1176 
sections of the province for the immediate construc¬ 
tion of a large number of radial railroad lines that 
would be a doubtful investment, although involving 
an estimated expenditure of #55,000.000. Reliable 
business men have informed the writer that, had this 
construction been gone ahead with when first de¬ 
manded. and as the opposition parties favored, it 
would have ruined the credit of the province. 
A CONSERVATIVE PROGRAM.—There is noth¬ 
ing radical about this program. It is certainly very 
far removed from the North Dakota debacle. It is 
the sanity of the government that is commending it. 
And what else would one expect from a bunch of 
hard-headed, working farmers? The farmer, in his 
occupation, embodies the functions of a laborer, a 
capitalist and a landowner. lie is. therefore, neither 
a reactionary nor a radical. There is one weakness 
in the administration, however, that is serious—their 
union with labor. The administration is fortunate 
in labor's representatives in the cabinet-—two sane, 
clear-thinking men. It is not. so fortunate in the 
labor following in the House and the demand for 
autocratic legislation, such as a compulsory eight- 
hour day, and an impossible standard of workmen's 
compensation, are a constant source of annoyance to 
the government. The labor group also shows a total 
disregard for public expenditure, so long as the 
money spent is creating employment. Despite what 
visionary idealists may say, between organized labor 
and agriculture there are more points of difference 
than of agreement. 
Since the above was written there has been an 
election in the Province of Alberta, and another 
province now has a farmer administration and a 
workaday farmer as premier. Fortunately, in this 
case, no alliance with labor will be necessary. 
F. E. ELLIS. 
Can We Stop Kudzu? 
Hood for kudzu—but first, where did it get such a 
name? I remember once hearing a scientist discourse 
on the possibility of the monorail car going 200 or .*>00 
miles an hour. It could go all right, but the scientific 
difficulty was in making it- stop! How are we going to 
keep kudzu within bounds? Supposing it grows all 
right in the pasture, how are wo to keep it from growing 
over the wall or fence and into our neighbor's land and 
over all creation beside? Must we keep it in forest 
enclosed land? How would a fellow kill it out in ease 
he wanted to plant to some other crop the field in which 
kudzu was growing? As I understand it, kudzu is 
perennial. E. a. b. 
Lakeville, Mass. 
T HE name, like the plant, evidently comes from 
Japan. As for handling it when once started, 
ue have not gone far enough with it to gain full 
experience. Prof. J. F. Puggar of the Alabama 
Experiment Station gives the following statement: 
Many questions were asked as to whether there is 
difficulty in controlling or exterminating kudzu. In 
answer there was pointed out the plots on which perfect 
stands of cultivated crops are now growing in the third 
year after kudzu was turned under. Here there is only 
an occasional sprig of kudzu alive and the amount, com¬ 
ing up during the first, and second season after this 
legume was plowed under was not sufficient to give any 
unconquerable difficulties in cultivation. Of course 
thorough plowing is essential, using sharp wide plows. 
As to the tendency of kudzu to spread, this plant 
will, if unopposed, occupy “all land that joins it.’’ 
ITowevcr, the experiment .station has hern able rather 
easily to restrict the spread of th< plot which has been 
growing on the same spot for about PS years. Thorough 
plowing around the edy< of the patch has been sufficient. 
Yet we would advise caution that kudzu be put out 
only in those fields where all the immediate surrounding 
land is poor and where there are no special difficulties 
in the way of its extermination if ever desired, such as 
would be afforded by fences or trees. I would avoid 
planting kudzu adjacent to a rich bottom, and bertainly 
it should be kept out of the garden as well as out of 
orchards, in which latter ease it would he very trouble¬ 
some by clinging to the trees. 
Taking Up the Potato Digger Apron 
F all the machines used on the farm the potato 
digger is the most subject-to wear. It is work¬ 
ing in the soil continually, and it is impossible to 
keep oil on many part. The worst place for wear, 
however, is the apron on which the potatoes and 
soil travel. After digging from 30 to 40 acres 
ot potatoes, or even less if the soil is extra gritty, 
the apron begins to jump teeth in the sprocket, and 
(wery time that it loads up a little more than usual 
the whole works are likely to stop. This is due to 
wear in the links, which causes the apron to 
lengthen. In this case, instead of there being a link 
behind each tooth in the sprocket, only one tooth 
takes bold at a time, and that the first one with 
which the apron comes in contact, and the result is 
to cause the apron to climb up the tooth and jump 
it. One can, of course, buy a new’ apron, but repairs 
are expensive, and the same results can be achieved 
by heating the ends of the links and pounding them 
together enough to take up the wear. If the end of 
the link is slightly bent toward the center the wear 
comes in a new place, and half of the wear is taken 
“P* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
up. The rest is taken up in bending the book down 
a little more, as illustrated in Fig. 499. The same 
thing may bo done cold; in fact, I have repeatedly 
done so, but one occasionally breaks a link under 
these circumstances, and a new one must be used in 
its place. This operation may be repeated about 
three times before it is necessary to replace the 
lO pairing Links in Potato Digger Apron. Fi<>. .'/!)!) 
apron with a new one. and if done in spare time 
there is no cash cost at all. Even if the wear is 
taken up to the extent that the apron is shorter than 
it was originally, no harm is done, for in this case 
a tooth well around the sprocket is the one on which 
the strain comes, and the apron hugs the sprocket 
instead of climbing it. I usually do only half at a 
time (every other one) and then do the others the 
next time it is necessary. a. h. de graff. 
New York. 
Two Connecticut Berry Pickers 
HE picture at Fig. 500 shows a couple of black¬ 
berry pickers who live on a Connecticut farm. 
These pickers have just come in from a brier patch. 
They were escorted hack and forth by tlieir pro¬ 
tector. a big dog, who takes good care of them while 
they are picking. The berry pails were empty when 
this picture was taken, but they held enough berries 
when they were first brought in. The report is that 
Connecticut Berry Pickers and Their Guard. Fig. jOQ 
there was a good crop of wild blackberries this year. 
As usual, the auto hogs found them, but they were 
very properly ordered off and the berries reserved 
for tlieir owners. All over the country farmers are 
faking a hand in this crusade against auto hogs, and 
that animal is getting about all he wants of pub¬ 
licity and punch. 
October 1, 192i 
A Case of Bees and Grapes 
A beekeeper and a horticulturist in this community 
are having trouble. The beekeeper lias 60 colonies of 
bees on another man’s farm. One of the neighbors of 
this other man has an orchard and vineyard. The bees 
went into his vineyard and sucked the juice out of his 
grapes. lie expected to obtain four tons of grapes, but 
claims that the bees have destroyed two tons, having 
punctured the grapes, burst them. etc. He claims 
damages. 
1. Do bees puncture grapes? Give evidence from 
beekeepers and horticulturists, if you can. 
2. Do birds injure grapes by picking them? If so, 
what is the shape of the puncture that the bird makes 
in the grape? 
_3. Has this question of damages been settled in the 
higher courts of this country? 
4. Does the bee do more injury to the horticulturist 
than good? 
5. Can the horticulturist claim damages legally or 
morally from the beekeeper? 
6. If the horticulturist notifies the beekeeper after 
the claimed depredation is almost complete, and the 
beekeeper agrees to furnish pickers and pick the grapes 
the very next day free of charge, and the horticulturist 
does not accept the proposition, what would be justice 
according to law toward both parties? 
7. Do bees over store away fruit juices in the hives? 
It so, does it injure the bees in wintering, whether in 
cells or out. of doors? 
The conditions in this community, it might be well to 
say, so far as weather conditions are concerned, were 
as follows: The Summer was hot and dry until about 
three weeks before grapes were being picked; then came 
the rainy season, the grapes maturing much earlier than 
usual in this section, and were over-ripe, all of which 
the bee-keeper claims caused them to burst on the vines. 
I he frost in the Spring destroyed most of the grapes in 
this vicinity, so that the crop is far from normal. This 
horticulturist’s crop of grapes last year was about 11 
tons, and his four tons for this season’s crop is only an 
estimate on his part. What can you say as to' the 
bursting of grapes under such conditions as the above? 
Michigan. e. R. s. 
T HIS question of injury by bees has been up for 
discussion many times. Hi 1899 quite a cele¬ 
brated case covering this point was tried in Orange 
County, N. Y. This case was Utter vs. Utter, and 
was tried at Goshen, N. Y., December 17. 18 and 19, 
1899. The contention here was that the bees punc¬ 
tured sound fruit. The defense was that the shape 
of the bees’ mouth parts is such that they cannot 
cut into sound fruit, and never do. The evidence 
was so overwhelming that tlie bees were not the 
original perpetrators of tire mischief that it took the 
jury only 15 minutes to bring in a verdict exonera¬ 
ting the bees. There were other eases of a similar 
nature that were tried, with like results, but the one 
that was tried at Goshen was most important. 
The case for the bees is summed up as follows by 
an ex-pert: 
Hues will sometimes visit grapes that have cracked 
skins ou account of ripening too fast. Such grapes 
would in a short time rot, and are of little value except 
for immediate sale. Rees also suck the juices out of 
grapes that have been previously punctured by birds or 
insects. For example, the little bird known as the Cape 
May warbler (Dendroica tigriua) will come early in 
I he morning at certain seasons, pierce the skin, with 
its sharp beak, of every grape in the bunch. The hoes, 
coming later in the day. will then run their tongues 
down in the hole made by the bird and suck out the 
juices. The bird comes so early in the morning that he 
is not discovered. The bees, coming later in the day, 
are chlight in the act. and are therefore given the credit 
for the whole mischief. A punctured grape or one over¬ 
ripe, with the skin cracked, is of little value commer¬ 
cially. 
The skins of peaches, the same ns grapes, are punc¬ 
tured by birds and insects, and sometimes the skin is 
cracked, because the fruit ripens prematurely or too 
fast. Tn either ease the bees will help complete the 
work of destruction. 
Many practical fruit growers insist that the bees 
do, actually, puncture fruit, but it is not likely that 
they could prove tlieir case in court. It would also 
be difficult to prove legal ownership of any boos 
which came from outside the vineyard. The weather 
conditions here described would indicate a tendency 
for the grapes to burst or split. We doubt if the 
beekeeper could be held legally responsible. As for 
any moral responsibility in -neb a case that is not 
for any outsider to judge. We think the offer to 
pick the grapes promptly-— free of charge—was a 
fair one. 
Safe Investments 
L AST year the American public lost #500,000,000 
through investments in fraudulent or wildcat 
stocks. A large proportion of those who suffered 
these losses were in moderate circumstances. They 
bad acquired small savings and were anxious to in¬ 
crease their incomes. Of course, they were warned 
and should have know better, but it often happens 
that the less one really knows about investments, the 
more he feels inclined to hack his own judgment. 
And he usually loses. Just why people will chase 
after oil stocks and get-rich-quick schemes and throw 
their few dollars away is a problem too deep for us 
to solve. Surely no reader of The r. N.-Y. can say 
that lie was not fully warned. What, then, can a 
man do with his money? We like Treasury certifi¬ 
cates, Liberty bonds and Federal Laud Bank bonds. 
These securities are absolutely sure; they pay a 
reasonable interest, and the object is worthy. 
