer is able 
to obtain nitrogen for less than this trade price he 
is that much ahead. Some dairymen have learned 
that good Alfalfa hay is nearly or quite equal in feed¬ 
ing value to wheat bran. They can raise a ton of hay 
much cheaper than they can buy a ton of bran, so 
that after a few years of substituting hay for the 
bran they find more than the difference in price in' 
their pockets. In much the same way Alfalfa, clover, 
cow peas, Soy beans and similar crops obtain nitrogen 
for a farmer very much cheaper than he can buy it 
in chemicals. If those crops are fed to stock and the 
manure used on the ground, or if they are plowed 
under and left to decay in the soil, the result is 
much the same—an increase of nitrogen just as surely 
as if nitrogen was bought in a bag and scattered over 
the land. The first business of a farmer therefore is 
to make all the nitrogen that he can at home. There 
may he small farms or gardens where several crops 
must be grown each season, so that land cannot be 
given to these manurial crops. Tn such ca<cs it may 
pay to buy manure and chemicals. That is for the 
gardener to decide by figuring, but wherever there is 
land enough these nitrogen-gathering crops should be 
grown and used on the farm. But even if this be 
done there are some cases where it will pay to buy 
nitrogen in fertilizers. In such cases a farmer ought 
to know just what he is buying, or he will pay twice 
as much as the stuff is worth. For instance. Prof. 
Hopkins, of Illinois, states that fertilizers are being 
made by mixing acid phosphates, a small quantity of 
potash and finely ground dried peat out of a swamp! 
There are some rich samples of muck or peat which 
contain over three per cent of nitrogen when dried. 
This nitrogen is of very little value, since it is inert— 
lhat is, in such a combination that plants cannot use it. 
Farmers who have hauled many loads of swamp muck 
on their upland soil know how slow it is to give any 
returns in crops. Unless it has been composted with 
lime you would hardly know where it was put. Now 
think of a farmer paying 18 cents a pound for nitro¬ 
gen in this muck when it is mixed with acid phosphate 
in a fertilizer! And yet that is evidently what thou¬ 
sands of them have done and are doing—to their loss. 
The only .remedy is for them to know what they are 
buying, and after finding how to make sure, to refuse 
to buy anything but the available forms of nitrogen. 
A horse jockey works off some broken-down old plug 
on the man who docs not know what a good horse is. 
The farmer who has learned by observation and train¬ 
ing how to know when lungs, legs or joints are sound 
will not he deceived, because he knows just what 1o 
demand. It is possible to know nearly as much 
about a fertilizer. We could name dozens of farmers 
who never would pay 18 cents for five-cent nitrogen 
because they have studied the fertilizer question, and 
know what an analysis means and what the guaranty 
stands for. When we consider the millions of dollars 
spent each each for fertilizers we see how important 
it is to understand the question. It is not easy to 
understand at first, but we shall keep at it until we let 
the light in. We shall be helped by questions from 
readers. Wir t we must have some day is a law com¬ 
pelling manufacturers to state just what their nitrogen 
comes from. Our chemists must learn how to detect 
the cheap forms, and our farmers must refuse to buy 
anything that is not available at once. 
The United States Consul at Marseilles, France, 
gives an account of the small French distilleries. It 
seems that small stills are sold from $30 up to nearly 
$400. A portable still can be bought for $225 or more, 
and they are used by people who travel from farm 
to farm—much as thrashing machines travel in this 
country—making alcohol from waste products. Most 
of the alcohol seems to be made from fruit wastes— 
of vineyards or orchards. The industrial alcohol of 
France comes mostly from sugar beets. In Germany 
alcohol is also made from potatoes. From this report 
we get the idea that small French farmers merely use 
what they cannot sell for distilling. Where alcohol is 
IN A CONNECTICUT CORNFIELD. Fir;. 255. 
made as a commercial product a large distillery is 
u.ed. Why are not these small stills on sale in this 
country? The bill making denatured alcohol free of 
tax could not have been passed had not farmers been 
told that they would be directly benefited. Give them 
the small stills and it is possible that they can turn 
wastes into alcohol and use it for light and heat. 
A noiseless gun lias been Invented by Hiram Percy 
Maxim, and its use in slaughtering cattle is approved by 
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Anim ils. as 
one animal could he killed without frightening others. 
