114 
January 25, 1919 
this kind, and the young breeder who early chooses 
this system of agricultural operations will clearly 
outrank, in the years to come, his neighbor who 
persists in fiddling along with mongrel cows pos¬ 
sessed only with the dairy inclinations and butterfat 
illusions. This breed of cattle was developed in 
England, by Bates. Booth and Cruikshank to serve as 
a rent-paying agency, and what they did and are 
continuing to perform for the British tenant farmer, 
they are bound to accomplish for the American 
farmer who is face to face with problems very 
similar to those encountered by the old-country 
farmer. f. c. m. 
The New York Alfalfa Belt 
Its Buckle Is at Syracuse 
Part III. 
FAILURES—SPOTTED FIELDS—The land here 
is so well adapted to Alfalfa that it is easy to get 
it established. The few failures that have occurred 
have been due to specially unfavorable conditions of 
soil or weather when the seeding was done, or to the 
use of too much grain as a nurse crop. A second 
effort, if made with care, is likely to he a success. 
In all the localities visited there were spotted fields. 
This condition was more common than it had been 
in other years. Some of the spots from which the 
Alfalfa had disappeared were on high ground, some 
in low places, and others in level fields. The appear¬ 
ance of these places is accounted for in various ways, 
(file grower named a lack of fertility as the chief 
cause. This would explain many of the cases. An 
excess of water in the surface soil, and water flowing 
over parts of the fields during heavy rains, evidently 
caused trouble at several points. In one field on a 
large hill the snow was blown upon many places last 
Winter, and the Alfalfa which was thus exposed 
was killed by the severe and long-continued cold. 
Probably many of the other fields were injured in 
the same way. Regarding the improvement of 
spotted fields without breaking them up different 
opinions are held. Some growers believe that by the 
use of manure on the spots where the plants have 
been injured but not entirely destroyed the Alfalfa 
can be restored. Others think it is necessary to disk, 
manure, and reseed the spots, and some hold that it 
does not pay to try to patch a damaged field. One 
who takes this view remarked in its support that 
‘At is hard to put a new plant where an old one 
doesn't grow.’’ 
THE VALUE OF ALFALFA.—All of the growers 
agree that Alfalfa is a valuable crop. One said that 
“It is a great milk producer,” another called it “the 
best of crops.'’ and others said they "would not know 
how to get along without it.” Jairus Pierce, an 
Indian farmer at the Onondaga Reservation, who 
though 83 years of age. is still an active worker and 
is now growing about 50 acres of Alfalfa, remarked 
that "if it had not been for Alfalfa I would not have 
got a foothold.” Several men who have had a good 
deal of experience with the crop say that they would 
not attempt to farm where Alfalfa cannot be grown. 
The effect of Alfalfa upon the land in which it is 
grown seems to justify the claim made long ago by 
* ne of its advocates in Kansas that, for a while at 
least, it is "a restorer and renovator of the soil.” 
Corn, potatoes and the small grains all do well on 
land that has produced Alfalfa, and land that pro¬ 
duces it with little effort on the part of its owner 
commands a much higher price than could be ob¬ 
tained for it if it were not well adapted to this crop. 
THE ALFALFA OUTLOOK.—The outlook for the 
Alfalfa interest in this section is highly satisfactory. 
In Onondaga County alone 38,000 acres are given to 
this plant. Two or three good crops per year are 
reasonably sure. The great and rapidly increasing 
development of the live stock interest makes feeding 
at home quite profitable. It is believed that 
there are more Holstein cattle in Onondaga than in 
any other county in the United States, or even in 
the entire country of Holland. Not only this, hut 
no better representatives of the breed can be found 
in the world. The abundance of Alfalfa makes it 
possible to keep this stock to the best possible ad¬ 
vantage, both as regards its development and pro¬ 
ductiveness and the cost of maintenance. And the 
market facilities already noted are ample to care for 
all of the hay that is not needed at home. 
FUTURE PROSPECTS.—In recent years the cul¬ 
tivation of Alfalfa has been tried in New England, 
and at various other points, with considerable suc¬ 
cess. Probably the area given to it will be rapidly 
increased. But our growers will not suffer from 
competition from this source for a long time, and 
probably not at any time. Where live stock is kept 
the demand for Alfalfa will increase as rapidly as 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
its home production. The fear which some have felt 
that the opening of the Panama Canal would lead to 
the flooding of Eastern markets with Alfalfa from 
the Pacific Coast is not likely to be realized. Freight 
charges by water will he low, but trans-shipment to 
railroads and distribution by them will he expensive. 
Then, too, most of the great ranches, with their 
cheap pastures, have disappeared and consequently 
a great deal of the Alfalfa that is produced in the 
West will he needed for feeding to the stock during 
the Summer in addition to what is required for the 
animals that are kept through the Winter. For 
these reasons Western growers will be pretty sure of 
a more profitable market for their Alfalfa at home 
than they can find in the East. J. E. k. 
Pruning Berry Bushes 
S EVERAL Western New York berry growers have 
doubled their profits by pruning the vines pro¬ 
perly. This increases the size of the fruit, the 
quality and the amount produced. It makes cultiva¬ 
tion and picking much easier, and permits better 
circulation of air and sun through and underneath 
the bushes. There is a limit to the number of canes 
which the roots of one plant should be made to sup¬ 
port.' Too many canes on a plant will cause the ber¬ 
ries to he small and seedy, and the total yield les¬ 
sened. Not more than six canes should he allowed 
to develop. Red raspberries and blackberries, which 
Properly Pruned Berry Bush Fig. 25 
reproduce by suckering, are often thinned to average 
one cane per foot of row. Surplus canes are cut off 
close to the ground when a few inches tall. 
When the young canes reach a length of 18 to 24 
inches the tips or terminal buds should be cut or 
pinched off. The cane should not he allowed to grow 
long and then be cut back; the consequences are dis¬ 
astrous. The strong buds on a branch are those 
receiving the most light, or the ones nearest the ends 
of the branch. If the cane is allowed to grow long 
and then is cut back the strongest lateral buds on 
the plant are removed. It is then necessary to look 
to the weak and poorly-developed buds farther down 
the cane for laterals. Weak buds make weak laterals, 
weak laterals make weak fruit shoots, and these 
make poor fruit and little of it. Poorly developed 
laterals will winter-kill where strong ones will not. 
On the other hand, if the terminal buds are re¬ 
moved when the canes reach the proper length the 
strongest buds on the plant will immediately start 
into vigorous growth. The branches will be near 
the ground, making a well-balanced bush. All the 
strength formerly directed through the terminal hud 
into making a long cane will, through the medium 
of healthy, vigorous buds, be thrown into the laterals. 
The advantage of these stronger buds is very evi¬ 
dent. The terminal buds may he pinched off with 
the thumb or linger, or sheep shears used. A sharp 
knife or a sickle will lie found handy. All that is 
necessary is to remove the tip of the branch, and in 
so doing destroy the terminal bud. 
The laterals should not be pruned until the fol¬ 
lowing Spring, when they are cut back to 12 or 18 
inches in length, the length depending somewhat on 
the vigor of the plant. Varieties of blackberries 
vary in the position of their fruit buds, some pro¬ 
ducing them near the tips and others near the main 
cane. Even the same variety may vary in different 
years. So it is often the practical thing to delay 
lateral pruning of blackberries until the blossom 
buds can he recognized. Usually, though, where the 
habits of the plants are known to the grower, the 
pruning of laterals may be done any time during 
early Spring previous to growth. While making this 
Spring pruning any diseased or injured canes should 
be removed. earle w. gage. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 
Life History of the Bean Weevil 
Since your kind reply to our previous inquiry, page 
1329, Bill and I have put our heads together again, and 
he has egged me on to write you once more about those 
bean-bugs, which are our specialty. So far as the bi¬ 
sulphide of carbon is concerned, we have put it to the 
test, and I, for one, believe it to be sure death to weevils, 
and to almost everything else. Bill, however, is a hard 
man to convince about anything. (I suspect he is of 
Scotch origin.) But neither Bill nor I agree yet with 
the theory you advance as to how the weevil gained 
entry to the bean in the first place. Now, the other 
evening I happened upon a garden bean that invited 
suspicion. I carefully looked it over, and then called a 
witness to observe that the bean was apparently en¬ 
tirely smooth and sound and good, with the exception 
that there was just one point where the skin was slightly 
raised and broken, like a pin-prick. With the blade of 
my faithful jack-knife 1 then opened the bean at this 
punctured point and found underneath, in a neat little 
crypt, a full-sized weevil. So Bill says this: How did 
that particular weevil get there? Forgot to say that 
the weevil was dead, and left no confession. v. ii. M. 
S OME years ago at a county fair we saw a wide 
glass jar with a small mouth. Inside the jar 
and nearly filling it was a big cucumber. It was 
nearly three times as large as the mouth or entrance. 
"How did it get there f” said the exhibitor. The 
answer was easy to anyone who has seen a cucumber 
grow. The glass jar was put on the ground along¬ 
side the cucumber vine and the little shoot carrying 
the bloom or flower was put in through the mouth. 
Then the vine, being well fed, produced the big cu¬ 
cumber inside the jar. The vine was pulled away 
later and the cucumber left inside. It was pretty 
much the same thing with the weevil. It worked 
into the bean when so small that it was able to pass 
through a hole 1/125 inch in diameter. Then inside 
the bean it grew to full size. The following from C. 
II. Crosby’s excellent “Manual of Vegetable Garden 
Insects” gives the life history of this insect and 
make s this point very clear: 
As soon as the pods become nearly full grown, but 
while they are still green, the females begin egg laying. 
The female first gnaws a slit through the pod close to 
the ventral suture, and by means of her extensile ovi¬ 
positor then deposits a cluster of eggs on the iuside of 
the pod. The hole made by the beetle in the pod does 
not heal over, but persists as a discolored spot even in 
the dried pod. The egg is translucent white, elongate- 
ovate, and about one-fortieth of an inch in length ; the 
surface is slightly roughened. The eggs are sometimes 
inserted through an opening in the pod where it has 
been injured or where it has split in drying. The time 
required for the hatching of the eggs varies considerably 
with the temperature, but apparently has not been ac¬ 
curately determined for eggs laid in fresh pods. On 
hatching, the young larva bears little resemblance to 
the mature grub. It is white, the head yellow, the 
mouth parts brown and the eyes black. Three pairs of 
distinct, slender, functional legs are present, and the 
body is clothed with long hairs which serve to keep the 
larva upright when crawling. The young larva crawls 
actively about until it finds a bean which it enters 
through a small round hole about 1/125 inch in diam¬ 
eter. In about three days after hatching the larva 
molts and assumes the general appearance of the ma¬ 
ture grub. The legs, eyes and the long hairs on the 
abdomen are lost, the body becomes proportionately 
shorter and thicker and the grub assumes a curved posi¬ 
tion. The larva burrows diagonally into the bean a 
short distance and there eats out a large cell covered iu 
part only by the thin semi-transparent outer coat of the 
bean. It then lines the cell with a yellowish white paste, 
thus excluding all excrement from the pupal chamber 
The length of the larval stage varies greatly with the 
temperature, or from 11 to 42 days. The full-grown 
larva is one-eighth to one-seventh of an inch in length. 
The insect transforms to a white pupa within the cell 
and remains in this stage from five to 18 days. Soon 
after transformation, the beetle neatly cuts out a cir¬ 
cular lid through the seed-coat of the bean and makes 
its escape. The entire life cycle requires from 21 to 80 
days. The beetles emerge in the field and soon begin 
laying eggs for another generation. The number of 
generations that occur in the field depends on the tem¬ 
perature and the length of the season. Breeding is con¬ 
tinuous in stored beans, provided the temperature is 
sufficiently high. In the vicinity of Washington. 1). C.. 
there are probably six generations annually. The num¬ 
ber of weevils reared from a single bean depends on the 
size of the seed. In cases in which the beetles are al¬ 
lowed to breed in stored seed undisturbed, they often 
i educe the contents to a powdery mass held together by 
the hull. As many as 28 weevils have been reared from 
a single beau. 
