mo. 
THE RT_JRA.I> NEW-YORKER 
773 
A CASE OF ALFALFA RUST. 
H. H. C., Avondale, Pa .—I have read all 
the farm papers for years, but don't know 
what to do with Alfalfa that turns yellow. 
We cut it about three weeks ago when just 
a flower was showing, too early, perhaps, 
but did not want the wild poppy to seed. 
Then we gave it a good dressing of manure 
out of the mushroom houses. Tt started 
and is eight inches high. About ten days 
ago we had a bad hailstorm, and hoped 
that was the cause. It had lime and soil 
from Alfalfa field, manure, etc., on land 
that will raise big corn, and we cut I should 
say IV 2 ton to the acre first cutting. It 
was sown last August. 
Ans. —It is probable that this field has 
Alfalfa rust. The best thing to do, un¬ 
der most such circumstances, is to watch 
it a little, and see if the plant does not 
recover of itself, and if found that it will 
not, if the rust stops the growth, the 
leaves continue to turn yellow, then clip 
it carefully, cutting low, and being sure 
that no plants are left uncut, either by 
being missed by the mower, or around 
the edges of the field. Make hay of the 
cutting, but get it off the field before 
the young growth starts much. Prob¬ 
ably one clipping will restore the plant 
to its normal condition. Alfalfa rust 
used to be blamed more than its share 
for Alfalfa’s turning yellow. At pres¬ 
ent we seldom have a complaint of it, or 
at least where we are sure that the 
trouble is this, and not some other thing. 
It is likely to appear, however, in any 
of the humid States, and there is no 
known way certainly to cure or prevent 
it. Do not be alarmed, however, by this 
statement. The cases where it does any 
real serious damage are few and far be¬ 
tween. Once or twice I have seen it kill 
the Alfalfa outright, in limited area. 
Frequently I have seen it cut a hay crop 
somewhat short, but usually, in fact 
nearly always, the observance of a few 
simple, although unexplainable, rules, 
will prevent any serious trouble. The 
disease is a fungus, as the various grain 
rusts are. Unlike grain rust it may ap¬ 
pear in dry weather, although it is more 
likely to come in showery times. Fre¬ 
quently it will check the growth of the 
plants for a short time, and then the 
great vitality of the Alfalfa will get the 
best of it, and growth will proceed nor¬ 
mally. Clipping the field, carefully, and 
removing the hay, is the only known 
remedy. I incline to the opinion that 
the hailstorm caused the rust with this 
correspondent. Why it should I have 
no idea, but I do know that if you drive 
a wagon through a rapidly growing field 
it will frequently cause rust, appearing 
along the path made, and extending out 
from it. I try never to drive, or even 
walk through the meadow, after it has 
made much growth, or especially in wet 
weather, for fear of starting this rust. 
The manure wagon, if it runs after the 
plants had made a growth of say four 
inches, might cause the rust to appear. 
Or it might appear for no discernable 
cause. If a field rusts and any plants 
are left standing, when clipped, the rust 
will spread right on out from these, un¬ 
til it covers considerable area. 
Ohio. CHAS. B. WING. 
Save the Old Meadows. 
F. C., Silver Creek, X. Y .—I have a plot 
of ground that is in moadow, this boing 
the second year. This plot is gravel land 
and has been one of the most productive 
parts of our farm. The farm for several 
years was worked on shares, and the piece 
was cropped twice each season for several 
years until it did not produce as it for¬ 
merly did. We will get a good crop of 
hay from it this year, but the man who is 
doing our work thinks it might be advan¬ 
tageous to the soil to plow the sod under, 
after the hay is cut, and this Fall again 
seed down to grass. This is the only 
meadow I shall have for another season, 
but I shall seed other ground next Spring 
for meadow. Do you think it would be best 
to leave this alone and harvest our hay 
cron from it another year and then put 
into some other crop, or would you advise 
plowing under and again seeding this Fall 
and possibly keeping it in hay for an¬ 
other two years? 
Ans. —Under such circumstance we 
should keep this land in grass until we 
were sure of the new seeding. We 
should use 300 pounds or more per acre 
of a good grass fertilizer and expect in 
this way to cut a fair crop of hay. The 
plan of turning over sod and reseeding 
at once is not the best. We would 
rather grow some hoed crop first to 
clean the ground. Our advice is to keep 
the old meadow and fertilize it until 
you are sure of new one. 
Mixed Fertilizer and Insecticide. 
J. li. L. (A'o Address ).—The Fruit Grow¬ 
er advertises an insecticide made by Lafer 
of Ohio, which claims to destroy insects on 
the tree when put on the ground around 
the tree. What is there to it? 
Ans. —We understand that this is a 
combination of fertilizing chemicals and 
some form of arsenic. It seems to be 
a sort of “catchall” mixture made on 
the theory that if you put a good many 
different things together you may strike 
something useful. It is reported from 
Ohio that whole orchards have died 
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from the effect of San Jose scale after 
this mixture was used. The mixture did 
not kill the scale, while oil or lime- 
sulphur would have done so. For years 
it has been claimed that various sub¬ 
stances put in the soil, will rise in the 
sap into the tree and destroy insects or 
disease, but the theory has never been 
demonstrated. In Colorado it has been 
shown that arsenic is actually carried in 
the sap and deposited in small quantities 
in the bark, wood and fruit of tree. 
Prof. Smith, of New Jersey, used large 
quantities of kainit in a peach orchard 
and found that under some circum¬ 
stances salt was taken up and appeared 
in the leaves so that it could be tasted. 
Sulphate of iron was also used, but it 
had no effect upon the scale. We have 
had no advice that would justify the 
belief that insects can be destroyed by 
using chemicals through the sap. Mr. 
Lafer no doubt fully believes in his in¬ 
secticide, but that is not evidence of its 
value. 
California Notes. —Bains ceased April 
first, and we have had short spells of heat 
ranging anywhere from 100° to 112° in 
the shade, sometimes for several successive 
days. Though there is probably less physi¬ 
cal discomfort at the same given tempera¬ 
ture than in a very humid climate, it is no 
breach of confidence to say that these fur¬ 
nace-like temperatures are anything but 
pleasant. Vegetation suffers, according to 
my observation, rather more than in the 
moist eastern climates at the same tem¬ 
perature. The local papers keep up the 
courage of their readers during these hot 
spells by publishing items with scare 
heads, recounting the suffering, deaths and 
prostrations from eastern heat waves. 
Crops in this locality have not been as good 
as is generally given out. Grain and fruits 
of all kinds suffered from dry hot winds 
and early hot waves. Alfalfa is the “King 
I.ee” of all local products. Those having a 
fair acreage and p.enty of water to keep 
it going have little to complain of. 
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