Purdue. Univer
LIBRARY.        j
■ LAFAYETTE, I ND\
Cardeh
VOL. LVII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., APRIL 12, 1902.
NO. 15
Qtimj aud £,nswev.
Vou win find herein .nekMed s samnie of a
disease which has made itself manifest in my
orchard and lias destroyed •"> or ti Unea out of 27
or 80, and is prosTeaatiig rapidly iti its destruction.
I flrst dlscorered it altotit 2 years ago on a
small apple tree I got from Maryland. Since
which time it has gradually spread until almost
every tree tn the orchard is affected. Now from
tlie samples I send yon ami the description given
we would like for you to inform us, through thy
eolumus of your valuable paper. First, what It
is; second, what caused it; third, remedy. This
is a yonng orchard aboot 7 or 8 years growth on
weil drained clay land. The people ill our community are vitally interested in tlie disease as
nothing of the kind lias ever been seen here be-
lore. G.    B.    D.
It is one nf the scale insects, not the
San Jose settle, however, but almost as
bad. When tlie eggs hatch out. in Mav,
the little insects sueU the sap and shrivel
the twigs and small branches and when
very numerous, kill them as in your ease.
Spray them right away with a solution
of whale oil soap, at the rate of two
pounds to the gallon of warm water.
Kerosene emulsion is also a remedy; 2
gallons coal oil, % pound of soft soap to
1 gallon water, thoroughly churned to
■.-ether. Spray every week, till the scales
loosen anil fall off. If any lice hatch
out. spray them.
Please publish the formula for the blue vitriol
mixture once  more. A   Reader.
Rush  Co.
The great remedy for rots, mildews and
all fungous diseases prepared as follows:
Copper sulphate (blue stone) <*> pounds:
fresh lime 4 to (i pounds; water 50 gallons. Put the copper sulphate in a coarse
sack and suspend it in some water till it
is all dissolved and dilute to 25 gallons.
Use either a woollen or an earthen vessel.
Then slake the lime and dilute to 25 gallons, and at the same time stir with a
paddle. An important point is to use
enough lime, as it prevents the burning
of the foliage. The same mixture may
be used for the codlin moth and curculio.
by adding % pound of Paris green. Make
a paste of the Paris green with a little
flour before stirring it into the water. Stir
frequently while using.
Will you confer a favor by giving L. B. Clore's
address through your paper? Long live the
venerable old weekly Issue of the Indiana Farmer.
Boone Co. R. m. Cunningham.
See second page of the Farmer for Mar.
15th.
When   Is   the   proper time   to  cut   locust   trees
(black) so they will not sprout up from the
roots? G.    W.   R.
Decatur  Oo.
Cut them  in  the  last  part  of July  or
any time during August.
good "lie is to paint the perches or spray
them, with a wash of fresh, strong lime
in which a tablespoonful of carbolic acid
has been stirred. Salt and lime make a
good wash for cleansing the house and
perches. Sprinkle the wash over the floor
after   it   litis   been   thoroughly   cleaned   of
droppings ami dirt.     Repeat the spraying
every week till signs of the lice and mites
disappear. Closing the chicken house
tightly and burning sulphur iu tt pan on
the floor is an effectual remedy, but drive
all chickens out.
I Inclose you clipping of grape vine curl containing the eggs of some insect. Would like to
know through the Farmer what they are. This
bunch is all I have found on the vine so far.
Montgomery   c\,. , "Wm.   C.   W.
They tu-e the eggs of the katydid. The
insects do little or rro harm except by their
music.
J. It. sells his stock tit public auction; his notes
are drawn up for nine months, but as he needs
some money he offers a discount of five per cent
on cash settlement. Is the discount in this case
computed for nine months  or one year?
M    X.   K.
The discount is without reference to
time, unless he specifies, "tit the rate of
5 per cent per annum." For example, suppose your purchase amounts to $300, then
your discount for cash is $15. If. however, he says *,at the rate of 5 per cent
per annum,'* then the discount would be
only $11.25.
W*ill you please inform me where I can obtaiu
a map of Indiana giving all the counties and post
offices? w.   u.   a.
Spencer  Co.
The Bowen-Morrill Co., this city, can
supply you at prices from 50 cents up.
Will some one give through the columns of
your valuable paper, their experience iu varnishing, painting or staining a kitchen floor: which
gives the best satisfaction and what is best way
to   apply? Farmers   Wife.
Tipton Co.
What is the matter with my hens? They are
fat, and some of them go on the nest and fail
to lay; come off, and maybe go on two or three
times and do not lay. I have killed some to
see what was the reason they did not lay. The
bunch of eggs will be sufficient in number but
seemingly they grow to be as large as a hickory
nut. and turn hard ln the center with au oily
substance on the out side. While there may be
a few small eggs that look all right, when grown
to a certain size they  become spoiled.
Etna   Green. A   Subscriber.
They have had only fattening food probably, with little or no shell, bone or grit.
Try a change of diet. Give clover leaves
cut and soaked, if they can't get grass,
and see that they have lime, shells and
gravel.
A subscriber asks can any of -our readers supply him with four or five bushels
of pure Early Amber sorgum seed. If anyone has this seed to sell he should advertise it in our For Sale column.
An old subscriber tells of a hard case
of neighborhood quarrels and stealing and
disturbances in the community, and wants
to know what can be done to make the
officers do their duty, and arrest the disturbers of the peace. The proper thing
to do is to get out a writ against the offenders and the sheriff must either serve
it or give up his office to some one who
will. Of course, all peaceable means should
lie tried first. Hake sure that this has
been done before the law is invoked.
Will you please Inform me of the best remedy
for   chicken   lice? I.   R.   L.
Ferrell,   111.
We would not like to say what is the
best remedy; we do not know, but a very
A subscriber asks the cost of the big
map of Indiana that we refer to occasion-
idly. We can get you a copy for $5. As
we have said, it is over five feet long and
three feet wide, and township, range and
eetion lines are given, with all towns, villages,   railroads,   electric   lines,   etc.       By
he way, how near have we come to locating the farms that have been described
to us?
out a large portion of the eastern United
States and also in Washington ami Ore-
gon.     In many localities it is abundant
and  troublesome  in  meadows  and   pasture
hinds.      It  docs  not often   persist   where
rotation  of  crops  with  thorough  cultivation is practiced."       Lyster H. Dewey.
Assistant  Botanist.
Being unable to identify theweedsentus
1 y ti subscriber recently we sent it to the
Department of Agriculture at Washing-
ion.  D. C.  tiinl have the following reply.
"The plant sent for identification with
your letter of March 21 is St. John's-wort,
Hypericum perforatum. This is a perennial plant native in Europe and northern
Asia, but now abundantly naturalized as
ti  weed in  fields and  waste land through-
Some Lessons of the Drouth.
f.ditors Indiana Farmer:
Going west hist summer, directly after
the great drouth was broken in Missouri
and Kansas, and seeing the hungry people and cattle on- a thousand brown hills,
I wondered how all would be fed. Two
weeks after rainfall all kinds of grass.
even on roadsides, mnckweed and prairie,
were tine and stock filling up. Farmers
turned all their energies to seeding with
all kinds of millet, sorgum, Kaffir and alfalfa. By this time what corn they had
was ready to cut, which they hauled off,
and had fine pasture for cattle of foxtail
and crab grass six inches high. Heavy
crops of millet, sorgum and Kaffir were
taken in October and stacked; and September, October and November each gave
;i good cutting of alfalfa, and when- I left
Kansas on Thanksgiving day they were
still hauling hay from fields to market at
$s to ski per ton, which had commanded
$18 per ton in September. Farmers could
not get help enough awhile to save all the
forage and will have feed left over in- the
spring. Kansas is the home for alfalfa,
and it will bridge their drouths. M tun-
people planted Irish and sweet potatoes
and turnips and many othervegetables and
loalized fine crops. Their fruit was all
small, tough and leathery, when two or
three good rains doubled it up in size,
and from the 15th of October till last of
November apples and peaches were very
plenty and fine. All fall the city of To-
peka markets were about as full as common, all the difference was they were a
lew points higher in price. Kansas don't
propose to be downed. Their grit and
s.ill will take them through any emergency, and I learned many valuable lessons among them.
I brought back with me from Robert
Marsh's Ranch, Valley Falls, a drouth
proof corn, which stood the test of 2%
months without rain. I prize it very
highly as most miraculous, and well developed and acclimated, and later on hope
to give good reports of it. These are
only a few of the lessons I saw in the
West of a dry year. D. T. P.
Rayville.
Sowing Rape for Pasture.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
In a recent number of the Farmer, Mr.
B. S. D., of Carroll county, states he has
a 22-acre field that was sown to clover
last spring, but ore account of extreme
drouth about all the clover killed out on
the clay soil. He now asks information
n regard to sowing same with rape for
pasture for hogs. I know of nothing else
that would do as well to be pastured with
the growing clover in same field. Unless
the season should be very wet and unfavorable for pasturing, hogs would do the
rape but little damage while growing sufficiently large for pasture.
If his field is clear of weeds I would
su._-g.-st the parts sown to rape should be
cut up both ways with a disc harrow,
drill or corn cultivator immediately or as,
soon as ground is in suitable condition.
Then sow four or five pounds or rape seed
together with six quarts of clover seed
per acre, ami harrow same both ways
with spike tooth harrow.     Before or Im
mediately after sowing, without fail, sprinkle the ground all over with a thin coat of
tiny kind of manure, which will be a
great benefit to both rape and clover to
make a successful crop. This experiment
! have successfully tried, and by keeping
till stock off the field, after first of September. I have ti good hay ami seed crop
next   season. H.  T.
Blackford      Co.
Sowing Clover with Oats.
Fedltors Indiana Farmer:
One of your subscribers recently asked
Im- experience in netting a stand of clover
in oats. 1 gave the Fanner my experience
about two years ago, and as I have succeeded sime that time as well as before,
I will briefly give my rules:
1. Do not break the ground; simply
cultivate it and sow broadcast on the
rough ground, behind the cultivator. It
might do as well to sow the oats ahead of
the cultivator. Sow from three pecks to
ti bushel per acre. Then harrow once
with ti spike tooth harrow. Do this by
middle of April if possible.
2. Follow the harrow with clover seed,
one bushel to live or six acres; then follow
with a light harrow, slaut tooth is the
best.
3. Cut the oats as early as possible.
Even ■.'(■! the shocks out of the field as
soon ns the oats ean be stacked or threshed. You ought to get 40 bushels of oats
per acre and also a good stand of clover.
Beardless barley is much better than oats
for a clover catch. If the ground is still
rough I would roll after oats is up six
inches. G. M. Naber.
Wabash.
Your Location.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I live in Sec. 22, town 20, range 11 east.
How far am I from the railroad and post-
Office? Wm.   Dunkin.
Delaware Co.
—According to our big map Selma is in
the northwest corner of Section 22 town
20. range 11. You may live in that town
or a mile from it. You did not state the
quarter section.
Will try your large map. I live on southwest corner of northeast quarter of section 21, township 26 north, range 6 east.
How far, and in what direction- do I live
from Marion? Also give size of map.
How many miles to the inch? Give all
the  important features  and  price.
Wabash Co. J.  M. Crumrine.
—You are 14 miles iu direct line northwest of Marion, and one and three-fourths
miles northwest of Somerset, in Wabash
country. You are only 1% miles from the
Mississinewa river, at nearest point. The
big map is over five feet long and three
feet wide, and is laid off in townships ami
sections, the latter being one-fourth inch
square. The price is $5. It is a very
complete map, the best we have seen.
     e> . ee 	
Cranberry Plants.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Can anyone tell me how or where I can
get a start of cranberries? I would like
to plant some, ami can't find them in any
catalogue,   and   none   of   m.v   neighbors
kl'""'- Subscriber.
Argos.
—We advise you to write to the post
master at Walkerton. T.aporte county, ashing him for the address of some cranberry
grower there. Or better, jump on the
train and run up there, it is only 20 miles
from Argos, and get your plants right out
of the marshes. There is where they grow
them.