Page 1 |
Previous | 1 of 20 | Next |
|
|
Loading content ...
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.
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1902, v. 57, no. 17 (Apr. 26) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA5717 |
Date of Original | 1902 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2011-03-21 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | 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. |
Tags
Comments
Post a Comment for Page 1