1911 . 
785 
C TREES HURT BY KINDNESS. 
II. L. M., New York .—On my farm in 
Bergen County, N. J., during the first week 
in April I set out 350 peach trees. The 
stock arrived in good condition; it was 
strong and fine in every way. They were 
set promptly on arrival, cut back to a 
whip of about three feet. They started to 
grow promptly and made new growth of 
from three to six inches, branching out 
nicely. I notice many of the trees are 
now apparently dying, the new growth turn¬ 
ing light in color and withering up. Can 
you explain to me the reason for the trees 
dying in this way? The ground was well 
prepared and in fine condition : it lies high ; 
not wet; ideal soil and drainage for 
peaches. As soon as these trees were set 
out 1 put around each tree two pounds of 
nitrate of soda and four pounds of Thomas 
phosphate powder and this was worked into 
the soil, shallow depth. 
Ans.— The trees might have been 
frozen after starting to bud out, or 
they may have been diseased, but we 
think they were killed by kindness. You 
used too much fertilizer on these little 
trees, and very likely it was put up close 
to them. We rarely fertilize our young 
trees immediately after planting, but 
wait until they are well rooted in the 
soil. Six pounds of strong fertilizer to 
a tree is too much for the little fellows. 
Engine Power and Fuel. 
IF. S. II., Cashiers, N. C .—How would it 
be possible to ascertain the horse-power of 
a certain engine? A man has a steam en¬ 
gine which he wishes to sell for $200 but 
cannot tell what the power is. Has been 
using it for running a shingle mill. It ran 
a silage cutter with 14-foot elevator 
easily last Summer. What as to the com¬ 
parative advantages of steam and gaso¬ 
line? I have plenty of wood for the cut¬ 
ting and hauling. Gasoline must be hauled 
20 miles, besides freight charges.. 
Ans.— A judgment, fairly approxi¬ 
mate, of the horse-power of the engine 
may be obtained by applying the rule 
used by engineers for such purposes. 
This is: Multiply the boiler pressure 
by the length of the stroke in inches, by 
the square of the diameter of the cylin¬ 
der in inches, and by the number of 
revolutions per minute, and this pro¬ 
duct by 18, dividing the result by 10,- 
000,000. To illustrate: Suppose the 
boiler pressure is 120 pounds, the length 
of stroke of the piston nine inches, the 
diameter of the cylinder seven inches 
and the number of revolutions per min¬ 
ute 240. Applying the rule, we should 
have 120 x 9 x (7 x 7) x 240 x 18 
-4- 10,000,000 = 22.9 horsepower. It is 
not possible to give advice regarding the 
comparative suitability of gasoline and 
steam without knowing the use to which 
the engine is put and the horsepower to 
be developed. If it is for general farm 
purposes and steam is not desired for 
cleaning purposes in a dairy, a gasoline 
engine is likely to be more satisfactory. 
F. H. KING. 
When to Kill Timber. 
I have quite a number of small trees 
from two to five inches that I want to- cut 
down. Would you advise cutting them in 
the dark of the moon in August so they 
will not sprout again? I am told that 
the stumps will decay very rapidly if cut 
at that time. What would you suggest? 
Madisonville, O. j. a. s. 
We would pay no attention to the condi¬ 
tion of the moon. Late in August is the 
best time to cut trees and brush if you 
wish to kill them. At this time they have 
made their season’s growth. Left to them¬ 
selves they would attempt to recover before 
Winter and store up plant food and energy 
in their roots to carry them safely through 
Winter. If you cut off the tops at this time 
nature forces the tree or hush to send up 
a new top. This is made at the expense of 
the roots and Winter finds them too much 
exhausted to recover. They usually die, 
while had they been left alone or cut 
earlier they would have gone safely through. 
That is the theory of cutting brush, briers 
or trees in late Summer in order to kill 
them—and it usually works out. The con¬ 
dition of the moon has no influence upon 
the trees. It may indicate a good season 
to do the work. 
Untwisting a Rope. —If you will drag a 
new hay rope through the wet, dewy grass 
some morning for 15 or 20 minutes you will 
not be troubled any with the rope kinking 
up if you don’t drive the team across the 
rope in turning around. This works suc¬ 
cessfully with me and is the best remedy 
•I’ve found so far. is. l. l. 
THE Ki: RAL NEW-YORKER 
A FEW INSECTS. 
The Corn Stalk-borer. 
I found several worms like specimen 
sent, inside of cornstalk (growing) gener¬ 
ally up where tassel or flower was about to 
emerge. They seem to be ravenous eaters. 
Leaves appeared to have had holes gnawed 
in them. What is it? How may it be 
checked, if necessary? G. E. M. 
Dalton, N. Y. 
The caterpillar sent by you as injuring 
corn is probably the stalk-borer. It is found 
on a great variety of plants, especially gar¬ 
den plants. It is rather unusual for it to 
attack corn, although instances are recorded 
where it has destroyed large fields of corn. 
Normally, it works in ragweed and bur¬ 
dock. but when these weeds are bordering a 
cornfield or garden the insects are liable to 
become so abundant that they leave their 
weed food plant and go to the cultivated 
plants. Probably some such thing has hap¬ 
pened in this case. 
It is exceedingly difficult to control be¬ 
cause it bores down the inside of the stalk, 
and I have no suggestions to make concern¬ 
ing it at this stage when it is present in con¬ 
siderable numbers in a cornfield. The only 
way to stop it would be to dig out each 
“worm.” We can, however, do something 
toward future control. The corn should 
all be cut, whether worth it or not, for 
fodder, in the Fall, and fed out or de¬ 
stroyed. The ragweeds, burdocks and other 
weeds bordering the fields or in the vicinity 
should be cut at once and destroyed just as 
far as possible. The land on which the corn 
is growing should be plowed in the Fall and 
the stubble buried as deeply as possible. If 
it is possible, the stubble of the cut weeds 
should be turned under deeply or burned, 
because the moths that come out this Sum¬ 
mer will lay their eggs on them if left. 
This is an insect for which an ounce of 
prevention is worth many pounds of cure. 
GLEN W. HERRICK. 
“Blister Beetle”; Old-fashioned Potato Bug. 
I send a sample of a beetle which is de- 
troying my white rose bushes. What is it, 
and what can I do for it? j. r. 
The insects eating the rose bushes are a 
species of "blister-beetle.” They are called 
“blister-beetles” because their bodies con¬ 
tain the substance, “cantharidin,” which 
has the peculiar property of causing blisters 
on the human skin. The species of “blis¬ 
ter-beetle” most commonly used in medicine 
comes from Spain and is therefore known as 
"Spanish flies.” Before the Colorado potato 
beetle came East from the Rockies our 
fields of potatoes were often injured by a 
species of "blister-beetle” with yellowish 
stripes on its wing-covers. This beetle is 
still known as the old-fashioned potato 
beetle, and occasionally injures potatoes yet. 
Other species of blister-beetles often come 
in swarms and devour rose bushes, Asters 
and other plants. Sometimes they disap¬ 
pear suddenly, but often they linger for 
several days and cause serious injury. The 
one referred to in the letter often remains 
several days and works havoc with the food 
plants it attacks. There is one redeeming 
feature of these blister-beetles, and that is 
that their young live upon and destroy the 
eggs of grasshoppers. 
Because of the fact that these insects 
come in great swarms and remain only a 
few days they are hard to control. It is 
difficult to kill them quick enough to stop 
their ravages. They will often be gone be¬ 
fore one rfas time to apply a poison. On 
rose bushes or other lawn plants or flowers 
the beetles can often be hand picked and 
killed to the best advantage. In some cases 
it would be advisable to spray the infested 
plants with a strong mixture of arsenate of 
lead, say three or 3 y 2 pounds to 50 gallons 
or water. It has been shown in the case 
of the rose chafer beetle that if 10 or 12 
pounds of confectioners’ glucose or two 
quarts of molasses are added to the 50 gal¬ 
lons of mixture the beetles will more readily 
eat the poison. It might be of advantage to 
sweeten the poison mixture for the blister 
beetles to make it more attractive and thus 
Induce the beetles to eat more of the ar¬ 
senate. If the beetles can be made to eat 
enough of the poison during the first 24 
hours of their presence they will be killed 
before doing much damage. 
GLENN W. HERRICK. 
The Web Spinner. 
What spins the webs which appear on 
the grass and earth at infrequent intervals, 
and are supposed to be a sign of rain? How 
do these web spinners get a living when 
the webs do not appear on the grass? 
New York. c. w. h. 
There is in the family of spiders, known 
as the funnel-web weavers, one species, at 
least, the funnel-web grass spider, that 
spins its curious and interesting webs all 
over the short grass, especially in pastures, 
along the roadsides, unfrequented lawns, 
etc. The webs are most ingenious struc¬ 
tures, and remarkably well suited to the 
habits and life of this little spider. Each 
web serves both as a house for the spider 
and as a trap in which to catch its prey. 
The part of the web most conspicuous is a 
wide sheet of silk spread out on the grass, 
but slightly concave on the upper surface 
like an inviting hammock. From the rear 
end of this sheet a funnel-shaped tube runs 
back down among the bases of the grass 
stems. At the mouth of the tube where it 
opens on the sheet of silk, the little bright¬ 
eyed householder sits patiently, ready with 
its long legs and eager jaws, to pounce upon 
any unwary fly or other insect that may 
be so foolish as to alight upon the wide- 
sproading silken hammock. If too large an 
insect should happen to blunder on the 
sheet the spider will exercise its discretion 
and quickly retreat through its back door 
down the tube among the grass stems out 
of the way of the unwelcome intruder. 
The eggs of this interesting spider are 
laid in August and September in a flat 
cocoon in some sheltered place. Here they 
lie until late Winter, when the young 
spiders batch, and in the Spring begin to 
spin their webs over the fields. The webs 
are often too transparent to be seen until 
covered with dew or moisture. We may 
awake on a dewy morning to find the fields 
covered with these glistening webs as 
though they had sprung into existence at 
the wave of a fairy’s wand, when, in real¬ 
ity, they had been there before, but be¬ 
yond our poor vision Thus we must con¬ 
clude that the sudden appearing of these 
webs has no direct connection with the 
presaging of rain. They only show that 
there has been a heavy dew, and heavy 
dews are usually said to be indications of a 
drought. It is quite probable that these 
abundant inhabitants of our fields benefit 
us in a much more substantial manner than 
by prognosticating the weather. They un¬ 
doubtedly destroy hundreds of insects that 
if left alive would cause much injury to 
grasses and similar plants. 
GLENN W. HERRICK. 
A Sucker Among Real Estate Agents. 
In 1910 I bought a five-acre farm, on the 
installment plan, in New Jersey, from a 
firm of real estate agents. At the time the 
climate and bracing air appealed to me, 
and. without making sufficient inquiry, I 
built a small house and made other improve¬ 
ments on the place which cost me approxi¬ 
mately one thousand dollars. After mov¬ 
ing my family down there I made the fol¬ 
lowing discoveries: The land is full of 
oak stumps, which cost about $60 per acre 
to remove, and after this Is done, the land 
is almost valueless for cultivation, as it 
contains no plant food and is nothing more 
than a sand bank. The mosquitoes in 
Summer make it practically impossible to 
stay on the place with any degree of com¬ 
fort. I found out also that the land is 
assessed at $10 per acre, whereas the five 
acres had been sold to me for $650, on 
which I have already paid about $90. Of 
course I was swindled. Is there any way 
in which I can compel the real estate firm 
to give me title to the place, as I have 
already paid them all that the land is 
really worth? victim. 
It depends on what you signed in the 
form of a contract. The chances are that 
you are tied up so that you cannot get 
your money back. If you agreed to pay 
$650 and have paid only $90 you cannot 
compel the agents to give you a clear title 
unless you can prove fraud and deceptlcfh. 
You may do this if you have letters or 
statements from them .which have been 
proved false or misleading. They may set¬ 
tle with you to avoid publicity. But why 
- in the world should a reader of The R. 
N.-Y. get into any such scrape? We have 
exposed such schemes a dozen, times, yet 
every week brings new stories of victims. 
In one case a man bought a farm in Win¬ 
ter, while the snow was deep. The agent 
told him that certain “lumps” out in the 
meadow were piles of manure. When the 
snow melted they were big rocks. Another 
man bought in early April on the strength 
of a “beautiful lake” near the house. 
When he moved his family in he found a 
stagnant swamp full ot bullfrogs and mos¬ 
quitoes. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a, quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
FALSE HUNGER 
A Symptom of Stomach Trouble Corrected 
by Good Food. 
There is, with some forms of stomach 
trouble, an abnormal craving for food 
which is frequently mistaken for a 
“good appetite.” A lady teacher writes 
from Carthage, Mo., to explain how 
with good food she dealt with this sort 
of hurtful hunger. 
“I have taught school for fifteen years, 
and up to nine years ago had good, 
average health. Nine years ago, how¬ 
ever, my health began to fail, and con¬ 
tinued to grow worse steadily, in spite 
of doctor’s prescriptions, and everything 
I could do. During all this time my 
appetite continued good, only the more 
I ate the more I wanted to eat—I was 
always hungry. 
“The first symptoms of my breakdown 
were a distressing nervousness and a 
loss of flesh. The nervousness grew so 
bad that finally it amounted to actual 
prostration. Then came stomach 
troubles, which were very painful, con¬ 
stipation which brought on piles, dys¬ 
pepsia and severe nervous headaches. 
“The doctors seemed powerless to 
help me, said I was overworked, and at 
last urged me to give up teaching, if I 
wished to save my life. 
“But this I could not do. I kept on at 
it as well as I could, each day growing 
more wretched, my will-power alone 
keeping me up, till at last a good angel 
suggested that I try a diet of Grape- 
Nuts food, and from that day to this I 
have found it delicious, always appetiz¬ 
ing and satisfying. 
“I owe my restoration to health to 
Grape-Nuts. My weight has returned 
and for more than two years I have been 
free from the nervousness, constipation, 
piles, headaches, and all the ailments 
that used to punish me so, and have been 
able to work freely and easily.” Name 
given by Postum Co., Battle Creek, Mich. 
Read the little book, “The Road to 
Wellville,” in pkgs. “There’s a reason.” 
Ever read the above letter ? A new one 
appears from time to time. They are genu¬ 
ine, true, and full of human interest. 
THE ENGINE THAT WILL 
GIVE YOU NO TROUBLE 
TlIC nCYA is the only engine built 
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Fewer working parts than any other 
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BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK 
Manufacturers o! DEY# POWER SPRAYERS 
KEROSENE 
gasoline, distillate, any fuel oil, perfectly—without change 
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write for it HOW. 
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per 
CHARTER 
FRANKLY, the 
la being sold so largely in | 
BIG- SIZES 
we are not interested in 
small ones. 
From 20 H. P. Up we have tho 
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the Original of the World. 
Box 26, Sterling, III., U. 
CHARTER GAS ENGINE CO. 
,S. A. 
PUMPS WATER WITH WATER 
Gives you *'running water when and where 
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to put it in to 
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Write us. Power Specialty Co. 
Ill Broadway, New York , 
FOSTERS RAM 
Make It Yourself 
If you have timber, save money 
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Simple, reliable, little power 
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Catalog free. Also describes wood¬ 
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129 Hope St., Hnckettstown.N.J. 
1582 Terminal Bldgs., New York 
Rider Agents Wanted 
In each town to ride an exhibit sample 191X blcy- 
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Finest Guaranteed #/l 
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all of best makes-... *P * ip M tC 
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TIRES, coaster brake rear wheels, lamps. 
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■urFT I drilling 
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Over 70 sizes and styles, for drilling either deep or 
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FUNIA 
if| B llll ft ’V kills Prairie Dogs, 
™ ™ m Woodchucks, Gophers, 
and Grain Insects. 
“The wheels of the gods 
grind slow but exceed¬ 
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£ with “Fuma Carbon Bisulphide are doing. 
EDWARD R. TAYLOR, Penn Yan, N. Y. 
n I A| Y* i*b Attachment with Corn Harvester 
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