business are very much interested in, and that is the cabbage maggot. As
you all know, in the spring of the year, after cabbages are put out,
frequently you will find the cabbages slowly dying, one dying one day
and two or three the next day, and so on until sometimes fifty per cent
or more of the cabbages die. At first it is not exactly apparent what is
killing the cabbages, but when one is pulled up it will be noticed that
a little maggot is working in the root of the cabbage. This insect is
commonly known as the cabbage maggot.
For a number of years work has been carried on with the cabbage maggot,
and all sorts of treatments have been tried, many without any great
success. The unfortunate part is that usually the market gardener don't
take much thought of this maggot until it is actually doing the injury,
and at that time they are mighty difficult to handle.
There have been several different treatments advised, one of which is
fresh hellebore, about two ounces steeped in a quart of boiling water
and then diluted to a gallon and poured upon the base of the plant. It
will destroy the maggots, but hellebore is very expensive and, as
probably most of you know, there isn't a great amount of profit in
cabbage; so any treatment will have to be a cheap treatment, or you will
use up your profit.
During the last two years I have been working along a line which is
entirely different from the treatment of the maggot, and that is based
upon the fact that the fly which lays the egg which produces the maggot
in the cabbage comes out early in the spring and flies about the field
for probably a week or ten days or two weeks before it lays its eggs,
and during that period it eats any sweet material which happens to be on
hand. With this as a basis we thought we might be able to poison the
flies and thus prevent injury from the maggots, and we have tried
several different spray mixtures along that line. One mixture which we
use is a mixture which is normally used against the fruit flies which
are oftentimes injurious to fruit, particularly in the east and in
tropical countries. This contains three ounces of arsenate of lead, two
and half pounds of brown sugar and four gallons of water. The idea is to
spray this in the field, spraying it on the plants as soon as the
plants are put out in the field. We have more or less definite dates for
the appearance of the flies in the field and for their disappearance
again. But, as you know, the season varies, and the result is somewhat
uncertain. So probably the best method is to base it upon the time you
plant out your cabbage. In the early seasons you will plant your
cabbages early, and in the late seasons later. So plant out your cabbage
and then spray them every week until the 10th of May.
You should spray them, not to cover the leaves with the poison, but
merely sufficient so that there are a few drops of this poisoned
material on the leaves so that the flies can eat it. Flies will come
there and feed upon this mixture and die.
It is rather peculiar that we started work here about the same time on
the cabbage maggot that they started work on the onion maggot along
similar lines in Wisconsin. I don't think that either knew that the
other was working towards that end. They used a different mixture,
one-fifth ounce of sodium arsenite, one-half pint of New Orleans
molasses and one gallon of water. This was sprayed over the onions and
was very successful in controlling the onion maggot.
I tried their mixture this last year. They published some of their
results last year, so it gave me an opportunity to watch their mixture
in comparison with the lead arsenate. They claimed the lead arsenate did
not act as quickly as the sodium arsenite. That is true, but when you
have a ten-day period to kill the fly it don't make much difference
whether it dies in ten hours or twenty-four. The flies are not doing any
injury. If you take the lead arsenate and sugar and water and put it in
a jar, the arsenate always sinks to the bottom, and if you were to test
it that way, the fly would feed on the top and you might not get a quick
result. But if you spray it on, the lead arsenate will kill as quickly
as the sodium arsenite.
There is an objection to the use of arsenite in that sodium arsenite is
a soluble poison and will burn the leaves of the cabbage. Of course,
that is not particularly serious as those are the first leaves the
cabbages have and the cabbage soon gets over any slight injury, but many
truck gardeners probably would object to that. In the onion you have a
different shaped leaf, and the injury is not so apparent. Last summer I
found that New Orleans molasses would give you a little bit better
result than the sugar, and it is cheaper. The objection to the New
Orleans molasses is the sticky nature of the material in handling.
I might mention in regard to opening cans of New Orleans molasses. If
you never opened one and try this treatment, be careful about opening
the can. The lid is pushed down tight and under warm conditions, or if
the molasses has been in a warm room there is a certain amount of
fermentation and gas under pressure, and if you pry it open quickly you
find the lid flies up in the air and you will probably be smeared over
with molasses.
I employed my spray, that is, one ounce of lead arsenate, one-half pint
of New Orleans molasses and one gallon of water last season. The check
plots had cabbages attacked by the maggots, probably 10 or 15 per cent
of the plants dying from the attack. Last year was a very good season,
that is, many of the plants seriously attacked put out roots again, and
those were able to grow again in the sprayed plots. The infestation of
the sprayed plots was probably about 30 to 40 per cent. of the plants,
but they only contained probably one maggot each, which is very slight
and not sufficient to do any damage.
There is one market gardener whose cabbage patch we sprayed, I think,
only a part of two rows, and we thought we would leave the rest of his
patch as a control. Apparently the amount of material we put on there
was sufficient to attract the flies from the whole field. Not a single
cabbage died, and he was pleased with the result of the spray.
Mr. Miller: What do you do for root aphis?
Mr. Moore: Root aphis can very easily be controlled with tobacco
extract. It is put upon the root of any plant that is affected, a
tablespoonful to a gallon of water. There are a number of different
tobacco extracts on the market. Some of them contain 15 per cent. of
nicotine, some contain 20, some 25 and some 40, and I think there is one
brand that contains 45 per cent. You will find that the brands that
contain the most nicotine are the most expensive, but in proportion you
use less material. Thus 20 per cent. tobacco extract would take two
tablespoonfuls to the gallon, while 40 per cent. would take only one. It
is the nicotine which is the working portion of it.
Mr. Miller: Then you can use the black leaf forty?
Mr. Moore: It is very good, it is 40 per cent. nicotine. There is
another product put out by the same company, a black leaf, only 15 or 20
per cent. This is cheaper, but you have to use more of it. If anything
probably the more expensive would be the cheaper in the long run.
Mr. Wintersteen: The maggots that attack the radishes and turnips are
the same as the cabbage maggot?
Mr. Moore: Yes, sir.
Mr. Wintersteen: Why is it I have no trouble with the cabbages, and yet
I can raise no radishes or turnips in the same ground?
Mr. Moore: The radishes and turnips are attacked and the cabbages are
not?
Mr. Wintersteen: Yes, sir.
Mr. Moore: Which do you raise, early cabbages?
Mr. Wintersteen: Yes, sir.
Mr. Moore: What variety do you raise?
Mr. Wintersteen: The Wakefield, generally.
Mr. Moore: Some varieties of cabbages are not nearly so severely
attacked as others. I think of the two that they would prefer radishes
probably. Growing them side by side you find they infest the radishes.
That was my experience last year. I grew the first generation of
cabbages, and the second generation I took over into the radishes
because I wanted to treat them there.
Mr. Rasmussen: Did you say the same fly attacks the onion and the
cabbage?
Mr. Moore: The onion has two different flies, one which is black in
color, with light colored bands across the wings, and that one passes
the winter as a larva in the old onions left in the field. It is an
injurious practice to leave old onions there to breed these maggots. If
they were taken out and destroyed you could do away with that one. The
cabbage fly is different. When you use the spray it would probably be
all right to use the sodium arsenite for the onion and the lead arsenate
for the cabbage. The type of leaf is entirely different, and on the
cabbage you are apt to burn them with the sodium arsenite while the lead
arsenate will give you practically the same result.
Mr. Goudy: The cabbage butterfly, does that come from the same maggot?
Mr. Moore: No; this maggot is on the root, the cabbage butterfly lays
its eggs on the leaf. You get the cabbage worm from the cabbage
butterfly.
Mr. Goudy: What do you do for that?
Mr. Moore: Paris green is used to a great extent, but many people have a
horror of using Paris green. Last year, I think it was, I was called up
on the phone by some one and I advised him to use Paris green. He said
that he was afraid it might poison everybody. I explained to him there
was no danger from it, as you know the cabbage leaves grow from the
inside, not from the outside, and the spray would be on the outside
leaves. Besides that, we usually spray early for the cabbage worm while
the heads come on later.
Mr. Goudy: Did you ever try capsicum, sprinkling that on the heads?
Mr. Moore: No, sir.
Mr. Goudy: I saved my cabbages one year by using that.
Mr. Moore: Some people claim salt is good. One of the students mentioned
it to me. One applied it by putting a spoonful around over the head,
another dissolved a tablespoonful in about ten quarts of water and
sprayed it on. Salt is rather injurious to vegetation as a rule. Of
course, they only put it on the leaves, and the cabbage is a hardy
plant. Air slaked lime is also good, but would have to be applied
several times. With the arsenate you apply it once and kill all the
brood.
Mr. Ludlow: We took them all off of mine one year by using boiling hot
water.
Mr. Moore: Yes, sir; water is very good. The objection is, on a large
scale it is not feasible.
Mr. Miller: Slug shot is very good.
Mr. Moore: Yes, sir; it doesn't contain very much poison, but it is
sufficient to kill the cabbage worm.
Mr. Cadoo: I used just simply wood ashes.
Mr. Moore: The cabbage worm is one that is very easy to handle.
A Member: I have always used salt. I think it makes a more firm and
solid head, that is my theory, I don't know whether I am right or not. I
have been doing that for years.
Mr. Moore: I don't know. I never heard of the treatment with salt until
two or three days ago when several students mentioned that they used
salt. Some people won't use Paris green. There was one case a man said
his wife wouldn't let him do it even if she knew it wasn't poison; she
didn't like the idea of Paris green on cabbage.
Mr. Ingersoll: Is there anything you can suggest to control the yellows
in asters?
Mr. Moore: The yellows in asters has been a problem which has been very
amusing there at the farm. A man sends in an aster to the entomological
department, we examine it and can't find anything that belongs to our
department, and we send it to the plant pathological department, and
they send it back to us. Last year we made a point in every case of
yellows in asters to send some one to investigate and find out what was
going on to produce it. In some cases it seemed to be a fungous disease.
One case I know turned out to be a fungous disease, the very next one
was due to plant lice on the roots of the asters. In that case I don't
think you get quite the distinct yellows of the asters, but rather the
plants wilt and become weak and finally die. That can very easily be
controlled with tobacco extract, pouring it upon the buds of the plants.
We do not know definitely about the yellows. We think it is more or less
of a physiological disease of the plant, not due to an insect. This last
year we have not found any what we would call the true yellows. There is
an insect that produces similar trouble on other plants, a plant bug,
which is hard to secure because it flies away. That is the reason we
have been sending out to see exactly what is going on in the field, and
we didn't see any evidence of their work this year. Another thing, it
seems to be a year in which the asters did fairly well, and there was
very little yellows.
Mr. Ingersoll: You think that irregular watering might make any
difference or very solid rooting?
Mr. Moore: It might do something of the sort. The most we heard of the
yellows was the year before last, and we were held up at the time with
other work and could not investigate properly. Any one here that has
yellows in asters next year, we would be very glad to hear from him and
send some one out to find the cause. It wouldn't surprise me that it was
something in the treatment of the aster.
Mr. Cadoo: Do angleworms hurt house plants?
Mr. Moore: Not as a rule. They do eat a small amount of vegetation, but
ordinarily in a house plant, if you have, say, a worm in a pot, I think
it is rather beneficial than injurious, because it keeps the soil
stirred up.
Mr. Rasmussen: What is the spray for the cabbage and onion maggot?
Mr. Moore: Unfortunately I am a very poor person to remember figures,
and I carry this around with me. One spray is three ounces of lead
arsenate, two and a half pounds of brown sugar to four gallons of water,
but we found that probably a little better spray was to use the New
Orleans molasses instead of the sugar and the formula is: One ounce of
lead arsenate, one-half pint of New Orleans molasses and one gallon of
water. The spray that was used for the onion maggot and was devised over
in Wisconsin is: One-fifth ounce of sodium arsenite, one-half pint of
New Orleans molasses and one gallon of water.
Mr. Rasmussen: The Wisconsin spray is what I used to spray my place
several years, and I was wondering if it was the same.
Mr. Moore: It was peculiar that they started to work on the onion maggot
in Wisconsin at the same time we started on the cabbage maggot here.
Mr. Rasmussen: We have controlled the onion maggots almost entirely, but
the cabbage maggots are very difficult.
Mr. Moore: In our control plots it controlled it very well. Our plants
were infested only with a few maggots, but not sufficient to do any
injury.
The Wealthy Apple.
F. H. BALLOU.
(THE OPINION OF AN OHIO APPLE GROWER--FROM A BULLETIN ISSUED BY OHIO
STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.)
The value of a variety of apple commercially usually decides its place
in the estimation of growers. Naturally the later maturing, longer
keeping or winter varieties are generally accorded this preference.
Orchardists in the southern part of Ohio doubtless would elect Rome
Beauty queen of money makers, were the question put to a vote. Apple
producers of northern Ohio or western New York would as surely vote for
Baldwin. But what variety would you--Mr. Lover-of-apples-and-apple
products--vote for and plant if but a single variety and space for but a
single tree were available? After twenty years observation and enjoyment
of apple precocity, apple dependability and all-around apple excellence
throughout a long season, the writer continues annually to cast his
ballot for Wealthy.
[Illustration: Mr. Rolla Sfubbs, of Bederwood, Lake Minnetonka, under
his favorite tree, the Wealthy.]
True the Wealthy has its faults--so have all the other varieties of
apples of individual choice--and so have we--the growers; but for early
fruitage, prolificacy, excellence for culinary use, extended period of
usefulness, richness and delicacy of flavor when ripened in a cool
cellar and good keeping qualities when under proper conditions it is
placed in cold storage, there are few if any varieties other than this
that combine so many splendid and desirable characteristics. From
mid-July to mid-September of the present year we have been using
Wealthy for culinary purposes with steadily increasing enjoyment as
their quality has gradually become finer and finer. At this writing,
September 18, we have in the cellar attractively colored, well ripened,
pink-and-white-fleshed Wealthy delightful for dessert use; and there are
yet Wealthy--firm and crisp--on the trees for later autumn use if kept
in the cellar, or early winter and holiday use if placed in cold
storage.
If we could have but one apple tree that tree would be a Wealthy. This
statement is made with full knowledge and appreciation of the many other
excellent varieties of various seasons, including Grimes, Jonathan,
Stayman and Delicious.
Law Fixes Standards for Containers for Fruits, Berries and Vegetables in
Interstate Commerce.
(TAKEN FROM "WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE," THE ORGAN OF WIS. STATE
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.)
Standards for Climax baskets for grapes, other fruits and vegetables,
and other types of baskets and containers used for small fruits,
berries, and vegetables in interstate commerce, are fixed by an act
approved by the President August 31, 1916. The law will become effective
November 1, 1917.
The effect of the act will be to require the use of the standards in
manufacturing, sale, or shipment for all interstate commerce, whether
the containers are filled or unfilled. A large part of the traffic in
fruits and vegetables in this country enters interstate commerce. The
law relates only to the containers and will not affect local regulations
in regard to heaped measure or other method of filling. A special
exemption from the operations of the law is made for all containers
manufactured, sold, or shipped, when intended for export to foreign
countries, and when such containers accord with the specifications of
the foreign purchasers, or comply with the laws of the country to which
the shipment is destined.
Standards of three capacities are fixed for Climax baskets--2, 4 and 12
quarts, dry measure. These containers, often known as "grape baskets,"
have relatively narrow, flat bottoms, rounded at each end, and thin
sides flaring slightly from the perpendicular. The handle is hooped over
at the middle from side to side. In addition to fixing the capacities of
these standard baskets of this type, the law also prescribes their
dimensions.
The other standards are for "baskets or other containers for small
fruits, berries, and vegetables." They are to have capacities only of
one-half pint, 1 pint, 1 quart, or multiples of 1 quart, dry measure.
Such containers may be of any shape so long as their capacities
accurately accord with the standard requirements.
The examination and test of containers to determine whether they comply
with the provisions of the act are made duties of the department, and
the Secretary of Agriculture is empowered to establish and promulgate
rules and regulations allowing such reasonable tolerances and variations
as may be found necessary.
Penalties are provided by the act for the manufacture for shipment, sale
for shipment, or shipment in interstate commerce of Climax baskets, and
containers for small fruits, berries, and vegetables, not in accord with
the standards. It is provided, however:
That no dealer shall be prosecuted under the provisions of this act when
he can establish a guaranty signed by the manufacturer, wholesaler,
jobber, or other party residing within the United States from whom such
Climax baskets, baskets, or other containers, as defined in this act,
were purchased, to the effect that said Climax baskets, baskets, or
other containers are correct within the meaning of this act. Said
guaranty, to afford protection, shall contain the name and address of
the party or parties making the sale of Climax baskets, baskets, or
other containers, to such dealer, and in such case said party or parties
shall be amenable to the prosecutions, fines, and other penalties which
would attach in due course to the dealer under the provisions of this
act.--Department of Agriculture.
[Illustration: A PLANT-CHIMERA: TWO VARIETIES OF APPLE IN ONE.
Golden Russet and Boston Stripe combined in the same fruit, as the
result of a graft. Trees producing these apples bear only a few fruits
of this combination; the rest of the crop belongs entirely to one or
other of the two varieties concerned. The explanation of these chimeras
is that the original buds of the scion failed to grow, after the graft
was made, but an adventitious bud arose exactly at the juncture of stock
and scion, and included cells derived from both. These cells grow side
by side but remain quite distinct in the same stem, each kind of cell
reproducing its own sort. From "Journal of Heredity," May, 1914.
Published by the "American Genetic Association," Washington, D. C.]
The Rhubarb Plant.
LUDVIG MOSBAEK, ASKOV.
Rhubarb, or pieplant, as it is more commonly called, is one of the
hardiest and at the same time a most delicious fruit. When the stalks
are used at the right stage and given the proper care by the cook, they
are almost equal to fresh peaches.
Rhubarb can be transplanted every month in the year, but the best time
is early spring or August. There are especially two things rhubarb will
not stand, "wet feet and deep planting." Most beneficial is good natural
or artificial drainage and rich soil, made so by a good coat of manure,
plowed or spaded in, and a liberal top dressing every fall, cultivated
or hoed in on the top soil the next spring. Fifty plants or divisions of
a good tender variety planted 3 to 4 feet apart will supply an average
household with more delicious fresh fruit and juice for six months of
the year than five times the space of ground devoted to currants,
gooseberries or any other fruit, and if you have from 50 to 100 plants
you can afford to pick the first stalk that sprouts up in April and
still figure on having an abundance to keep you well supplied all
summer.
Do you really know what a delicious beverage can be made from the juice
of rhubarb mixed in cool water? Take it along in the hayfield a hot
summer day. And even if you can not keep it cool the acid contained in
the juice still makes it a delicious and stimulating drink where you
would loathe the taste of a stale beer. There are about a hundred other
ways to prepare rhubarb, not forgetting a well cooled rhubarb mush
served with cool milk in the evening or for that matter three times a
day; nothing cheaper, nor healthier. The fresh acid contained in the
rhubarb purifies the blood and puts new vigor in your body and soul, is
better and cheaper than any patent medicines, and from the growth of 50
to 100 plants you can eat every day for six months and preserve enough
in fresh, cool water in airtight jars to last you all winter. But you
can do still better with your rhubarb. You can add three months more and
make it nine months of the year for fresh, crisp, delicious fruit. I
will tell you how.
When your rhubarb gets 3-4 years old and very big and strong clumps of
roots, divide some of the best and make a new planting and dig some of
the balance before frost in the fall. Leave them on top of the ground
until they have had a good freeze--this is very essential to
success--then place the roots as you dug them in a dark corner in your
cellar or in a barrel in your cellar, exclude all light, keep the soil
moderately wet and after Christmas and until spring you will have an
abundance of brittle, fine flavored stalks that are fully equal to and
perhaps more tender than the outdoor grown. Years ago in Chicago I grew
rhubarb in a dark house 36×80 ft., built for that purpose, and the
stalks generally commanded a price of 12 to 15c a pound in the right
market in January, February and March.
It is better not to pull any stalks the summer you transplant, at least
not until September. Next year in May and June you can have stalks from
1/2 to 1 pound and over. When you pull stalks don't take the outer two
or three leaves but only the tender ones, and strip them off in
succession so you do not come back to the same plants to pull for four
to six weeks or more. Just as quick as the plant shows flower stems cut
them off close to the ground and keep them off, never allow them to show
their heads.
I have grown rhubarb for market and for domestic use for about forty
years, having one time as much as five acres, and I will assure you if
you will follow directions you will appreciate rhubarb more than before
and get out of it all it is worth.
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