Garden
VOL. LVII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., APRIL 26, 1902.
NO. 17
Men Who Have Helped the Farmer.
Editors  Indiana   Farmer:
Charles V.  Riley.
(Born Sept. 18, 1843; died Sept. 14, 1895.)
Twenty-live years ago the farmer knew
very little about the entomologist and his
work. It is also probable that he cared
very little. To-day the situation is different. Of the scientific friends of the
farmer, none are better known for genuine usefulness than the entomologist.
Meantime the onoe despised student of
bugs has acquired a new name—he is au
"economic" entomologist, or he is a
stranger to the farmer. Entomology is
no longer a science to be promoted or
studied for its own sake; its standing, at
least from the farmer's point of view, depends upon its service to agriculture.
The ecoaomic entomologist can point
to results: He can say with emphasis
that his profession pays its way; that it
justifies its existence by real service that
can be measured by a standard which all
men understand that it has saved millions
upon millions of dollars to the cultivators
of the soil. So the economic entomologist
has come to be a man of dignity and importance. He does not feel slighted when
he is called a "bugologist." He knows
that "bugs" are commoner than most people like to confess and that the man* who
can find a new way to fight an old bug is
bound to be appreciated. So the entomologist holds up his head, and we respect him for his worth and for knowing
it.
The name of Charles V. Riley epitomizes
the history of economic entomology in the
United States. When the story of his
life and work has been adequately told,
the history of economic entomology in the
19th century will have been written with
reasonable fullness. The merest outline of
his career cannot fail to be instructive.
He was a worker and a winner. He did
things  and  did  them  well.
Though born in London, Riley's early
youth was spent some 15 or 20 miles
from the place of his birth at the little
town of Walton-on-Thames. Here his
education was begun. After his eleventh
year he studied at Dieppe, France, and
Bonn, Germany, and in his 17th year
came to* the United States. He then knew
the three greatest living languages in
which modern science is written*—English,
French and German—and was prepared
to be a useful laborer for tupee years on
. an Illinois farm. To the wide-awake,
keen-eyed student, these were profitable
years. He had become interested in insects, and here he could study them in
their native haunts. He began to write
for the agricultural papers. In 1863 he
went to Chicago to become one of the
editors of the Prairie Farmer. A year of
editorial work was followed by six months
of service as a soldier in an Illinois regiment. Out of the army, he returned to
his editor's desk. Entomology had become his passion. His studies and his
practical observation had made him the
best equipped man in the world for the
opportunity that lay before hiin. He
was a man with a mission.
Missouri is not supposed to be one of
the most progressive states; yet Missouri
was the fourth state to appoint an official
entomologist, and her authorities were
wise enough to invite Riley to organize
the work of the new office. He accepted
the appointment and began his new duties
on April 1st. 1808. publishing his first
annual report in December of the same
year. An original man in a new field,
Riley could not publish instructive reports.     Of Riley's  Missouri Reports Dr.
L. O. Howard, the present entomologist
of the Department of Agriculture, has
written as follows:
"Riley's nine reports were monuments
to the State of Missouri, and more especially to the man who wrote them. They
were original, practical, and scientific.
Their value to the agriculturist, as well
as to scientific readers, was greatly enhanced by a remarkable series of illustrations, which were drawn- by the author
and engraved upon wood by the most
skillful wood-engravers of that time."
When the great grasshopper plague of
the middle seventies caused Congress to
establish the Entomological Commission
in 1877, the successful work done in Missouri pointed to Riley as the man to be
placed at the head of the Commission.
Five valuable reports were published by
this body. In 1878 Mr. Riley was appointed entomologist of the Department of
Agriculture, an office which he resigned
at the end of a year, only to accept a
re-appointment two years later; after
which he retained the position until June,
1894.
The period of Riley's public service witnessed the great development of the practical science of entomology. The people
had learned to appreciate the work of*
careful students of insects; governments
had been taught the great value of their
services; and the new sciences of economic
entomology had earned the right to be
recognized as one of the chief aids to
agriculture. And C. V. Riley had been
the leader in all the work that made for
the progress of his favorite science.
One of Riley's triumphs was the introduction from Australia of the ladybird
that saved the orange and lemon groves
of California from the ravages of the
white scale. "This one insect," says C.
L. Marlatt, one of the most competent of
the younger entomologists, "saved the
state its citrus industry, or the equivalent of many millions of dollars." A
dozen years ago Professor W. A. Henry
described the fight against the scale insect as "the best stroke ever made by the
Agricultural  Department  at Washington.
But this is only an example. The fight
against the San Jose scale was hardly
less brilliant in the early years, although
it has had to be renewed under new conditions since the insect was carried from
California to eastern states. It is not yet
forgotten that the French government
decorated Mr. Riley with the cross of the
Legion of Honor for his services to the
vine-growers of France. The "Riley nozzle," which its inventor would not patent,
was of great service to fruit-growers, being the first really successful spraying
device offered to the public. These, also, are examples of Mr. Riley's great
services to agriculture. Let two estimates of the man and the scientist be
added.
R. Fream, in the Journal of the Royal
Agricultural Society, of England, described Mr. Riley as "the greatest agricultural entomologist of our age;" and L. O.
Howard, in a recent conversation with
the writer, characterized him as "the
founder of our new economic entomology;
a man of the broadest scientific knowledge
and of the most perfect ability to apply
his knowledge practically; his work placed
American entomology foremost in* the
world in this branch of science applied to
agriculture." D. W. Working.
Denver,   Colo.
Tierra del Fuego is full of minerals,
among which is no small proportion of
gold.
Alfalfa in Nebraska.
Editors Indiana  Farmer:
Red Willow county is in the southern
tier, 70 miles east of Colorado. The Republican valley runs through the county.
It is a lovely valley, two to three miles
wide and very rich soil. This is alfalfa
land. It yields three to four crops every
year. Notwithstanding the terrible
drouth last year it all made three crops,
nine-tenths was cut four, and some fields
five times, without irrigation. The season's yield was four to fivev tons per
acre, some a little more. A field of one-
hundred acres made 546 tons. The hay,
in McCook, our county seat, sold at .$8
per ton. Last year's crop brought $30
to $40 per acre in spite of the drouth. It
has yielded over six tons per acre in a
season. It has made four crops, and
then pastured two mouths in the fall.
Eight acres kept 22 head of cattle all
season. Fifteen acres were cut twice
and they kept 42 head of cattle from July
to November. Twenty acres were cut
twice and then kept 57 three-year-old
steers till November. I have run cows ou
it in October and November and they gave
about as much milk as iu June on clover.
Cows fed on alfalfa hay give a good flow
of milk all winter without grain. Calves
and colts grow all winter on it. Horses
keep fat on it.
I have farmed over 50 years; fed many
kinds of hay and like alfalfa best. For
hogs, nothing equals an alfalfa" patch.
Four acres kept 1G8 head, big and little.
The last of July 50 fat ones were taken
to market. It is the first thing to start
in the spring. Some is three inches high
now. It stays green till December. Sometimes it yields two crops of hay the year
it is sown. Nothing stands drouth like
alfalfa.
Patches sown eight years ago, never re-
sown, have made three to four crops every
year, and not a year but the crop would
pay 10 per cent on $150 per acre, and on
$300 to $400 per acre some years. It did
that last year, and still a few farms can
be had yet at $20 to $25 per acre, if
bought of owner, and one near me at $15.
Good alfalfa land like this is really worth
$100 per acre. I have farmed here 20
years aud not fed stock three months any
winter, some winters none; have sown
wheat in* February every year but one.
This year commenced on February 24.
Since then the soil has been in good order, never saw it plow nicer. A little
plowing was done in January this year.
Fall  wheat looks  fine.
McCook, Nebr. Wm. Coleman.
sowing 25 to 30 pounds to the acre
than 15 to 20 pounds. It is only a
question of a few cents at the time of
sowing. And I believe I would rather
sow it by itself which I will do the next
I sow. Peter Stohry.
Shelby Co.
—Mr. Stohry sends us two samples.
One of the common alfalfa, the other
Turkestan. The latter seems the more
thrifty. We are thankful for his experience, and request him to send us more
of it later in the season.
Sowing Alfalfa.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I am now ready to report on my alfalfa.
It is now looking like it is going to be a
success, but for a time after the snow
went off, it looked as if it would be a
total failure.
On some of the thinnest ground there
are some small patches, two or three feet
square, where it is entirely killed, and
the plants look good and strong. The
new shoots look from two to five inches
high now. There is one thing I wish to
say to the readers of the Indiana Farmer
on this subject, that is, to all those who
are going to start a patch of alfalfa, be
sure and have the ground well drained and
in the highest state of cultivation, and
then plowing ground deep, plowing it
early, harrow it every week until time
of sowing, which will be from the middle
Of  April  to  the  first  of May.
Now as to the amount of seed don't be
afraid   of   putting   on   too   much;   rather
THE WILD FLOWERS.
Considering that the American people
spend over $18,000,000 a year on roses,
violets and other hothouse products,
raised by 6,000 florists of this country, irrespective of the probably larger sums
that arc paid to seedsmen and plant growers for public and private gardens it is
evident that an interest is felt in flowers.
Whether it is interest or the lack of it
that leads vandals to destroy them whenever they find them is open to argument.
A fondness for these pretty nectaries that
leads to the snipping of blossoms from the
plant is comprehensible enough, but in
their eagerness or indifference many tear
the  whole  plant  out of the  earth.
The result of this has been to almost
exterminate certain of the wild flowers
that used to make the upper end of Manhattan gay, and that were not unknown
on the edge of Brooklyn. The Dutchman's breeches, that served as reminders
of the original settlers hereabouts, are
now conspicuously absent; wild roses no
longer perfume the air; the indestructible
daisy        is        passing under        the
legal ban, along with the thistle; the buttercup has been plowed out and hacked
and broken; even the dandelion has to lie
down. Where flowers and fragrance once
made the spring day glad there now are
barrenness and ragweed.
These facts have prompted the Misses
Phelps-Stokes to give $3,000 to the New
York Botanical Garden for investigation
and the preservation of native plants. The
interest on this fund will be paid out in
prizes for essays and studies relating to
the subject, which shall be expanded to
mean merely herbaceous plants, but vegetation of all sorts, including trees. These
essays are to be not over 3,000 words long,
and must naturally have some practical
consequence.
While this is very well, and will do its
part in educating the public to a more
sensible enjoyment of nature and its own
advantages, and may restrain our barbarians in their practice of smashing,
tearing and destroying what they care
little for themselves, and will prevent
others from enjoying at all, it would seem
as if a small sum might be used to advantage in the cultivation of wild flowers
and the dissemination of their seed, bulbs
or cuttings in such secluded parts of the
city as would insure a chance of their
survival. The habitat of various species
is known. Seed thrown into congenial
soil would be almost certain* to spring into plant and flower, and the arbutus, the
lady's slipper and many other delightful
companions of one's field and woodland
walks may be familiar once more. The
age is not so wholly hard and void of sentiment and the sense of beauty as to make
this impossible.—Brooklyn Eagle.
A plumber who was arrested in Rome
for stealing jewelry confessed that he
swallowed diamonds and other stones
valued at $15,000, and sold the mountings.