947 
The Rl/JRAL NEW-YORKER 
will hold the air. One pound of the bisulphide for 
each hundred cubic feet of space is the general rule. 
The bisulphide can be put in a deep dish, placed on 
top of the grain, or it may be poured over a sack, 
which is then pushed down into the grain. After 
the bisulphide is put in, cover the package carefully 
A Handy Farm Trade. Fig. 392. 
130 degrees. Six. hours at this temperature will not 
injure the germinating power of seed, but a tem¬ 
perature above 135 degrees would be dangerous. The 
trouble with such a remedy on a farm is that it is 
hard to get a full distribution of heat, or to know 
just when the temperature is right. 
Still another method sometimes used with beans 
or peas is to mix the seeds with hydrated lime; 
about 1. lb. of the lime will be used with 4 lbs. of 
beans or peas. This should be done immediately 
after thrashing. It is said that in this treatment 
the insects already on the peas and beans will 
emerge, but will not breed in seeds so treated. 
This is a simple remedy and low in cost, but in 
order to make sure that insects are killed the treat¬ 
ment with bisulphide of carbon is preferred. 
Fighting the White Grub 
What can I do for my strawberry plants? There is 
a white grub eating them. The grubs cut the plant 
almost in two just below the top of the ground, and 
then it dies. It is very troublesome. N. 0 . F. 
Pennsylvania. 
W HEN these white grubs are in the ground 
it is almost impossible to get rid of them 
during the season. The life of this insect covers a I 
least three years, and as they work under ground 
entirely it is practically impossible to clean them 
out in a practical way. Some of our readers claim 
that salt, sulphur and the German potash salts 
worked into the ground will destroy these grubs. 
That plan has not worked with us. and it would be 
necessary to use enough of the chemical practically 
to ruin the soil for crop growing. Powdered tobacco 
oi snuff worked into the ground around the plants 
has been suggested, but we doubt if it would prove 
very effective. A small quantity of bisulphide of 
carbon injected into the soil with a syringe or oil 
can will usually kill most of the grubs, but this 
would lie suitable only on small patches. Our own 
plan is to watch the plants carefully, and when one 
of them begins to droop and fade away we promptly 
dig it up, leaving considerable dirt around the roots. 
In this way we usually find the grubs at work.-and 
kill them and dig up the ground around the plants 
for some little distance and make sure there are no 
more grubs there. Then cut off the tops of the plants 
close to the crown and put them back in the soil as 
before. If the top is cut out it will usually start 
growing and make a fair growth, or a 
new healthy runner can be put in its 
place. All these methods are slow and 
laborious, and would not be suitable 
except in small culture with superior 
plants. The only way to fight the white 
grub successfully is thoroughly to clean 
it out of the soil before the plants are 
started. This can be done by thorough 
plowing and close cultivation with a 
flock of poultry or a group of small 
pigs to follow the plow. An active pig 
is the best white grub hunter that we 
have ever seen. We have seen pigs in 
old sod burrow into the ground until 
about all you could see was their tail. 
They tear and rip the sod apart, and 
if given a chance will rip out every 
grub to lie found. As thorough prepa¬ 
ration for a strawberry patch where 
the white grubs are know to abound 
the best plan would be to put a fence 
around it and turn in a number of 
these pigs. Give them plenty of water, 
but do not overfeed. You will he sur 
prised at what they will do to that soil. 
They will turn over and cultivate every 
inch of it to more than a foot in depth and clean out 
every grub in short order. When this insect is once 
in the soil it is practically impossible to fight it on 
any large scale, but after a year or two of thorough 
cultivation the grubs will disappear. 
with a blanket or anything else which will exclude 
the aii% and let it alone for about 36 hours. The 
gas will penetrate all through the grain and kill 
every breathing thing it reaches. At the strength 
here given the gas will not injure the grain, either 
' 
f ■ ■: 
• - 
Killing Insects in Grain and Beans 
^IIE questions about how to kill insects in stored 
grain are already beginning to come. Each 
year we answer hun¬ 
dreds of questions about p- 
this. It seems impossi¬ 
ble to print enough 
about it to keep our 
readers informed, . and 
while it will be an old' 
story to many of our 
people, we give another 
brief statement about 
it. Probably the best 
method for killing these 
insects is to use the 
chemical known as bi¬ 
sulphide of carbon. This 
is a bad smelling liquid, 
nearly colorless, which 
changes rapidly to a 
gas when exposed to 
air. This gas is heavier 
than air, and will sink 
down into any airtight 
container. It is a poi¬ 
sonous gas, deadly to all 
forms of insect life. To 
use this gas properly, 
the grain must be put 
into some airtight pack¬ 
age, like a barrel, box 
or bin—anything that 
A Backyard 1 incyard in Massachusetts. Fig. 393. 
for food or for feeding purposes. This is very in¬ 
flammable, and when handling it you should be very 
careful not to bring a flame near it. A pipe or a 
cigar is as much out of place in this operation as 
matches in a powder magazine would be. It is said 
that a spark caused by striking a nail with a ham¬ 
mer is enough to start an explosion with this gas. 
Another way to destroy these insects in grain or 
in beans it to heat them to a temperature averaging 
Harvesting the Flax Crop in Canada. Fig. 39Jf. 
A Handy Farm Truck 
A HANDY device quickly and easily made by any 
farmer consists of a truck, as shown at Fig. 
392, which may be used for a number of farm oper¬ 
ations. It is made by taking the wheels off an old 
binder, truck or farm implement, and bolting them 
closely together just wide enough to allow an old 
wagon or implement tongue to be inserted and bolted 
to their axle. 
As shown by the illustration, this is a valuable 
tiling for pulling old posts out of the ground. To 
remove an old post quickly plenty of power is 
needed. If one has to dig around a side to remove 
the dirt much time is lost, and hand-pulling is out 
of the question. With this device a 
chain is wrapped around the post 
tightly closed and the bottom wheel or 
tongue is inserted in the chain and the 
power applied from the other end. 
This is not the only use to which 
such a device may be put. For moving 
heavy timbers one end may be swung 
from this truck and the whole thing 
carted by a team. It may also be used 
for moving any kind of a heavy obsta¬ 
cle where it is necessary to carry and 
support one side on wheels. 
Wayne Co., O. c. M. baker. 
Nux Vomica for Killing Hawks 
We have had several articles about, the 
Southern plan of killing hawks and crows 
by feeding nux vomica to chickens. This 
method is based on the theory that chick¬ 
ens can eat with impunity a dose of the 
poison which will kill a hawk or crow. 
Many of our Southern friends insist that 
the plan works well with them, while 
most of the scientific men are inclined to 
scoff at the idea. The following note from 
Dr. B. T. Kaupp of the North Carolina 
Agricultural College is the first scientific 
discussion of the matter that we have seen : 
R ECENTLY we have made some comparative 
studies of the digestive tract of the crow as 
compared to that of chickens. We find that the crow 
has no crop, so that the food passes immediately to 
the stomach, whereas in the fowl the food is lodged 
temporarily in the crop. In studying the effects of 
stychnine upon chickens we find that one grain of 
strychnine, which is the alkaloid or active principle 
of nux vomica, in solution, given to the chicken on 
an empty crop will be 
very rapidly absorbed 
and produce poisonous 
effects. The same dose 
given to a chicken on a 
full crop will show no 
poisonous symptoms. I n 
other words, the drugs 
given on a full crop will 
absorb approximately as 
fast as the food is 
passed on and digested. 
This being the case, it 
would require a smaller 
dose on the bait to pro¬ 
duce poisonous effects 
on the crow. 
We have not had op¬ 
portunity to study the 
digestive tract of the 
hawk, but if it is con¬ 
structed similar to that 
of the crow I can see 
wherein crows and 
hawks both may be poi¬ 
soned without much 
danger should chickens 
get the bait put out for 
them. 
The usual method of 
