234 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 7, 1920 
have been appreciated by practical farmers for their honest value for 
over fifty years. Progressive farmers use them to maintain and build 
up the fertility of their farms as well as to produce paying crops. 
Send your name for 1920 Year Book and 
ask for the Agency for your Town 
AGRICULTURAL 
CHEMICAL WORKS 
LISTERS 
AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN 
AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL CO. 
Newark, N. J., Portland, Me., Rochester and Utica, N. Y. 
Also BALTIMORE, MD. 
A Lister Crop of Potatoe* 
Running Down is Easy 
But Keeping Up Pays 
% 
No farmer can afford to let his land be losing in fertility. 
Rich soil not only produces the largest crops and most profit, 
but it stands bad weather better, gives better quality of crops 
and keeps up its fertility with a smaller yearly supply of fer¬ 
tilizer. Even where manure is abundant concentrated plant 
food is needed to keep up and improve the soil. It supplies 
the balanced ration. 
Listers Fertilizers 
^ ^ They lower 
up-keep 
Splitdorf Peened Piston Rings 
place an impassible barrier be¬ 
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They make sure that every 
ounce of power that your en¬ 
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is yours. They make certain 
that you are not wasting fuel; 
that gasoline is not getting 
down into the crank case and 
destroying the lubricating 
qualities of the oil. 
Learn the true value of Piston 
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91 Warren Street. Newark, N. J. 
SPLITDORF 
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[ When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a 
quick reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
Horticultural Notes 
Delicious Apple in Maine 
I like your reports from different sec¬ 
tions of the country as to the suitability 
of certain varieties of apples for that sec¬ 
tion. I would like to hear reports from 
Maine from some one who has Delicious 
in bearing, in regard to size and yield. 
The tree with me is a very rank, stocky 
grower. c. E. c. 
Stillwater, Me. 
The Delicious is one of the choice ap¬ 
ples where all conditions are favorable 
and congenial, but thus far has not proven 
satisfactory in Maine, or Northern New 
Hampshire and Vermont, except in iso¬ 
lated cases. The one fact that two or 
three growers in Maine have been able to 
get size and flavor suggests possibilities 
elsewhere, but in a restricted degree until 
more fully acclimated. Growers in these 
northern latitudes must carry in mind the 
fact of location, and not expect to do all 
that is done in the Middle or Middle 
Southern States. With me the tree is 
proving a good grower, stands our Win¬ 
ters, but has not yet come into bearing. 
The bulk of those shown have been in¬ 
ferior in size and lacking in flavor, sug¬ 
gesting change of treatment and careful 
study of location. Those who have suc¬ 
ceeded have reasonably sheltered loca¬ 
tions and. what is of more importance, 
warm, light soil. The heavy loss by freez¬ 
ing in 1917-1S is forcing the testing of 
varieties heretofore not ranked as adapted 
to this northern section, and out of this 
great good will result to the industry, 
whether the Delicious fills the bill or not. 
It is a good field for actual tests, and, for 
one, I hope Mr. C. E. C. will report year 
by year his success, located as he is in a 
section well adapted to some varieties. 
G. 31. TWITCIIELL. 
The New York State Horticultural So¬ 
ciety 
Tart II. 
The Farm Child’s Needs. —Prof. 
Creelman stated that, first, farmers’ chil¬ 
dren need greater educational advantages. 
Every child should be laying the founda¬ 
tion of a business that will bring to him 
a full living, and provide for needs in an 
advanced civilization. Schools should 
have more State and local aid, and fit 
children for work that brings the good 
things in their life. No institution can 
take the place of the country school that 
could tell the boy about the soil he walks 
on and its possibilities. Manufacturers 
analyze their business down to one-tenth 
of one per cent. They put in new outfits 
to make only small margins. Are the 
farmers doing this? The farmer must 
work for a larger labor income. * The 
farmer is often not getting the minimum 
wage for unskilled labor. There is some¬ 
thing wrong in agriculture with this state 
of affairs. All industries must get to¬ 
gether and find some common ground on 
which we can all work and realize a just 
compensation. This is the only perma¬ 
nent basis for permanent prosperity. 
Farmers are being forced into politics to 
protect themselves. They are obliged to 
stand for a new policy in agriculture. 
They must ask for .State help for better 
rural schools and capital for educated men 
to work with. 
Senator Wadsworth also addressed the 
meeting. 
Orchard Pests. —The following are 
excerpts from an address by Prof. Glenn 
W. Herrick of Cornell University on “Or¬ 
chard Pests of the Past Season.” lie said 
there are two conspicuous caterpillars 
that appear on apples from the latter part 
of .Tune through July and August into 
September. These are the red-humped 
and the yellow-necked caterpillars. They 
have been rather more abundant and in¬ 
jurious apparently during the last three 
or four years, and have attracted con¬ 
siderable attention, especially in young 
orchards. Unfortunately, the moths of 
these caterpillars deposit their eggs over 
a long period, and caterpillars of all sizes 
are found through July and August. As 
the caterpillars become large they are 
very resistant to poison and difficult to 
kill. It will, therefore, be necessary in 
fully protecting a young orchard to spray 
it at least twice with paste arsenate of 
lead at the rate of at least 6 lbs. to 100 
gallons of watex*. Close watch should he 
kept for the appearance of the caterpillars 
the last of June, and an application of 
poison given about as soon as they are 
noticed, followed by a second application 
some two weeks later. If rains intervene 
the later caterpillars in August may not 
be satisfactorily rontrolled even then. 
In a light infestation the groups of cater¬ 
pillars may be cut out and killed, or 
shaken on the ground and killed with the 
feet. The apple maggot or railroad worm 
is an increasingly important pest of the 
apple in certain localities in the State, 
notably in the Hudson River Valley and 
the Champlain district. Seven or eight 
years ago the Cornell Station demon¬ 
strated experimentally that this insect 
could be effectively controlled by spraying 
the infested trees with arsenate of lead, 
sweetened or unsweetened. Those results 
have now been substantiated. 
Spraying Results. —One orchard was 
sprayed first on July 3 and again on July 
17. Another was sprayed first on June 
30 and again on July 17. In each case 5 
lbs. of arsenate of lead paste to 100 gal¬ 
lons of water constituted the mixture. As 
a result 75 per cent of the Alexanders 
were of quality A, while the Blush 
dropped but little, and, as a whole, were 
fine. The Baldwins and Greenings were 
practically free from infestation. The 
Spys, however, afforded the most striking 
example of the results of spraying. Ex¬ 
amination September 1 showed no infested 
apples. 
Cherry Maggot. —During the past few 
years the two species of flies producing 
maggots in cherries have been increasing¬ 
ly abundant and injurious. During 1917 
in some cherry orchards in Wayne Coun¬ 
ty, the crops of Montmorency and Eng¬ 
lish Morello were practically destroyed. 
The flies have also caused considerable 
loss in parts of the Hudson River Valley 
and continue to be aggressive in various 
parts of the State. A cloth cage was 
placed over one tree in order that the in¬ 
vestigator might catch the flies as they 
came out of the soil and thus determine 
when they first began to appear. The 
first fly appeared in this trap June 16, 
and a total of 43 flies were taken from 
this one trap, which covered about 12% 
sq. ft. of ground. If the flies were equally 
abundant throughout this orchard there 
is small wonder that the crop was totally 
destroyed the year before. One orchard 
was thoroughly sprayed with the sweet¬ 
ened poisoned bait, or arsenate of lead, 5 
lbs., molasses, 1 gallon, water, 100 gal¬ 
lons. Later, as the flies kept appearing 
in great abundance in the trap, another 
similar application was given, and a third 
light application was made which, how¬ 
ever. was followed by a rain and probably 
mostly washed off. Probably the first two 
applications would have been ample. As 
a result it was “practically impossible to 
find a wormy cherry in the orchard” and 
the owner reports “perfect success with 
the experiment.” A careful examination 
of the orchard July 30 could not find a 
single cherry that he could absolutely 
identify as the work of the cherry mag¬ 
got. The crop was a fine one. In general 
the first application should be made as 
soon as the first flies are seen, which will 
usually be when the cherries are about 
half-grown, and perhaps just beginning 
to turn red. The second application 
should be made about 10 days after. 
Apple Redbug. —Most of the knotty 
effect produced on apples by the redbug is 
caused by the young insects that puncture 
the fruit soon after it sets while the ap¬ 
ples are small. Punctures made by the 
full-grown redbugs after the apples be¬ 
come too large for the beak of the insect 
to reach the core produce irregular rus- 
seted sears on the surface of the fruit. 
Spraying with nicotine sulphate is the 
best control yet discovered for this pest. 
In severe infestation it may be best to 
spray for these insects alone with nico¬ 
tine sulphate, one pint to 100 gallons of 
water with. 5 lbs. of soap added to in¬ 
crease the efficiency of the material, and 
to make one application when the blos¬ 
soms show pink and a second application 
when the last of the petals fall. The un¬ 
expected problem is that the so-called 
false tarnished plant bug so common on 
pears is also turning its attention to ap¬ 
ples. The form' of the insect that has 
been injuring pears here and has now 
boon found on the apple has not been so 
difficult to control. Spraying with nico¬ 
tine sulphate after the petals have fallen 
has given satisfactory results on pears. 
Community Spraying. —Finally there 
is the question of community spraying, 
which is becoming more and more a mat¬ 
ter that is not only desirable but almost 
necessary. Many, in fact, most orchard 
insects have the habit of migrating from 
one place to another, and some of them 
may go long distances. Insects in general 
gradually disperse themselves over nearby 
territory from any particular local breed¬ 
ing area. The hawthorns have furnished 
seven first-class insect pests of the apple; 
they are food reservoirs of eight other 
first-class pests of the apple, and finally 
they are infested with several insects, any 
one of which may, at any time, transfer 
its affections to the cultivated apple. Thus 
the common thorn apple has played a very 
important role in the troubles that have 
come to the fruit grower. One of the big 
constructive measures and forward steps 
in the control of orchard insects will be 
the inauguration of community, co-opera¬ 
tive spraying over large contiguous areas, 
and we, as growers, ought to foster and 
urge co-operation and if necessary per¬ 
haps compel it. Community effort in this 
matter coupled with reasonably careful 
spraying in a consecutive way year after 
year will accomplish results. w. H. «r. 
Counsel: “Come, sir, do you mean to 
tell me you didn’t see the complainant’s 
cow on the land? How near must you be 
to a beast to recognize it?” Witness: 
“About the distance I am from you.”-^ 
Credit Lost. 
