1313 
THE RUK.A.L NEW-YOKKEK 
November 7, 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
[Every query must be accompanied by the 
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attention. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
Indian Meal-Moth in Dried Fruit. 
W ILL you give a remedy for “mil¬ 
lers” and “worms” in raspberries? 
After evaporating my berries I 
spread them on u floor upstairs in the 
bouse and the room is filled with “mil¬ 
lers” and there are eggs .nd worms in 
the berries. w. M. B. 
Watkins, N. Y. 
Dried fruits of all kinds, raisins, cur¬ 
rants, peaches, plums, apricots, and 
others are liable to become infested -with 
an insect commonly known as the Indian- 
meal moth. Undoubtedly the insect re¬ 
sponsible for the injuries to the dried 
berries referred to in the foregoing let¬ 
ter is the same meal-moth. The Indian- 
meal moth is distributed all over the 
United States and as Holland says “has 
a propensity to feed upon almost any¬ 
thing edible that comes its way.” In 
addition to feeding on dried fruits it 
will attack meal, flour, crackers, and al¬ 
most any cereal. The whitish or pink¬ 
ish larva has the pernicious habit of 
spinning a web wherever it goes, which 
entangles the particles of food, binds 
them together in a webbed mass and 
makes the material unfit for food. This 
is especially true of cereals like flour 
and meal. The small white eggs are 
laid singly or in groups of a half dozen 
or more on the material upon which the 
insects happen to be working. In a few 
days the eggs hatch and the larvae ma¬ 
ture in hot weather in about three weeks. 
There may be several broods during a 
season, thus enabling the insects to in¬ 
crease very fast and become exceedingly 
numerous in a comparatively short time. 
In this particular case, probably the 
best way to destroy the insects is to place 
the fruit in a tight barrel or box and 
fumigate it with carbon bi’ulphid 1 '. The 
liquid should be used at the rate of two 
pounds to 1.000 cubic feet of space. For 
■in ordinary barrel a teacupful should 
suffice. The liquid should be poured into 
i shallow basin and set on top of the 
fruit to stand there and evaporate. The 
top of the box or barrel should be cov¬ 
ered with moistened newspaper and then 
a thick blanket or two to keep the gas 
from escaping. Care should be exer¬ 
cised not to go near the box or barrel 
with a light of any kind until after 
the blankets have been removed and the 
gas has dissipated itself. Carbon bi¬ 
sulphide is explosive and inflammable 
but otherwise is not dangerous. It will 
not injure the dried fruit. 
GLENN W. HERRICK. 
Breeding Habits of Snakes. 
In order to settle a dispute, will you 
To]] us whether snakes lay eggs or bear 
living young? j. s. 
Snakes may be classed roughly as 
oviparous or viviparous. The former lay 
eggs and the latter bear living young. 
There is no hard and fast line between 
these groups, as some species lay eggs 
in which the young are already well de¬ 
veloped and which, therefore, are not 
long in hatching. An example of this 
class is the ring-necked snake. The eggs 
are known to have hatched in a period of 
41 days from the time of laying. Among 
our common oviparous snakes are the 
hog-nose snake, or spreading adder, the 
common black snake, fox, chicken, and 
milk snakes. The eggs of these snakes 
hatch in periods varying from six to 11 
weeks. The coral snake is an exception 
among poisonous species in that it is ovi¬ 
parous. The incubation period is about 
12 weeks. 
The water and garter snakes and most 
poisonous species, as the cotton-mouth, 
copperhead, and rattlesnake, are vivi¬ 
parous. So far as we know there is no 
data on the exact length of gestation in 
these snakes. As stated above, the vivi¬ 
parous is not entirely distinct from the 
oviparous habit. Instead of saying that 
these poisonous and other viviparous 
snakes bear their young alive we may 
just as well say that they retain the eggs 
within the body until they are hatched. 
If one of the snakes is cut open during 
an advanced state of gestation it will 
easily be seen that this is the exact state 
of affairs. It is probable, therefore, that 
the duration of gestation in these species 
is not strikingly different from that of 
incubation in the egg-laying snakes. 
W. L. MC ATEE, 
Assistant Biologist. 
U. S. Biological Survey. 
THE GARDENS OF THE EAST. 
C limatic difficulties.—i have 
just returned from attendance upon 
the seventh annual meeting of the Vege¬ 
table Growers’ Association of America. 
It took 1,100 miles of railway travel, and 
I ■was only gone 100 hours from home, yet 
I feel that I have never made so profita¬ 
ble a trip, as measured by what i saw and 
the enlarged grasp I got on the problems 
connected with feeding the so-called non¬ 
producing class. I saw that the difficul¬ 
ties attending the treatment of farming 
as a fixed science either in precept or 
practice are being greatly reduced by up- 
to-date gardening as practiced in supply¬ 
ing the great eastern cities with food. 
Ordinarily everywhere climatic conditions 
make crop production a gamble every min¬ 
ute of the time, and often labor, seed and 
fertilizer are buried in a grave which 
under favorable conditions would have 
been a teeming birthplace. Many gener¬ 
ations ago gardeners made a climate whol¬ 
ly under control by inclosing small areas 
under glass. Now many acres are under 
glass near every city of any importance. 
Flowers By The Acre.— I visited 
such a place near Baltimore on my 
w T ay, where 267,000 small geraniums were 
grown, and before next June more than 
1.000,000 w T ill be started at a time of year 
when all out-of-doors vegetation is dor¬ 
mant. Of the six acres of glass nearly 
one was housing 38,000 stock plants from 
which two girls were taking cuttings 
while another was sticking them in 
benches of -warm sand. In the service 
room adjoining, six girls were potting 
rooted cuttings at the rate of 12,000 per 
day. In one house were thousands of 
dwarf hardy Chrysanthemums in five-inch 
pots just ready to bloom. These will be 
shipped to florists all over the country, 
and the customers who buy will enjoy 
their beauty and then plant them in the 
border, where they will give flowers for 
many years at a season when tender 
plants have succumbed to October frosts. 
Outside there was more than fifty acres 
planted to Cannas and Dahlias, and on 
the 5th of October the sight was gorgeous 
indeed. 
Vegetable Plants. —The farm was 
not all flowers, however. In one 
block was growing 3,000,000 cabbage 
plants, the product of 60 ounds of seed. 
I "was shown a bin containing bags of cab¬ 
bage seed for future use, and I should 
judge that it would fill more than two 
barrels. The plants growing will be sold 
to gardeners along the bay north of Bal¬ 
timore for immediate planting. The 
plants are set on the north side of ridges 
and the mild climate, made so by the 
proximity of the ocean, carries them 
through the Winter. 
Truck Under Irrigation.— In the 
days following I saw at Bustleton, 
in the northeast portion of Phila¬ 
delphia, and at Bridgeton, in southern 
New Jersey, practical examples of garden¬ 
ing carried on in direct disregard of wea¬ 
ther conditions. Water forced through 
perforated pipes on tall posts gives a 
shower whenever necessary, the rain¬ 
maker being a large gasoline engine in 
the packing shed, whose wants are at¬ 
tended to with scarcely any loss of time 
by one of the helpers. At Bustleton cel¬ 
ery under irrigation was a foot taller 
than that without, and at Bridgeton, 
where 55 acres were under irrigation, all 
sorts of crops were being grown. Straw¬ 
berries had proved very profitable, the 
crop from one 12-acre field selling for 
$8,000. Catch crops of spinach and cel¬ 
ery grown the year before had more than 
paid the expenses of labor in growing 
themselves, and the strawberries. For 
the water supply a very small, inoffen¬ 
sive-looking brook had been dammed, 
making a pond of a few rods in extent. 
The big, greasy, gasoline engine which 
turned this brook water into rain was an 
unsubdued “knocker,” but it knocked with 
a purpose and got results. 
Overhead Irrigation. —There is no 
question that overhead irrigation has 
come to stay, and on any farm where 
there is an engine, a garden spot could 
be irrigated with a very little expense. 
Irrigation is especially valuable at trans¬ 
planting time, and the opportunity to 
carry early crops through an April or 
May drought gives success in the place of 
failure. I should think that on Hope 
Farm, where spring water is found at the 
highest point that irrigation could be 
done by gravity alone. 
Weeding. —At the Skinner place just 
described, I was reminded of what I 
wrote recently in regard to weeds. A 
gang of 15 Italians were hoeing lettuce. 
They walked backward, each man hoeing 
three rows, but they were not hoeing any 
weeds which were big enough to see. 
They were hoeing to bring the particles of 
rich loam and humus into new combina¬ 
tions with the fertilizer. Incidentally 
they interfered with weed growth. 
Chinese Cabbage. —One of the inter¬ 
esting things at this place was an 
acre of the comparatively recently intro¬ 
duced Chinese cabbage. This looks more 
like a huge bunch of celery than cab¬ 
bage, having an upright growth with 
large midribs with numerous branches 
which clasp around the bunch and en¬ 
close a fine, well-balanced center. The 
quality is fine, but has the true cabbage 
taste, and the same pronounced perfume 
when decaying. A woman from Michi¬ 
gan who had her curiosity aroused by see¬ 
ing some on exhibition at the Toledo meet¬ 
ing last year grew an acre this year, and 
sold recently 6,000 heads to a Detroit 
dealer for eight cents per head. It packs 
nicely in upright crates like celery, and 
seems likely to become generally grown. 
Second Crop Potatoes. —One of the 
crops being considerably grown in South 
Jersey is late planted potatoes for 
seed. They are a second crop after mid- 
Summer garden crops, an! were in very 
vigorous growth at the time of the excur¬ 
sion. Owing to drought they were quite 
backward in setting tubers, and would 
require considerably more warm weather 
to be a success this year. 
Legumes Fob Humus. —I saw no 
evidence of Summer manure being accu¬ 
mulated anywhere in our excursions, ex¬ 
cept on one Philadelphia farm, where it 
appeared to be the accumulation of daily 
drawing from city stables. In South Jer¬ 
sey I was told that they were getting to 
depend upon legumes for humus and com¬ 
mercial fertilizers for plant food. We 
saw several fields of Crimson clover just 
beginning to make the ground green, and 
now and then patches of beans and peas. 
Corn grows to large size in South Jersey 
and they husk it before cutting, and then 
cut the stalks, and cut it so low that less 
than an inch of stalk is left above ground. 
I guessed, but do not know, that this 
closely-cleared ground was to be disked 
and sown to some cover crop. 
L. b. pierce. 
SULPHUR 
for SPRAYIN G PU RPOSES 
The Best Sulphur for Lime Sulphur Solution. 
Combines easily and quickly with Lime. 
T. & S. C. WHITE CO., BERGENPORT SULPHUR WORKS 
100 William Street, ... NEW YORK 
—Take Orders for Chemicals — 
$1,500.00 Earned Last Winter by an 
Agent Selling Fertilizer Materials for 
HOME MIXING 
Anyone Willing to Work Hard 
(no other* wanted) 
Can Establish Permanent Paying Business. 
Write Today for particulars 
NITRATE AGENCIES COMPANY 
106 Pearl Street, New York City 
I 
Pine Needles for Mulch. 
HAVE a small strawberry bed, and do 
not seem to have much available ma¬ 
terial for a mulch. Would pine needles 
answer the purpose? There is a pine 
grove near me and it might be possible to 
get into it with a team to draw them 
out. Would there be the objection of 
using them for bedding that there is with 
same quantity of pine sawdust? L. n. 
Hartland, Vt. 
The pine needles or “pine straw” as it 
is called in the South, will answer. In 
some parts of the truck section in the 
South this “straw” is largely used. 
Pond Mud on Grass. 
W OULD it be practicable to use pond 
mud on grass land to get a crop of 
hay? If not what would you advise 
mixing with it? D. w. 
Foxboro, Mass. 
A ton of the pond mud would contain 
about six pounds of nitrogen and but lit¬ 
tle potash or phosphoric acid. The best 
way to use it would be to haul out dur¬ 
ing Fall and Winter and put in piles well 
mixed with lime. Let it ferment or com¬ 
post through the Winter, and spread 
thickly over the grass in the Spring. You 
ought to use in connection with it a fer¬ 
tilizer high in phosphoric acid, and as 
much potash as you can get this year. 
@ $1.15 per gal.; 
choice potatoes® 50c. 
per bn.; choice (iiant potatoes, for seed, @ 75c. per 
bn., in car loads, F.O.B. JAY T. SMITH, Rupert, Vermont 
VermontMapleSyrup^ 
per bit.; choice Giant potatoes. 
BANKER’S APPLETREES F T, E no RO to D !i S am S o E 
SPECIAL PRICES. A square deal on all kinds of trees 
and vines. 1>. G. 1IANKEK, Dansville, N. Y. 
M CDONALD—DEWBERRY—BLACKBERRY HYBRID. Try this new her 
r.v. The earliest and most productive berry in exist¬ 
ence. Plants are evergreen and have produced berries two 
inches long. Pricelist. J. E. FITZGERALD, Stephenville, Texas 
A NEW SPRAYER 
MOST FOR THE MONEY 
EVER OFFERED 
“FRIEND” 
SPECIAL 
A complete gasoline power 
sprayer for the grower who 
doesn’t buy the big KING 
or QUEEN. Only a limited 
number will be built this 
season. If interested write 
today to the makers— 
“FRIEND” MFG. CO., GASPORT, N.Y. 
Agents Get Busy 
BIGGEST AND BEST LINE EVER OFFERED 
Harrisons’ RAY Peach 
Tops All the Markets 
Rav is the wonder fruit 
for prices ami yields—can't 
be surpassed. Elborta. 
Crawford. Carman, Belle of 
Georgia, are other good varie¬ 
ties, but Ray is the lender. Har¬ 
rison trees are budded from bearing 
orchards — they are true to name. 
Grown by experts in the biggest nurser¬ 
ies in tlie world, strong, hardy. Don’t 
waste time with common trees when you 
can get Harrisons. Write for our book on 
Peaches and other fruits. 
HARRISONS’ NURSERIES 
Box 594, Berlin, Md. 
FOR SALE—IN CAR LOAD LOTS 
GERMAN CA TTLE BEETS 
Best Mangle Grown. $6 per ton, F. O. B., Auburn, 
N. Y. T. E. BARLOW, Supt., Auburn, New York 
SWEET CLOVER SEED - nittl yellow. Special 
priCCS for UUtUIlHl 
shipment, sent on request. E. BARTON, 8o< 29, FALMOUTH, KY. 
S T i 
REGIS RASPBERRY PLANTS for sale 
Brice reasonable. PAUL L. HEGGAN, Waterford, N. J 
F or sale—ccthrert raspberries 
$'J per H O: $11) per 1.000. 
JAMES THOMAS,Garthmyl Poultry Farm,Williamstown, Mass. 
St. Regas Raspberry Plants 
Plant St Regas. Don’t wait until everybody gets 
them They ai e a money-maker. They come earlier 
than any others grown in this section, where they 
originated, ami pick nntil frost. The best of refer 
ence. ARTHUR R. HEGGAN, Waterford, N. J. 
F OR EARLY RESULTS, permanency, excellent quality 
and profit, try the DOUGLAS FEAR. Intro, 
duced by A. If . GR1ESA, "The Pines," Lawrence, Kas. 
_ Trees—Plants—Vines 
In small or large lots at wholesale 
ip, 7 prices. Catalog and Green’s Fruit 
Book—FRFR. Green's Nursery Co. 
22 Wall St., Rochester, N Y. 
'6 
FRUIT TREES 
STRAWBERRY, RASPBERRY, BLACKBERRY. ASPARAGUS 
Plants. Catalogue) free. HARRY L. SQUIRES. Remscnburg, H. Y. 
300,000 
APPLE TREES 
Only 6Vic. each 
EVERYBODY likes well-flavored fruit grown from right- 
quality trees. Luscious, juicy apples are great 
money makers. Our trees are First Class—True lo 
name—and line growing. Fresh Roots—No Scale— 
Satisfaction guaranteed. Send for valuable Free 
Book and bargain Price List, GET IT NOW. 
REILLY BROS. NURSERIES 
7 Reilly Road 
Dansville, N.Y. 
300,000 
APPLES 
Budded on whole roots of French seedlings 6-7 ft.. 12c.; 6-6 ft., 9c.; 4-5 ft., 6c.; 
3%-i ft. branched, 4J4c.; 200,000 Peaches OJ-tje.; 7c; 4]$c.; 3Hc.; and thousands 
of Pear, Plum, Cherry, Quince, Grapes, Roses and small fruits. Book order 
now, pay in Spring'. Buy from the man who grows hit own trees and save dis¬ 
appointment later. Catalog free to everybody. Send card todav for yours. 
THOMAS E. SHEERIN, NURSERYMAN, 21 Main St„ DANSVILLE, N. Y. 
