984 
•Th* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 12, 1924 
Borers in Apple Trees 
The round-headed apple tree borer is, 
next to the codling moth, the worst pest 
of apple trees in this country. It affords 
a fine example of one of the ways in 
which insect pests of our fruit trees come 
to us. This borer originally lived on the 
wild crab, hawthorn, chokeberry, moun¬ 
tain ash, and the service shrub, plants 
closely related to the apple. As the coun¬ 
try became settled these shrubs were de¬ 
stroyed and the apple trees were set, in 
some regions over wide continuous areas, 
thus affording a convenient, attractive 
food plant for the beetle, in place of the 
native hosts. Insects are not discrim¬ 
inating regarding the owner of a plant, 
nor do they stop to inquire whether a 
Irises Arranged in Japanese Style 
plant is useful to man or not. The upper¬ 
most thing in the mind (if a mind exists) 
of an insect is whether a plant will fur¬ 
nish palatable and nourishing food for its 
offspring. The highest object in an in¬ 
sect’s life is to maintain its existence on 
the earth by providing means for the 
safety and growth of its young, that the 
latter may come to maturity and produce 
more of its kind, thus making sure that 
the race will not perish from the earth. 
This bit of philosophy, however, does not 
interest the grower of apple trees very 
much. He is diametrically opposed to 
this idea of the permanent existence of 
the insect race. He desires to know how 
this race may be exterminated from the 
earth, that he may possess it for himself 
in peace and plenty ; essentially, we are 
bound to confess, a selfish policy. 
The round-headed borer has a life cycle 
of two to four years, and during the first 
year of its life it lives mostly in the sap- 
wood of the tree, burrowing deeper into 
the heartwood during the latter half of its 
existence. This will probably account for 
finding some of the work in the sapwood 
and some of it in the heartwood. Those 
in the sapwood are young and small, and 
are often overlooked when digging out. 
In addition to digging the borers out, 
protective washes should be applied to 
prevent further egg laying by the beetles. 
Ordinary concentrated lime - sulphur 
forms an excellent protective wash. After 
the borers are dug out of the young trees 
the undiluted lime-sulphur should be ap¬ 
plied with a brush to the trunk from the 
ground up to a distance of at least two 
feet, or up to the larger limbs. The ap¬ 
plication ought to be made during the lat- 
trees, so that a fresh coat will be present 
during June. 
White lead paint has also been used 
with satisfactory effect, either a ready- 
mixed paint purchased on the market or 
a paint made by mixing white lead with 
linseed oil. The paint should be applied 
in the same manner and at the same time 
as recommended in case of the lime-sul¬ 
phur. This should be applied to a few 
trees at first, to determine whether injury 
results in that particular locality. 
Considerable success has also been had 
in an experimental way by fumigating 
with carbon bisulphide. In the experi¬ 
ments, clay soil was available, and an in¬ 
verted funnel-shaped cup was fashioned 
around the base of the tree out of the 
clay. A small hole was left in the side of 
the clay cup, and through this a tea¬ 
spoonful of carbon bisulphide was poured 
directly on the ground beneath the cup 
near the base of the tree. The hole was 
then plugged tightly in order to hold the 
fumes within and around the base of the 
tree. All of the borers below the top of 
the clay cone were killed in the trees, 
which were from four to six inches in di¬ 
ameter. If clay is not available, perhaps 
a piece of tarred roofing paper might be 
cut so that it could be placed about the 
base of the tree in the form of an in¬ 
verted funnel. The crevices between the 
paper and the trunk of the tree would 
have to be closed with mud or with soft 
clay or with some similar material. 
Finally, it has been shown that the 
beetles feed rather freely on the leaves 
and tender bark of the twigs, and may be 
poisoned by careful and thorough spray¬ 
ing with arsenate of lead. Young, un¬ 
bearing trees should be sprayed about 10 
days after bearing trees have bloomed, 
using 3 lbs. of powdered arsenate of lead 
to 100 gallons of water. In the case of 
bearing apple trees the calyx spray for 
the codling moth will suffice. 
GLENN tv. HERRICK. 
Dirt Bands for Potting 
Strawberries 
Didn’t you tell about cutting around 
young strawberry plants, in early Sum¬ 
mer, encircling them with dirt bands, and 
having them ready to move as potted 
plants, a little later in the Summer? I 
have an old patch of Parker Earle, part 
of which is to be plowed up as soon as 
fruiting is over. We like this old variety, 
though the catalogues seem to have aban¬ 
doned it, and I should like to fix some for 
moving. Various conditions prevented my 
getting young plants out of there in the 
Spring; for one thing, it rained almost 
every day for weeks, and much of our 
gardening has been done beween showers. 
The new bed that did get put out has had 
a terrible fight with the weeds in this 
rainy season. The man who works part 
Irises Divided for Replanting 
time for me got it in fine shape late last 
week, but it has rained two or three times 
since, so will soon be to do over, unless— 
why can’t we mulch the space between 
the rows with straw, to keep the moisture 
in and the weeds out? Not, of course, 
right in the rows, but allowing enough 
space for sufficient setting of runners. 1 
want to keep the rows narrow this year. 
Liberty, Ind. E. M. c. 
Yes, we often handle plants of choice 
varieties in that way. A little hole is 
dug beside the parent plant and a dirt 
band or a small paper pot, filled with 
One of the common 
cups will answer if a hole 
is cut in the bottom for drainage. The 
runner plant is put into the paper pot 
and a small stone or lump of dirt put on 
to hold it down. The roots soon spread 
out through the pot. In transplanting 
the connection with the parent plant is 
broken, the roots slipped out of the band 
or pot and put out where needed. For 
shipping, the crockery pots are better, 
but for close transplanting the use of 
dirt bands is convenient and safe. An¬ 
other plan is to cut off a good-sized tin 
can and file the ends down to a sharp 
edge. Then let the runner plant make a 
good root and drive this can around it 
into the ground. You can take up, in 
this way, a round bunch of soil around 
the roots, which can be carried to the 
new place of planting. 
The old Parker Earle variety was a 
great favorite 20 years ago. It is prob¬ 
ably the be«t variety for hill culture, and 
gives a large berry of good quality. We 
find it too light-colored for quality trade. 
There is no question about the possibility 
of substituting a thick mulch or soil cov¬ 
ering for cultivation. Chopped straw 
would be better. It will pack down close 
to the soil and keep down the weeds bet¬ 
ter. Some people use lawn grass clip¬ 
pings or young weeds. A thick mulch of 
this sort will keep the soil moist and cool 
and smother most of the weeds. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC.—Flow of oil obtained 
from the first Catcreek sand by Hepp No. 
1 well of the Mid-Northern Oil Company 
apparently indicates the opening of a new 
and potentially important oil field in the 
Lake Basin district near Billings, Mont. 
This new well, it is reported, is located 
on the big lake incline. 
A house in St. Lawrence Ave., The 
Bronx, New York, said to contain the 
largest plant for the redistillation of de¬ 
natured alcohol yet found by prohibition 
enforcement agents, was raided June 25, 
yielding three 500-gallon stills, as well as 
refining tanks containing 2,500 gallons of 
alcohol, eight 50-gallon barrels and 100 
one-gallon cane of alcohol. A woman, 
the only person found in the plant, was 
arrested. She refused to give her name 
or other information about herself. 
Six boys of from 12 to IS years are in 
jail in Chicago facing charges of attempted 
extortion as a result, the police say, of at¬ 
tempts to emulate Nathan Leopold, Jr., 
and Richard Loeb, confessed kidnappers- 
slayers of Robert Franks. The same mo¬ 
tive, the authorities believe, actuates the 
flood of extortion letters being sent to 
wealthy Chicago families. The latest ex¬ 
tortion attempted, admitted by Edward 
Krug, 12, his brother, Henry, 15, and 
Elmer Olson, 16, seized June 26 by de¬ 
tectives when they received a decoy pack¬ 
age left by John Borner, a cement work¬ 
er, from whom they demanded $50 in a 
letter he turned over to the police, was 
patterned after the Franks ease. Three 
other boys, arrested after they attempted 
to extort $8,000 from Jacob Frank, father 
of Robert, said they hoped he would be 
easily frightened after his son’s death and 
accede to their demands, which threatened 
his daughter’s life. 
The shooting of a storekeeper by one of 
two armed thugs, the theft of a truck con¬ 
taining silks valued by the owner at $25,- 
000, and the holding up of a clothing 
manufacturer by three armed men he re¬ 
ported made off with $7,600, occurred in 
broad daylight in New York June 25. 
The silk truck was later recovered. 
Suit for $250,000 damages, naming the 
United Mine Workers of America as de¬ 
fendants, was filed in local courts at St. 
Clairsville, O., June 25, by Edna M. C. 
Major, widow of John I. Major, who was 
shot te death June 22, 1022, while em¬ 
ployed at the Lafferty mine of the Union 
Coal Stripping and Mining Company. 
The petition is directed against the Unit¬ 
ed Mine Workers of America, John L. 
Lewis, president, and William Green, sec¬ 
retary ; District No. 6 of the organization, 
its officers and sub-district No. 5 of Dis¬ 
trict No. 6 and its officers. Major, the 
petition asserted, came to his death at 
the hands of union miners. 
Two persons were killed and another is 
reported dead as a result of a tornado at 
Knox City, Mo., 30 miles w<est of Quincy, 
June 26. Property damage is heavy. 
Much damage also resulted from a storm 
near Galesburg, Ill. 
Two women and three men arrested in 
a raid on a house at Tulsa, Okla., June 
26, are being held by county authorities 
for investigation in connection with the 
recent $2,000,000 mail robbery near Chi¬ 
cago. Two hundred and forty-six $20 
bills were seized in the raid. 
Ninety-seven dead, about 3,000 in¬ 
jured, 4,000 homeless, and property dam¬ 
age approximating $30,000,000 were the 
result of the havoc wrought by the tor¬ 
nado that swept the Lake Erie shore west 
of Toledo for a stretch of 40 miles June 
2S. There are 59 known dead in Lorain, 
a thriving manufacturing city of 40.000. 
There are six dead in Sandusky. Its lake 
front section was wiped out. The little 
village of French Creek, with a popula¬ 
tion of 300, is reported leveled. The town 
of Fremont also was hard hit. Alliance 
was struck by the storm. 
Capt. A. Truello, aviator, and his me¬ 
chanic, Private Boyd Copeland of Norton 
Field, Columbus, O., were killed at Nash¬ 
ville, Tenn., June 30, when their airplane 
burned. The plane had risen only 25 to 
50 ft. when it caught fire. 
In connection with the theft of securi¬ 
ties valued by the owner at $160,000 from 
the home of George Baird, millionaire 
banker, at Oneonta, N. Y., June 2 last, 
two men, booked as Arthur Bainton, 23, 
of 43 East 38th St., and James Sawyer, 
31, of 441 46th St., Brooklyn, were locked 
up at police headquarters, New Y r ork, 
June 30. Both were charged with grand 
larceny. Chief of Police Frank Horton of 
Oneonta alleged that $143,000 worth of 
the securities were found in Bainton's 
room at the East 38th St. house. 
Owing to the power administrator or¬ 
dering a 25 per cent cut in the use of 
hydro-electric power by Southern Cali¬ 
fornia industries, a condition created by 
the shortage of water in the main moun¬ 
tain ranges as a result of an extraor¬ 
dinarily limited amount of snow and rain¬ 
fall during the past Winter and Spring, 
several hundred companies drilling for oil 
in the Los Angeles district have placed or¬ 
ders for gas engines and will disconnect 
their electric motors. Some companies have 
placed orders for as many as 15 engines. 
The new condition will call for increased 
demand for gasoline and distillates also, 
of which there is an unprecedented sur¬ 
plus at this time, thus giving a steadier 
tone to the market for those refinery pro¬ 
ducts. 
Gaston B. Means, formerly a special 
agent of the Bureau of Investigation of 
the United States Department of Jus¬ 
tice, and described as the “right hand 
man’’ of William J. Burns, until recently 
chief of that bureau, was found guilty 
July 1 in Federal District Court, New 
York, with Elmer W. .Tarnecke of con¬ 
spiracy to violate the Volstead act. The 
trial lasted nearly three weeks, but the 
jury reached a verdict in less than an 
hour. The maximum penalty is two 
years’ imprisonment and $10,000 fine for 
each defendant. 
WASHINGTON.—Tax reform is the 
immediate need of the country, but econ¬ 
omy must be practiced by the Federal 
departments to make possible further tax 
reductions, President Coolidge June 30 
told the seventh regular meeting of the 
business organization of the government. 
In his address the President demanded 
further retrenchment of public expendi¬ 
tures, so that, in the face of diminishing 
Federal receipts, benefits may accrue to the 
people through reduction in taxes. For 
the fiscal year 1924 the President report¬ 
ed a surplus of $498,000,000 in the Treas¬ 
ury. For the fiscal year 1925 the best es¬ 
timate today, he declared, indicates a sur¬ 
plus of $25,000,000 on the basis of ex¬ 
penditures, exclusive of the public debt, of 
$3,083,000,000. But a reduction in ex¬ 
penditures of $83,000,000 during the year 
was demanded by the President to give a 
surplus of $108,000,000. He announced 
that the estimates to be transmitted to 
Congress for the fiscal year 1926 would 
not exceed $1,800,000, excluding the pub¬ 
lic debt. 
Albert B. Fall, former Secretary of the 
Interior, and the man to whom he leased 
the naval oil reserves, Harry F. Sinclair, 
and Edward L. Doheny, were indicted 
June 30 for alleged conspiracy to defraud 
the government. These and two additional 
indictments, accusing Doheny and his son, 
Edward L., Jr., of offering, and Fall of 
accepting, a bribe of $100,000, were re¬ 
turned by the special grand jury before 
which the government’s special counsel, 
Atlee Pomerene and Owen J. Roberts, 
have been reviewing the evidence brought 
out by Senator Walsh of Montana and 
the Senate Oil Investigating Committee. 
The Navy Department has settled 
claims growing out of the cancellation of 
contracts for the construction of battle¬ 
ships and battle cruisers scrapped as a 
result of the Washington Arms Confer¬ 
ence, for $29,950,000. Of this amount, 
$7,950,000 covered contracts for ordinance 
to be placed on four battle cruisers and 
seven battleships. Had these vessels all 
been completed and placed in commission, 
the estimated additional cost would have 
been $282,986,000. When work was 
stopped on construction the Navy De¬ 
partment had paid contractors $182,264,- 
000. In other words, to finish the ships 
partly and get rid of the contracts. Uncle 
Sam paid out $212,214,000. The antici¬ 
pated claims aggregated approximately 
$80,000,000. but contractors and sub-con¬ 
tractors actually submitted claims total¬ 
ing somewhat more than $40,000,000, 
from which, in the final adjustment, the 
Navy Department succeeded in eliminat¬ 
ing more than 25 per cent. 
% 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The famous 
giant sequoia trees of California are 
threatened by forest fires. Forest Service 
officials received advices of fires in five 
of California’s national forests, including 
one covering about five square miles in 
the Sequoia National Forest, in which, 
together with the General Grant National 
Forest, 10 miles away, many of the finest 
specimens of the redwood trees are locat¬ 
ed. The deficiency in rainfall in Cali¬ 
fornia thus far this year is the greatest 
ever known. 
Approximately 25 per cent of the wool 
clip this year is to be graded on the basis 
of Federal grades. George T. Willing- 
myer, specialist in wool marketing and 
standardization, United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, reports that the 
grades are being used by prominent wool 
dealers in Chicago, St. Louis, Philadel¬ 
phia and Boston, by the Southwestern 
Farm Bureau Wool and Mohair Associa¬ 
tion, the Virginia Wool Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation, the Pacific Wool Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation, members of the National Associa¬ 
tion of Wool Manufacturers, who are 
standardizing their products in conform¬ 
ity with official grades, the National Wool 
Warehouse and other licensed ware¬ 
houses. Several States, through their Leg¬ 
islatures, have adopted the grades as 
State grades, Mr. Willingmyer said. 
ter half of May, after blossoming of the good soil, put into it. 
paper drinking 
