1914 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Home Acre. 
Bee Moth ; Squash Borer. 
1. Do you know any remedy for worms 
in beehives? 2. What will prevent squash 
borers? j. it. f. 
Ellisville, Ark. 
1. The worms found in the honeycomb 
of unused hives or weak colonies are 
hatched from eggs laid by the bee moth 
and are best prevented from making their 
appearance by keeping only strong col¬ 
onies of Italian or hybrid bees in the 
apiary and using care to store unused 
comb where the moths cannot get at it. 
A good colony of Italians or even of hy¬ 
brids will protect itself from the ravages 
of the bee moth, while ordinary black 
bees, especially if the colony is weak, 
seem unable to keep the moths out of 
their hives. Strong colonies in good 
hives will protect themselves, and comb 
outside of hives may be fumigated with, 
sulphur fumes to kill any eggs or worms 
present, and then stored in some moth 
tight place to protect them. 
2. I know of no remedy for the squash 
borers other than that usually recom¬ 
mended of slitting the wilted vine length¬ 
wise until the borer is found and then re¬ 
moving it and covering several joints of 
the vine with earth to enlarge the root 
system of the plant and aid in its sup¬ 
port. This borer hatches from eggs laid 
upon the stem of the plant by moths and 
then burrows into the vine. These moths 
fly at twilight, and until the vines be¬ 
come too large, they may be protected by 
wire or mosquito netting stretched over 
the ordinary cucumber boxes usually set 
about such plants. m. b. d. 
Handling a Muck Soil. 
IIow should the land described below 
be treated and what crops are best 
adapted for cultivation? The land in 
question contains between two and three 
acres and consists of a muck bed about 
eight or 10 inches deep along the outside 
and a number of feet deep in the center. 
The toj) layer, which is about eight inch- 
os in thickness, is rich in humus, and 
the soil underneath is black and mellow. 
The bottom soil is clay. The land can 
easily be drained. This bed of muck is 
located in a deep gully surrounded by 
hills, and is well protected by woods oil 
three sides. Into it has been washed the 
soil, etc., from these hills since time im¬ 
memorial. j. s. R. 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
Every piece of land requires special 
study and attention in order to handle 
it properly. Generally speaking, how¬ 
ever, muck lands are sour, and they re¬ 
quire lime. They contain considerable 
quantities of nitrogen, but it is rarely 
available for plant food, until the ground 
has been well drained, limed and cul¬ 
tivated. Muck soils are also deficient in 
phosphoric acid, and very much so in 
potash. The first thing to do with such a 
soil is to drain it, so as to take out the 
surplus water, and reduce the water level. 
Then plow or disk the ground, and put on 
at least one ton to the acre of air-slaked 
lime. Harrow it thoroughly in. We 
would then, to start with, plant corn and 
use in tin 1 hill about 400 pounds to the 
acre of a mixture of three parts fine 
ground bone, to one of muriate of potash. 
Give good culture, and sow rye and clover 
at the last cultivation. The following 
year this soil will be ready for practically 
any farm crop, if the drainage has been 
well done. Such soils are generally very 
line hay land, and also excellent for 
onions, cabbage, celery, and similar truck 
crops. 
Watermelon and Corn Questions. 
I. What are the best methods, other 
than plugging, of telling when water¬ 
melons are fit for use? 2. Is there any 
way of successfully starting garden corn 
in pots or sods, or any way to get it 
early? ' o. b. 
^ ilia Nova, Ontario. 
I. It is quite easy to make a mistake 
in picking watermelons. Even an ex¬ 
pert will sometimes get fooled. Some 
press on the melon with the palm of the 
hand, and if they hear a cracking sound 
inside the melon they feel sure it is ripe. 
This is not the best way, however, for 
the pressure cracks the core, or heart, 
and the melon does not open as nicely 
as before it was cracked. Personally I 
prefer the thumping method, and when 
melons ripen normally it is fairly reliable. 
A ripe melon will have a thick, heavy, 
dense or solid sound when thumped, 
while a green melon will sound hollow 
and empty. The degree of ripeness in 
the melon governs the degree of hollow¬ 
ness in the sound. Melons on dead vines 
sometimes have a hollow sound when 
thumped even when red inside. Such 
melons are known as “clinkers,” and are 
very poor eating. 
2. Garden corn can be started under 
glass in paper pots and transplanted to 
the field in much the same manner as 
tomatoes. Such a method would be all 
right for a garden, but because of early 
Southern shipments it would not pay us 
here to go into it in a commercial way. 
TRUCKER, JR. 
Water Cress on the Farm. 
One of the most delicious vegetables 
in the world is water cress, and yet with 
few exceptions the farmers are doing 
without this delicacy when they could 
have it freely and for nothing more than 
the gathering. England is full of water 
cress. It grows wild in the running 
brooklets, in the hedge ditches and along 
small river banks; it is on every table 
in season and on sale in every city, town 
and village, but here in our own coun¬ 
try it is found only in the markets of 
the great cities. Yet we have unexampled 
facilities in the millions of free running 
springs that in many States are found 
in such profusion. All that is demanded 
for the raising of cress is a running 
spring of pure water. Five cents will 
buy a packet of seed from any seedsman. 
Sow seeds in the mud at the edge of the 
water. They germinate easily and the 
plants will soon fill the bed of the stream 
and continue to spread down its channel. 
If growing near the source of the spring 
where the waters are warm, it will be 
ready for use in February and March, 
while the garden is still bare. It is 
surely not exaggerating to say that it is 
the equal of lettuce or of celery. No 
vegetable is more wholesome. I have 
seen a few who did not fancy it at first 
taste, but the same may be said of cel¬ 
ery. Do not fail to stock your spring 
branch with cress and enjoy at no cost 
but the gathering a delicious vegetable 
that city people pay high prices for. 
Here is a chance for some enterprising 
boy or girl to make some money. Be the 
first to sell water cress in your town. 
Give away samples of it and thus develop 
a line of customers. It will be all easy 
pleasant work, for the cutting of the 
cress by snipping off the stems with 
shears is simple work even for a child. 
But if you undertake to start a bed it 
must be protected from the poultry and 
live stock, for they like it so well that 
they would quickly eat it all up. En¬ 
close a few yards below the spring. If 
the stream bed be very narrow, widen it 
so the water will spread over a level 
space at a depth of from one to three or 
four inches. Cress is at its best when 
pure spring water runs through it. 
L. R. JOHNSON. 
Cape Girardeau Co., Mo. 
WANT TO KNOW. 
Protecting The Bank of a Stream. 
There is a stream running through my 
farm, about 40 feet in width. At one 
point the stream has formed an island, 
in the center, and in making its 
way around the island has caved in 
the bank on one side. At this 
point the stream is steadily eating 
away the bank. Can any of your read¬ 
ers offer a method by which I can pro¬ 
tect this bank from further encroach¬ 
ment? Can you tell me the principle of 
the Eads jetties in use on the Mississippi, 
and whether the principle would be ap¬ 
plicable to the protection of the banks of 
a small stream? 
JOHN ALAN HAMILTON. 
Erie Co., N. Y. 
Training A Dog.—II ow should I train 
a collie dog, and also how keep him from 
taking any food from strangers? 
Alwent, Pa. j. m. l. 
Grimm Alfalfa. —I note on page Gl!) 
comments by F. E. Robertson on Alfalfa 
growing in Jefferson Co., N. Y„ and il¬ 
lustration of the Grimm and Turkestan 
varieties. In Putnam Co., N. Y.. last ! 
Summer I seeded two plots, identical as 
to previous treatment and location, one 
with Colorado grown seed and the other 
with Grimm. Today the Grimm is at j 
least a week earlier than the other, was 
not injured by heaving ground, and the , 
crowns contain more leaf shoots. Both 
stands would be considered good. 
New York. h. w. iiealy. 
743 
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