798 
finally these men were spurred on by absolute ne¬ 
cessity to get together and take care of their own 
business and rights. It would probably be impos¬ 
sible to organize any such company in a community 
where any large proportion of the people did not 
During the year ending August 31, 1014. this farm¬ 
ers’ company handled the following quantities of sup¬ 
plies : 
Date when 
Commodity first handled Quantity 
Coal. Oct. 1013 3,020 tons 
Apples.Oct. 1013 5,336 barrels 
Lumber.March, 1914 SO carloads 
Fence posts.... March, 1914 (10 carloads 
Flour. 213 carloads 
Woven fence wire April, 1914 100,280 rods 
Barbed wire. . . . April, 1914 S.581 rolls of 80 rods 
Binder twine. 2,305,400 pounds 
feel the lash of necessity, or where a proportion of 
the farmers made part of their income by loaning 
money directly to others. Bet any farmer on the 
Atlantic slope think what it would mean to have 
such a company handling milk, potatoes, eggs or 
fruit! 
Bees and Orchard Blight. 
I notice you have bees in orchard and your approval 
of the plan. All looks very well and is all right un¬ 
til there comes a year when the blight sweeps over that 
section as it did through this part of the State last 
year. This blight is carried by bees and insects, and 
the more numerous, the more the damage. The state¬ 
ment was made on the institute platform last Winter 
that bees in orchard were a great damage, and that 
they had done hundreds of dollars worth of damage in 
some orchards the past season. As we had a dose of 
it ourselves, and I spoilt six weeks cutting out little 
blighted twigs, and in some cases lost the whole tree, 
I certainly agreed with the statement, though it was, 
indeed, a great surprise to me to hear such a statement 
made, as I had been of the same opinion as you, in re¬ 
gard to the value of bees in orchard. I. C. K. 
Dansville, N. Y. 
T is generally admitted by practical and scientific 
heemen that bees may carry blight; hut that 
they may do the larger part of it is not proven. 
If all the bees were removed from districts where 
blight has started, there are flies and other insects, 
as well as common ants, to scatter blight right and 
left. The syrphus flies are a common example of a 
fly that looks very much like a yellow-jacket, and 
which frequent the blossoms of fruit-trees in early 
Spring. 
The writer was called to inspect some pear or¬ 
chards in central California, in the San Joaquin 
Valley, about 15 years ago. It was alleged that the 
bees were the sole and only means of scattering the 
blight; hut I proved, beyond any question, that 
young trees just set out, and which had never blos¬ 
somed, were blighted worse than the older trees. 
My riads of ants were crawling all over the old trees 
as well as the young ones; and flies of every de¬ 
scription, as well as bees, were present in the or¬ 
chard. The bees were removed to accommodate the 
fruit growers; but very little fruit set the follow¬ 
ing season, and the pear men were among the first 
to ask to have the bees brought hack. In the mean¬ 
time, they had neglected to prune off the blighted 
limbs. Instead, they applied patent medicines; 
bored holes in the roots of the trees, and poured 
dope into the holes. The result was, that the blight 
practically destroyed the orchard. The destruction 
should not be charged to the bees, but rather to the 
ignorance of quack doctors. 
This matter of blight among ordinary apple trees 
comes and goes certain seasons. Some varieties of 
trees are more immune than others; hut even if we 
admit that the bees do the largest part in the trans¬ 
mission of blight, no less an authority than M. B. 
Waite, of the Department of Agriculture, Washing¬ 
ton, D. C., has made the statement that, even if the 
bees do carry blight, they are indispensable in most 
fruit orchards, especially if the varieties are self- 
sterile to their own pollen. In this opinion he is 
supported by other scientific men and by most of 
our intelligent fruit-growers. The facts are, bees 
do ten times more good than harm in an orchard. 
The great Creator of bees and trees did not intend 
that they should be out of harmony with each 
other; and they are not if man understands his 
job. In the writer’s own orchard last season con¬ 
siderable twig blight showed up in several apple 
trees. I referred the matter to our .State Orchard 
Inspector, N. E. Shaw, at Columbus. He came 
down to inspect the trees; and while he admitted 
there was twig blight, and that the bees might 
have helped to carry it. he told us not to worry 
about it, as it would probably all disappear another 
season, and it did. Intelligent pruning, if the blight 
runs down to a larger limb, will keep the disease in 
check. Very often careless pruning' spreads the 
blight, because the shears or saws which are used 
again on other trees carry with them the infection 
right into the wood. I do not suppose I. C. It. did 
this; but unless he was very careful to prune clear 
THE RUKA.L NEW-YORKER 
back of the blight, and disinfect the tools, he would 
only aggravate the trouble. 
Beekeepers everywhere are being asked to put 
bees in orchards. We have more calls to supply 
bees for the large fruit orchards in our immediate 
vicinity than we can supply. The call has been so 
insistent from the fruit growers that we shall need 
something like a thousand colonies next Spring to 
take care of the demand. One apple orchard of 
50 acres grew 16,000 bushels of apples where our 
bees were placed by request; and we might cite 
hundreds of instances of a like nature, but we will 
refer to only one—the famous Bepp Brothers, of 
Gloucester Co., New Jersey. These people raise ap¬ 
ples and other fruit by the tons and thousands of 
bushels, and yet they say they must have bees and 
plenty of them. Blight? Yes, there may be a 
little of it; but what of it? They cannot get along 
without the bees. 
If I. C. B. will cover some of the limbs of his 
fruit ti’ees with mosquito netting the Spring before 
they come into bloom, on varieties that are sterile 
to their own pollen, he will he surprised to see how 
little fruit will set. Tf he needs authorities as evi¬ 
dence, let him consult the Experiment Station at 
Ithaca, N. Y.; the Experiment Station of Oregon; 
Horticultural Commissioner Dr. A. J. Cook, of Po¬ 
mona College, Berkeley, Cal.; and California is the 
largest fruit growing State in the Union. In fact, I 
suggest that he get in touch with any experiment 
station in the United States. The notion that bees, 
because they may scatter blight in orchards, ought 
to be banished is as foolish as it is unwise. If bees 
are a serious menace to the fruit industry, the great 
mass of fruit growers would have discovered the 
fact years ago; hut many of them are asking to 
have them put on their places. An example of this 
will be found in the next largest cherry orchard 
in the world, at Bellevue, Ohio. Bees are placed 
all over the orchard ; and when enough could not he 
secured some were secured from Florida. 
Ohio. E. B. ROOT. 
Fitting Soil for Strawberries. 
I have a half acre of ground, good elevation, loose 
mellow loam, which I am preparing to set to straw¬ 
berries in Spring, 1016. Will you give me some point- 
tors to enable me to grow bumper crops? I plan to set 
Brandywine. The ground was formerly a brush and 
weed lot, being idle 20 years or so. It was cleared 
off and plowed in 1913, plowed and marked and a ton 
of lime put on Spring of 1014, seeded to Medium clover 
in July, 20 loads of barnyard manure put on in Fall; 
now a fine stand of clover eight inches high. I plan to 
plow it under quite deep about middle of June, work 
it over well and drill in Canada peas and oats and 
again plow under and follow up with rye and oats or 
Timothy for cover crop, plowing it in quite early in 
Spring, 1016, working ground till time to set plants, 
which I usually set about time they commence to 
blossom. I should do as above and should use some 
fertilizer. A. J. k. 
Millport, N. Y. 
TIE best soil for strawberries is rich mellow 
loam. It must he full of available plant food 
in order to feed the strawberry plants quickly, 
and he well stuffed with organic matter in order to 
hold the moisture properly. This organic matter 
would better not he from stable manure if possible, 
as that introduces too many weeds. The soil should 
not he too close to an old meadow or pasture or 
too close to an application of lime. The old sod 
means white grub, the worst insect enemy of the 
strawberry. The lime means an alkaline soil and 
the strawberry does better in a slightly acid condi¬ 
tion. If you have given thorough culture so as to 
kill out the white grubs, this insect should not 
bother. A recent application of lime is the worst 
feature in this connection, hut plowing under one 
or two sappy green crops will overcome this ob¬ 
jection. With the soil as you describe it we should 
plow the green clover under at about the time it 
comes in bloom. Then fit the ground well and sow 
a mixture of buckwheat and Cow-horn turnips. The 
oats and peas will not do so well when seeded at this 
late season. The buckwheat and turnips will give a 
heavy growth and may be plowed under in Septem¬ 
ber, at which time we should sow a combination of 
rye and Hairy vetch. The rye will live through 
the Winter, and possibly the vetch will make some 
showing next Spring. We should plow this crop 
under in the Spring of 1916, in time to fit the ground 
properly for strawberry planting. After plowing 
this crop under pack the soil with a roller or a 
heavy drag, then harrow up the surface as fine as 
possible and plant the strawberries. At the time 
of planting we should scatter along the rows of ber¬ 
ries about 600 pounds to the acre of a fertilizer 
containing 2% of nitrogen, 9% of phosphoric acid 
and 6% or 7% of potash. The best way to apply 
this would he in a wide strip along where the rows 
are to be set, then work the fertilizer in well with a 
harrow or cultivator and set out the plants. The 
Brandywine is a good variety in soil and sections 
June 12, 1915. 
where it is adapted, but this matter of strawberry 
variety is not one for an outsider to decide, riant 
the old standard variety which from experience does 
best in your locality, and on soil similar to yours.* 
Far better do this than to chase after some new and 
exploited variety which may explode on your hands 
as the result of its exploitation. 
Pit Silo in the Sand. 
N page 392, under caption “A Pit Silo in Sand” 
you invite discussion of a question asked by 
G. W. S. of Holland, Mich., in regard to de¬ 
tails of construction of a concrete silo below the 
ground. Permit me to consider this as a shaft- 
Mnking proposition to he handled from a mining 
engineer’s point of view. This is the identical prob¬ 
lem which has confronted some of the mining eom- 
j aides in this region during the last few yeai’s, and 
I think I am safe in saying that any professional 
mining man would consider it a rare form of i*ecrea- 
tion to direct the sinking of a concrete “drop shaft” 
eight feet, in diameter to a depth of only 25 feet 
through dry sand. Depths of over 150 feet have 
been attained in this part of the State by concrete 
shafts put down through quicksand and boulders 
against such fearful odds that even among the min¬ 
ing fraternity the results often appeared doubtful 
until the final watertight seal was made several 
feet in the solid ledge. 
If G. W. S. will follow the general plan he has 
suggested, I am confident that he will he agree¬ 
ably surprised with the results obtained and the 
ease with which the concrete will descend as the ex¬ 
cavation beneath progresses. The idea of a cutting 
edge at the bottom of the eonei’ete will do no harm, 
hut is entirely unneeessaiy. At the start, I would 
suggest that an excavation he made to a depth of 
four feet, thus bringing top of the forms level with 
the original surface of the ground. Most of this 
material would have to be excavated anyway, so 
that a distinct advantage will be gained in facili¬ 
tating the handling of the wet concrete between the 
mixing floor and the forms. It is doubtful if any 
weighting or loading will he necessary to assist the 
descent of the eonci’ete after excavating is started, 
although as depth is attained the speed of descent 
may he somewhat lessened. 
In regard to the reinforcing and conci*ete mix- 
ture, I do not cai'e to offer any advice, as the “min¬ 
ing” end of the question is the only part I have had 
any experience with. The strains on a eonei’ete 
shaft 25 feet in diameter, 150 feet deep, under a 
water pressure produced by a head of over 100 feet 
would offer totally diffei-ent computations from the 
cue in question. If G. W. S. will confer with the 
Michigan Agricultural College or the State Univer¬ 
sity, he will probably get the desired information 
on actual proportions of cement, sand and gravel 
best suited to this particular case. 
Michigan. harry t. iiulst. 
Scooping Out the Hole. 
Constructing a pit silo in sand, as described 
by G. W. S. on page 392 by sinking concrete 
rings as the excavation is made, would incur 
serious difficulties which would make progress very 
slow, and the cost would he unnecessarily big. Hav¬ 
ing had considerable experience, during the past 15 
years, in sinking shafts and various other kinds 
of excavation, I would suggest that G. W. S. make 
an excavation much larger than is necessai*y for the 
silo proper, so that the banks can be carried down 
on a one foot or a l 1 /* to one foot slope, ac¬ 
cording to the firmness of the sand, thus eliminating 
any danger of caving or sliding. In this way any 
required depth can be obtained with little difficulty. 
In regard to the conci*ete, I would not advise till¬ 
ing a form with a sand and cement mortal*, as this 
would cause the use of neai’ly five times the amount 
of cement necessary, if it were possible to obtain 
good sci*eened gi*avel or crushed stone. It is possible 
to purchase from several firms manufacturing fire- 
proofing materials, such as metal lath and other ma¬ 
terials of expanded metals, all tested as to strength, 
etc., which the manufacturers will shape into any 
size circle or segment at small cost, and this makes 
the finest kind of reinforcement. 
After the required depth is obtained put in the 
cement and sand mortar bottom to a good thickness, 
at least two feet outside the circumference of the 
silo walls. Now set the expanded metal rings and 
plaster on the outside or earthside. The manu¬ 
facturers of the expanded metal give adequate in¬ 
structions for mixing and applying the cement plas¬ 
ter. As the finish coat is applied and has sufficient¬ 
ly set, start the hack tilling and so on to the top. 
The inside can be finished any time. In this man¬ 
ner the plaster can be applied to almost any thick¬ 
ness desired, and there will he no leaky joints, as 
might he the case with concrete, thos. b. garrison. 
