1913. 
A MEETING OF HOLSTEIN BREEDERS. 
The picture at Fig. 329 was taken at the meeting 
of the Holstein Breeders of Waukesha County, Wis¬ 
consin. A goodly number of people turned out, as 
may be seen, and the cows were there as accompani¬ 
ment. This meeting was held on the farm of H. PI. 
Earle near Eagle. This place is the center of one 
of the most beautiful sections of the State, and in 
that country the cow is queen, and what she stands 
for is the law of the land. They do things properly 
out in that country. At this county meeting there 
was a judging contest, and also a milking contest, 
the latter participated in by three young women. 
Bankers and business men of the community put 
up the cash for prizes, and in that happy land the 
girls have the wrist and the spirit which enable 
them to pull milk from a cow. In this contest the 
prize went to the girl who could draw the largest 
quantity of milk from a single cow in a given time— 
14 minutes. The winner succeeded in milking out 
14 9-10 pounds, the others nine and eight pounds re¬ 
spectively. Some of the expert milkers on the hill 
farms who have a grip like a vice would be able 
to pull much more milk away from a cow in 14 min¬ 
utes, yet these girls did very well, and while hun¬ 
dreds of people would turn out; to see a girl milk 
a cow, very few would leave the shade to see the 
hired man at it. Such meetings as this are great 
things for the community, and for the dairy busi¬ 
ness as well. They make one of the things which 
lead to true co-operation, and the more you do to 
dignify dairying and give character to the cow, the 
better off your community is. 
TOBACCO STEMS AND THE CURCULIO. 
The curculio, which works on plum and apple, passes 
part of its life under rubbish or grass in or near the 
orchard. I have seen it stated that a mulch of tobacco 
stems on the ground under the trees would help in 
destroying this insect. Is there any truth in such talk? 
P. B. s. 
Tobtfcco stems used as mulch may have some 
effect on the curculio, if they be used in such quan¬ 
tity as to hold down the moisture and be themselves 
kept moist and in a state of semi-decay or destruc¬ 
tion. However, a few stems thrown over the top 
of the ground in such quantity that they will he only 
dry, will doubtless he of no benefit. It would he far 
better to have the stems ground to a dust and used 
as tobacco dust for the curculio. This is on the 
principle that finely divided substances are more 
readily soluble than the same materials when coarse, 
and the nicotine or poisonous quality of the tobacco 
dust is much more readily taken into the soil by 
the rain than it is from the stems. We would, 
therefore, recommend using ground stems applied 
as a dust around the trees, if it is to he used for the 
curculio, rather than the stems, unless the latter 
can he used in considerable quantity. Even then 
we would recommend covering them with mulch, 
like coarse manure or straw, in order to he sure 
that they were kept quite damp. If any form of 
VHE) RURAIV NEW-YORKER 
that such dust is now finely made from ground 
stems. It is probable that one could safely and ac¬ 
curately believe the fertilizing value of tobacco 
stems to he as much as $20 per ton. But again this 
is better when the stems are ground. 
Pennsylvania. h. a. surface. 
ANTS INJURING CORN. 
I have a patch of sweet corn which did not come up 
well. On opening a number of the hills I found that 
very tiny red ants were eating the seed kernel and they 
also are bothering the young corn shoot as it appears 
above the ground. Can anyone tell me what to do to 
prevent these ants from destroying the corn? They 
do not bother the field corn, which is planted in the 
same kind of soil. \y. w g 
Windsor, N. Y. 
Ants are among the most numerous and most 
widespread of all the animals that inhabit the dry 
parts of the earth. They are also among the most 
ANGORA GOATS ON LONG ISLAND. Fig. 328. 
active, restless, and persistent of all the insects. 
They are constantly ranging the fields, lawns, and 
plants of all descriptions in search of food supplies. 
They are keen of smell, sight, and touch, and above 
all are apparently among the most highly developed 
insects “intellectually.” or as the scientists say are 
endowed with wonderful powers of instinct. All of 
these qualities combine to aid the ants in adapting 
themselves to different kinds of environment and 
enable them to wring a living from the world in 
spite of enormous difficulties. 
Ants are always present in cornfields, as evidenced 
by their numerous burrows in and near the hills of 
corn. In spite of this fact, however, we may say, 
in general, that ants do very little direct injury to 
corn. Occasionally, though, a few ants do injure 
corn by hollowing out the softened and sprouting 
kernels in the earth. As a result, germination is 
either prevented or the young shoot is killed, or 
891 
far as our experience goes, by first treating bone- 
meal or any other powdered fertilizer with the oil 
of tansy and then dropping the fertilizer upon or 
very near each hill.” Other powdered substances 
may do as well as the bonemeal, but one might as 
well fertilize the soil and repel the ants at the same 
time. For a small patch of corn the bonemeal could 
be treated to a liberal supply of the oil of tansy and 
then placed on or near the hills of corn to be pro¬ 
tected. It would probably be best not to put the 
material in contact with the kernels of coni. 
GLENN W. HERRICK. 
FOLLOWING POTATOES WITH POTATOES. 
We have about 10 acres in early and late potatoes. 
The soil is sandy loam, and nearly new, that is, there 
lias only been a crop of buckwheat and rye taken off 
it as far as I can ascertain ; nothing turned under. We 
used a complete potato fertilizer, about 1,700 pounds 
per acre, with a potato planter. We have had practi¬ 
cally no rain since the potatoes were planted, and yet 
the yield of early potatoes in a few rows already dug 
has not been discouraging. However, I find a great 
deal of fertilizer still undissolved in the ground. We 
wiped out the bugs in a short time with arsenate of 
lead and have sprayed with Bordeaux, adding some 
Paris-green to the first application. The plants look 
fine. \\ ould it be wise to use the same land for pota¬ 
toes another year, and plow a Fall-planted cover crop 
under in the early Spring and use less fertilizer next 
year? Or what would be best to follow the potatoes? 
Brightwaters, N. Y. g. a. c. 
Ou general principles your best plan would be to 
sow a cover crop after digging the potatoes, plow it 
under next Spring and plant potatoes again, using, 
say, S00 pounds of fertilizer per acre. There might 
be two objections to this. You may have a definite 
rotation with grain and grass following the potatoes. 
To repeat with potatoes next year would break up 
this rotation and interfere with your plans. The 
fertilizer will not be lost if you follow with grass 
and grain, for these crops will use it. The other 
objection is danger from potato scab when two crops 
are grown in succession on the same land. If the 
crop, when you dig it, is not badly marked with 
scab, you could safely follow with potatoes next 
year. In case you decide to do so dig the crop early 
and work up the soil with cutaway or disk. Sow 
one bushel of rye per acre or half bushel of rye and 
30 pounds of Hairy vetch. Let this grow through 
the Fall and Winter and in Spring chop it up with 
a disk and then plow under for potatoes. This green 
crop, plowed under, will help to prevent scab. 
THE COST OF WATER ANALYSIS. 
I have a well near the house which it would be 
convenient to use and save many steps, but the 
water of which, though clear, lies under suspicion. 
I wrote to the State Board of Health regarding an 
analysis, and have been informed by them that the 
State makes no analysis of private water supplies, 
and that, if I desire such an analysis I should apply 
to chemists who make a business of this, whose 
customary charge is $15. Now we know that water, 
drank daily as it is. proves often an insidious foe to 
health. I am thinking particularly of many farms 
MEETING OF HOLSTEIN CATTLE BREEDERS IN WAUKESHA COUNTY, WISCONSIN. Fig. 329. 
tobacco is to he used, perhaps the best material 
and method of application would be the dust worked 
into the soil to the depth of a few inches. Then 
with water applied, the moisture is retained by the 
straw mulch, and we believe the results would be 
itood, although we must acknowledge that we do 
not know where such experiments have ever been 
1 1 ied, nor where successful results have been ob¬ 
tained by any such methods. The stirring of the 
,s °il> oven to a slight depth in the Fall, would he 
'aluable in helping to destroy the curculio, as would 
also the mixture of the tobacco dust have an insecti- 
1 idal effect as well as a fertilizing value. It has 
been estimated and published that tobacco dust as 
a fertilizer is worth about $24 per ton. It is known 
greatly weakened so that the early growth, at least, 
is much retarded. Probably the correspondent is 
correct when he says that these “red ants are eating 
the seed kernels of corn and bothering the young 
corn shoot as it appears above the ground.” It must 
he said, however, that this injury by ants is rather 
rare and upon the whole insignificant In case of 
corn in a garden, however, this kind of injury might 
become somewhat serious as it evidently has become 
in the foregoing instance. 
Dr. Forbes, of Illinois, who has probably done 
more work on ants in cornfields than any other man 
in this country, has made some experiments which 
show that oil of tansy has a strong repellent effect 
on ants. He says that it “may best be applied, so 
where I have seen wells dangerously near sources of 
contamination. I am thinking, too, of friends who 
have been stricken with disease apparently brought 
on by drinking from such wells. It may he that 
water analysis is costly to perform, but I imagine 
that $15 includes a large margin of profit. Why 
could not a State Board of Health, created for the 
express purpose of doing all in its power to conserve 
the health of the people, perform for its citizens a 
water analysis at cost? I suppose that $15 will de¬ 
ter many from having an analysis made who would 
he glad to have it done on a more reasonable basis. 
I, for one, am compelled to let my convenient well 
alone, and shall continue to lug water from the 
distant spring. M B 
