1913. 
5PHE) RURAt NEW-YORKEH 
64tT 
ASPHALTUM FOR PEACH BORERS. 
The California Experiment Station re¬ 
ports some new experiments in fighting the 
peach borer. As most peach growers know, 
various paints or smears have been pro¬ 
posed for covering the lower part of the 
tree and killing out the borer. Most of 
them are failures, and the majority of 
growers, after using them, go back to the 
old plan of digging out the borers. This 
is still the best plan. The California Sta¬ 
tion has experimented with asphaltum. This 
was smeared over the base of the tree, as 
shown in Fig. 197. The application was 
ASPHALT FOR PEACH BORERS. Fig. 197. 
made early in the Spring on badly eaten 
trees where the borers had not been dug. 
They found that this thick coat of asphal¬ 
tum took care of 95 per cent of the insects, 
keeping them out and smothering those in¬ 
side. It did not injure the tree in any 
way, nor prevent its growth as some appli¬ 
cations do. They simply heated the as¬ 
phaltum so it would smear properly, and 
painted it on with the brush. The first 
coat was permitted to harden, and another 
coat then put on. They also use the 
asphaltum for covering tree wounds and 
for grafting, and it works well for these 
purposes. 
NOTES ON GRAIN DISEASES. 
Remember that corn smut cannot be con¬ 
trolled by any treatment of the grain ; it 
is not conveyed to the new crop in the 
seed, as many smut diseases are. The 
only practical method of control is to go 
through the field several times during the 
season, cutting out and burning all the 
developing smut masses that can be seen. 
This practice, continued year after year, 
would certainly diminish the trouble, though 
fields may be re-infected from other farms. 
Scientists tell us that the smut spores are 
destroyed in the silo, so its use tends to 
lessen the disease ; however, the smut fun¬ 
gus can live and even increase in manure, 
so live smut spores may infect the manure 
pile, and thus increase the disease in fields 
where such manure is used. Corn smut 
can be reduced by Bordeaux spraying, but 
this is not considered profitable, and the 
cutting out of smut masses remains the best 
control method. 
Smut on a variety of other grains dif¬ 
fers from corn smut in being transmitted by 
the seed, and is thus controlled by treat¬ 
ment of seed grain. The customary treat¬ 
ment is with formalin, one ounce to three 
gallons of tvater; as a rule a pound of 
formalin, costing 75 to 90 cents, will treat 
45 to 50 bushels of grain. Spread the 
grain in a thin layer on a smooth barn 
floor, on canvas or upon hard ground, and 
sprinkle with a watering pot or sprayer. 
Wet the grain thoroughly and evenly with 
the mixture, then shovel over a few times, 
so that every seed is thoroughly wetted. 
The pile is then covered with blankets or 
bagging to hold the fumes of formalin, 
and allowed to stand from six to 12 
hours. It is then spread out to dry, or 
dried with lime which is afterwards re¬ 
moved by the fanning mill. The grain is 
then ready to sow; if stored, bags, bins, 
etc., should be disinfected with formalin, 
or the grain may be reinfected. The drill 
that is used should be disinfected with 
formalin or a thorough dusting with dry 
lime. This treatment is given for oat smut, 
covered smut of barley, kernel smut of 
broom corn, millet smut, kernel smut of 
sorghum, and stinking smut of wheat. 
The formalin treatment is not found effi¬ 
cacious against loose smut of barley and 
wheat, and for this, in addition to taking 
every precaution to obtain clean seed, the 
Jensen hot water treatment is advised. This 
is much more troublesome than the forma¬ 
lin treatment. The seed is first soaked for 
live to seven hours in water at a tempera¬ 
ture of 63 to 72 degrees; then placed in 
loose sacks or wire baskets, not more than 
one-half peck each, and drained for a short 
time. The seed must be treated in small 
lots to avoid lowering the temperature of the 
hot water. Two tubs or vats of water 
are required, No. 1 at 110° or 120°, No. 2 
at 132° to 133° F. Galvanized iron tubs 
of 20 to 40 gallons capacity, and double 
burner oil stoves are convenient. The 
drained sacks or baskets of seed are plunged 
into tub No. 1 for a minute to raise the 
temperature, then transferred to tub No. 
2, and kept agitated while immersed as ad¬ 
vised below, the temperatures being main¬ 
tained as evenly as possible. Barley, 15 
minutes at 125.6° F. (52° C.) wheat 10 
minutes at 129.2° F. (54° C.) When 
treating barley, if the temperature rises 
above 125.6° F. (52° C.) the time of im¬ 
mersion must be reduced to 10 minutes, or 
five minutes at 129.2° F. (54° C.) above 
which there is no safe margin. A Centigrade 
thermometer is more convenient than Fah¬ 
renheit, and the desired temperature ac¬ 
cording to this is from 52° to 54°; anything 
below 51° C. is not eflicacious. An inac¬ 
curate thermometer may cause damage to 
the seed, or failure to prevent the smut. 
The seed is dried by spreading out in thin 
layers, like the oats after formalin ; it must 
not be allowed to sprout. 
Traction Engines in New York. 
Will say to W. B., Pennsylvania, page 
317, that traction engines are used wholly, 
as far as I know, in this part of the State, 
for repairing dirt roads. They have been 
in use 10 or 15 years, making an ideal 
power for that purpose. 
Ontario Co.. N. Y. 
Growing Post Timber. 
I wish to start a grove for post timber 
on a farm in Steuben County, N. Y, I 
am thinking of starting locust. Is it the 
common locust, Robinia pseudacacia, I 
should use, and which do you advise, seed 
or seedlings? Do you know of anything 
better than the locust? Soil is gravel and 
clay. Please give directions as to planting 
seedlings or starting seeds. j. l. b. 
Rochester, N. Y. 
Black locust (Robinia pseudacacia) is 
rapid growing and if proper treatment is 
given will soon reach post size. The likeli¬ 
hood of injury by borers renders doubtful 
the production of large material. Just 
before planting the seed should be soaked 
for two days and not covered more than 
one-half inch. The percentage of germina¬ 
tion is about 50 to 75 per cent.. A pound 
contains about 25.000 seeds and is quoted 
at 35 cents; seedlings at $3 to $5 per 
1.000. Chestnut provides quick returns in 
timber, valuable for a wide range of uses, 
and is therefore much better than locust. 
The seed is quoted at $12 per 100 pounds 
and the seedlings at $14 to $20 per 1,000. 
The hardy Catalpa is a rapid growing tree 
and is superior in many ways to the chest¬ 
nut. Seed is quoted at $2 per pound and 
seedlings at $6 per 1,000. The profits of 
a grove or plantation depend in a great 
measure upon the initial cost, and if you 
can do so I would advise growing your own 
seedlings. s. H. madden. 
Lime and Potato Scab. 
It is considered one of the “sure things” 
in potato culture that wood ashes or slaked 
lime will encourage the growth of the po¬ 
tato scab disease. This seems to have been 
demonstrated past argument, and so, in a 
rotation where lime is to be used, the ad¬ 
vice is to use it after the potatoes. Now, 
however, we are learning more about the 
different forms of lime. The ground lime¬ 
stone has a more gentle and more caustic 
action than the burnt lime. It can be 
used in stables in place of plaster, while 
burnt lime would act to drive off the am¬ 
monia. This has led some enthusiastic 
limestone men to claim that this form can 
be used direct on potatoes without increas¬ 
ing scab. We have tried to find real ex¬ 
perience with this, but thus far without 
much' success. The nearest to it is the fol¬ 
lowing from Prof. C. G. Hopkins, the great¬ 
est advocate of ground limestone: 
“I do not call .to mind any specific data 
from actual investigations concerning the 
possible influence of ground limestone upon 
potato scab; but I recall that potatoes 
were grown for 26 years in succession on 
Hoos Field at Rothamsted, to which enor¬ 
mous quantities of limestone had been ap¬ 
plied in the form of chalk, which has ex¬ 
actly the same composition as ground lime¬ 
stone ; and I do not recall any report that 
the potatoes were seriously affected by 
scab; and the yields produced sometimes 
reached 400 bushels per acre, and where 
heavily fertilized the average yield for the 
26 years was 197 bushels on plot 7 and 203 
bushels on plot 8. 
"As an average, the soils of the seml-arid 
and arid regions of the West contain 
about 30 tons of lime carbonate in the 
plowed soil of an acre ; and, as you know, 
Colorado is famous for its production of 
potatoes on such soils; and I have never 
heard that they were troubled, particularly, 
with scab. We are growing potatoes here 
on the University Farm on land which has 
been heavily treated with limestone and 
have the same varieties planted at the 
same time and under exactly the same 
conditions where no limestone has been ap¬ 
plied. This work has not been running long 
enough to justify drawing any final conclu¬ 
sions from it, but I can say that no differ¬ 
ence has thus far been observed in regard 
to the amount of scab produced.” 
CYRIL HOPKINS. 
Fanners and their families every¬ 
where have accepted my 
invitation to ride in the 
Maxwell “ Mascotte ”— 
will you ride in it at my 
expense 
I FIRST extended this invitation about a month ago and the acceptances I have received 6how 
me that this is the right way to demonstrate an automobile—on the roads where it will be used 
if purchased, under exactly the same conditions. 
The responses to my invitation are great in number, but some parts of the country are not as 
well represented as I want them to be. So I am repeating my invitation, and if you have 1 not 
yet accepted, do so now, 
vUCaxtogll iflCascotti 
$980 
F. O. B. Factory 
(Top extra.) 
Mr. J. D. Maxwell, 
30 West 61st St., N.Y. 
Dear Sir: 
I will be glad to accept your in¬ 
vitation to take a ride with my 
family in the Maxwell “Mas¬ 
cotte.” 
Kindly arrange to place a car at 
my disposal. It is understood 
that no expense or obligation on 
my part is involved. 
Yours very truly. 
Name ... 
Address. 
Town... 
State, 
It. A*.- Y.— 4-27-12. 
I am sure you will immediately see what 
an ideal car the “Mascotte'* is for the farmer 
and his family—if you once take your family 
for a ride in it. 
The average automobile “demonstration” 
falls far short of really showing what a car 
will do, so I don’t want to demonstrate the 
“Mascotte” in that way. I want you to ride 
around the country-side some nice afternoon 
—up hill and down dale—over the roads you 
travel in your daily life. If you do this, you 
should be able to know when you get home 
in the evening just what kind of a car the 
“Mascotte” is and how well it is suited for 
use in your daily life. I want the family to 
go with you, too—the wife and the children. 
I designed the “Mascotte” to be a real family 
car and it is just that—a car for the whole 
family. 
You may know something about Maxwell 
reliability and durability—you may know 
that nine out often Maxwells in use in New 
York State in 1905 are still in use today, 
after seven years of continuous service. Few 
cars come anywhere near this record. 
You may know how sweeping was the Maxwell 
victory in the recent Glidden Tour—the hardest 
tour in history—in which the Maxwell was the 
only team to finish with a perfect score after 
1450 miles of travel over the worst roads in the 
country. The Maxwell beat practically every 
other American car, some of which sel 1 for as much 
as $6000. You may be familiar with the mar¬ 
velous non-stop record of the Maxwell, when it 
traveled 10,000 miles over country roads with¬ 
out once stopping the motor. If you know these 
things, you will know what to expect in the 
Maxwell “Mascotte”. 
The Maxwell “Mascotte” costs $980, and I 
can safely say that no other car within $200 of 
its price compares with it. 
If I haven’t had your acceptance to my invi¬ 
tation for you and your family to ride in the 
“Mascotte”, send it to me today. Send it to me 
personally—fill out the attached coupon and I 
will instruct our representative near you to 
arrange with you and your family for a trip. 
Write me today. /n „ 
|J NITED gTATES jyjOTOK f OMPANY 
(Maxwell Division) 
30 West 61st Street New York City 
W. E. W. 
