10J2. 
Ill 7 
THE CORN-WORM, j 
H'. K., Sumner, 111. — This corn, Fig. 462, 
was grown in Lawrence Co., 111. You will 
notice a worm near top of ear. It works 
only on the late corn, doing quite a lot 
of damage. The worm is across three 
rows, but moved and does not show one 
end up well. What can be done for this 
insect? 
Ans.—T his corn-worm is a most de¬ 
structive pest, feeding on three impor¬ 
tant crops; it attacks ears of corn in 
the North, cottonbolls in the South, and 
tomatoes in some of the Eastern States. 
It is the larva of a moth, dull yellow 
with indistinct markings, which comes 
out in the early Spring, laying its eggs 
by preference on early tomatoes. The 
caterpillars bore into the stems of toma¬ 
toes first, but attack the fruit as soon 
as set, causing heavy damage to the 
earliest crop. Sweet corn is next at¬ 
tacked, the earliest being often badly 
infested; 'then field corn, on which the 
worms feed until it is hard and glazed 
in the Fall, the creatures being muscu¬ 
lar enough to feed on the ripe kernel. 
The entomologists say these voracious 
caterpillars are very militant in dispo¬ 
sition, and when several infest one ear 
of corn they will fight among them¬ 
selves till - only one remains. In the 
Fall the- worms that mature in the corn 
(there are several broods yearly, except 
in their northern limit) enter the ground 
to pupate,’~ emerging as the first brood 
of moths in the Spring. Here they can 
be destroyed by Fall plowing, which 
by breaking up the cells containing pu- 
WORK OF THE CORN WORM. Fio. 162. 
px causes their death, and this is the 
most satisfactory method of control. 
Persisted in year after year, it should 
eliminate the pest. Owing to the in¬ 
sect’s feeding habits, poisons cannot be 
used. In the South, where it attacks 
cotton, early corn is planted in the cot¬ 
ton fields, in which the worms are de¬ 
stroyed by feeding to stock. On toma¬ 
toes hand picking is necessary. Fall 
plowing of cornfields will limit its at¬ 
tacks on other crops. 
ONION NOTES. 
Try a Smaller Piece. 
I am thinking of starting in the onion 
business I have one field of seven acres, 
strong, well-drained land, which 1 could 
plant next year. Will bone meal make a 
good fertilizer for onions? j. s. 
West Virginia. 
We would advise you to go exceedingly 
slow in starting into the onion business. 
It is a difficult crop to handle successfully, 
and one in which the fine points have to 
be carefully observed. The land which you 
describe would probably be good enough 
for onions if it has considerable natural 
fertility. It must have a good water¬ 
holding capacity and a large amount of 
available plant food. Rone meal would 
answer as far as it goes in the way of 
fertilizer, but a much more- complete for¬ 
mula would be necessary. A formula used 
to some extent in the Connecticut Valley 
is nitrate of soda, ISO to 240 pounds; 
dried blood, 200 to 2S0 pounds; tankage, 
240 to 300 pounds; acid phosphate, 350 
to 400 pounds, and sulphate of potash, 200 
to 275 pounds. These are the quantities 
for each acre. Another formula recom¬ 
mended by Dr. Voorhees for use in the 
onion-grow 5 ng sections of New Jersey is 
dried blood, 250 pounds; tankage, 350 
pounds; acid phosphate, 300 pounds; muri¬ 
ate of potash, 200 pounds. This constitutes 
a half ton to the acre of very high-grade 
fertilizer, and may be regarded as a mini¬ 
mum allowance. We think it would be 
much better for you to experiment on an 
area less than seven acres for the first few 
years. 
! Cost and Yield. 
How many acres of onions must be 
grown to yield a profit sufficient to buy 
an automobile if, as stated in your article 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
in The R. N.-Y. of October 5, it costs $250 
to an acre yielding 200 bushels at $1.50 
per 100 pounds, 52 pounds to the bushel? 
Acting^ on the suggestion of the article 1 
have figured this up and although I might 
have an automobile to start with, my 
figures show no auto at the finish. 
Brookline, Mass. c. B. p. 
There was a mistake in the transcription 
of the notes in writing out my article on 
Massachusetts onions in The It. N.-Y. of 
October 5. In place of 200 bushels an 
acre, • the figure should have been 400. 
While this latter amount is larger than the 
statistical average yield over large areas, it 
represents a fair average for the more ex¬ 
pert growers of the Connecticut Valley. It 
was from these men that the average ex¬ 
pense per acre per year was estimated to 
be $150 to $250. The average expense 
with poor growers is considerably less, the 
average income also less and the profit 
very much less. Of course the results in 
onion growing are the same as in all other 
lines of business ; that is, the poor farmers 
make little or nothing out of it, while the 
big profits all go to the best men. They 
are the only ones who ride in automobiles. 
Use of Sets. 
IIow many sets are used per acre (in 
bushels)? What varieties used? Why arc 1 
they used in preference to seed? Why do 
onions from sets bring more than from 
seed? b. j. 
Virginia. 
Onion sets are used in the onion-growing 
sections simply to secure an early-maturing 
crop. The crop grown from sets in this 
section can be harvested about July 15 to 
20. when the price is apt to be considerably 
higher than it is in September, when the 
regular crop is ready for market. These 
sets are grown in New Jersey. California 
and other parts of the world, and are 
bought by the Massachusetts onion grow¬ 
ers at planting time in early Spring, cost¬ 
ing here about $2.25 per ‘ bushel of 32 
pounds. These are set out in rows a foot 
apart, there being required approximately 
20 bushels per acre. This amount varies, o‘f 
course, with the size and quality of the 
sets. The varieties used are mostly Yellow 
Danvers, Prizetaker and Red Weathersfield. 
D. F. W. 
THE MICHIGAN MINT CROP. 
The Michigan mint harvest is now 
closed, and the stills are now holding 
stores of oil worth more money than for 
some Seasons. It is known that the wet 
weather served to decrease the yield, and 
the price is now close to $2.50 a pound, 
with the prospect that it may go still 
higher, as many of the growers are hold¬ 
ing for more money. It has been figured 
that mint may be grown at a cost of $1 
a pound for the oil. so that growers who 
have lost on yield will be able to get bet¬ 
ter prices than in former years. Hot. dry 
weather has been lacking to make the plant 
as productive as in other years. There has 
been a big increase in mint acreage in two 
of the Michigan counties where the mint 
plant has. taken root. Less than 20 years 
ago the culture started in Berrien and 
Cass Counties with less than 200 acres. 
Five years ago there were 2.000 acres, and 
since then it has doubled, until there is 
nearly 4,000 acres in the two counties. 
Marsh land is used for the crop, but 
this land has been greatly improved by 
drainage in the last decade. Where once 
it was given up to marsh hay and was 
worth all the way from $1 to $10 an acre 
it is now worth from $150 to $200 an 
acre, but it mostly is used for pepper¬ 
mint growing. It is used year after year 
for the same crop with any rotation, and 
refertilized by the use of muriate of potash, 
imported from Germany, and sown 100 
pounds to the acre. 
It has-been figured that an acre of mint 
will yield from 20 to 40 pounds of oil, so 
that the reader is afforded some idea as 
to what the mint farmer is making from 
this kind of crop. In recent years there 
has been considerable improvement in cul¬ 
tivation. After three years the plants are 
plowed up and the roots raked out, after 
which they are reset in rows four feet 
apart. The second and third years the 
land is cultivated as corn is plowed, but 
after that there is another plowing up. 
Rome of the growers use a drag the second 
year instead of a plow. 
No seed is sown to start new plants, so 
far as I have been able to learn ; tin 1 new 
fields are set from plants of other fields, 
one acre being capable of sparing enough 
of its plants to set out four, and still 
remain amply set itself. There seems to 
be but one considerable market for the 
product of the Michigan mint fields, and 
that is New York, where most of the 
product is shipped. 
There are more uses for the oil of mint 
than there used to be; it is more ex¬ 
tensively used in the manufacture of chew¬ 
ing gum, and science is calling for an in¬ 
creased supply. Mint farms have been 
increasing in size. One man in Michigan 
has 400 acres under cultivation, and his 
son. in another section, has twice that 
much. One young woman farms 40 acres 
and there arc scores of farms between 50 
and 100acres. It long ago got far bevond 
the experimental stage. One of the oldest 
mint oil handlers is J. R. Tuttle of Niles. 
Berrien County. I asked him whether 
there had been any attempts to improve 
the mint plant, but he said he knew of 
none. He talked as if we are now making 
use of the same plant from which the 
ancient races distilled the flavor for one 
purpose or another. j. l. gkaff. 
Value of Tillage. —In '-‘Rugar Beets 
and Fertility,” page 1018, perhaps it would 
help some to remember the old axiom : 
‘‘Tillage is ‘ manure.” Some years ago I 
rented a 40-acre farm near my home in 
Illinois, which I plowed in August, then 
harrowed, dragged, cultivated and rolled 
until fine enough for an onion bed; drilled 
wheat and seeded to Timothy with the 
wheat in Reptember; then sowed clover 
broadcast the following February. I har¬ 
vested about 20 bushels of wheat, the next 
year got my innings; two tons of hay per 
acre, which 1 sold at once for $11.25 per 
ton ; one bushel of clover seed per > acre, 
worth $8 per bushel, and Fall pasturage 
for stock paid the rent. Best crop known 
to date in that section. Truly, “Tillage is 
manure.” L. s. c 
Kennewick, Wash. 
Frozen Solid 
but Keeping Time! 
Every adjusted South Bend Watch 
will stand the famous South Bend 
"ice test,” that is, keep time even 
when frozen solid in a cake of ice. 
You want a watch that will do 
this, for such a watch will be accu¬ 
rate in your pocket —especially if it 
gets the jeweler's regulation which 
every South Bend Watch does get. 
Every SOUTH BEND WATCH 
is given expert regulation to the 
buyer’s personality by an expert 
SOUTH-BEND-JEWELER. We 
will not sell watches through any 
other channel than the expert retail 
jeweler, for the very reason that we 
want our watches to get this per¬ 
sonal regulation. 
You cannot buy a South Bend 
Watch by mail. You cannot buy it 
of a jeweler that isn’t an expert. 
You cannot buy a poor South Bend 
Watch. 
All this care to give you a good 
watch is taken after the watch leaves 
the factory. • More care is taken in 
the factory. 
Every "South Bend” is six months 
in the course of construction and is 
sometimes six months more under 
factory regulation. Every watch is 
inspected 411 times and every watch 
must run accurately for 100 hours 
before it is good enough to get the 
name "South Bend.” 
A watch so carefully made in the 
factory and so carefully regulated 
after you buy it will keep perfect 
time for you for a lifetime. 
Ask your jeweler about this. 
Write for the free book,"How Good 
Watches Are Made.” It tells all 
about watches. Read this letter 
from an enthusiastic owner: 
--------- — -- - - 1 
Foss, Ark., July 2d, 1912. 
South Bond Watch Company, South Bend. Ind. 
Gentlemen: I carry onoof your watches; it 
is a perfect timepiece so far. I have only had it 
two months. She sure is a dandy. I am per¬ 
fectly satisfied with it. It is tho best 1 ever 
earned, Yours truly, 
J. F. CRABB. 
The South Bend Watch Company 
11 Rowley Street, South Bend, Ind. 
(107) 
r pH REE things to consider 
in buying winter under¬ 
wear— comfort, warmth, 
durability. All three are 
combined 
m 
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in 
J%rn&dowry 
Fleece-Lined Underwear 
Lambsdown is comfort¬ 
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fleece—because it fitssmoothly. 
Warm, because its thick fleece protects 
the body from colds and draughts 
The fleece cannot mat, knot or 
wash away. Two seasons’wear 
to a garment. / ■ —t ^ 
Made for Men and Boys «HfF i 
At your dealer’s. In separate 
and union garments, at 50c, 75c 
and up. Look for the Bodygard 
Shield. It is your safeguard. 
Write for Bodygard Book No. 18. 
UTICA KNITTING CO. 
BDBYKAgfl\ 'Makers of Bodygard 
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Springtex and Cell ex. 
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