USA > Michigan > Jackson County > Jackson County, Michigan, rural directory, 1918 > Part 30
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I have found that rats often gain en- trance to a cellar through the cellar drain, and for this reason the outlet to the drain should be screened so that no rats can enter.
Chloride of lime, if generously sprinkled over the runways of rats, will also clear the premises of the pests. It gets into their nostrils and burns their feet. Rather than brave many repeti- tions of it, they leave the premises.
Prevention is sometimes better than cure. Where possible to do it, use con- crete for floors, foundations, etc. The additional cost of thus making buildings rat-proof is slight as compared to the advantages. With cement even an old cellar may be made proof against these pests.
Rats are expensive, they are destroy- ers of property. They are a menace to health, carrying in their fur disease germs ; they are transmitters of plagues, a general nuisance-biff the rat!
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JACKSON COUNTY
Hotbeds
There is one easy, sure way to make a hotbed, and here it is:
A hotbed is nothing more than a board-edged pit, in which there is fer- menting horse manure covered with sev- eral inches of soil. The top of the hot- bed is roofed with one or more sashes, which usually measure about 3 x 6 feet each. At night a straw or other mat is laid over the glass to keep out the cold.
SASH
MI Zł
CACUND LEVEL
SOIL
·
BOARDS
MANURE
Hotbeds are usually made of one-inch boards. If the boards on the back of the frame are twelve inches above ground, those in front should be several inches lower, thus giving a slant to the sashes, enabling water to run off quickly.
Throw the manure into the hotbed pit in successive layers, continuously tramp- ing. Fill the pit to within four or five inches of the top of the frame on the front side. The manure will settle sev- eral inches before time for sowing the seed. Place sashes on the frame imme- diately after filling.
Tree-Pruning Hints
Spring is a good time to prune trees, unless you prefer to wait until June. The rule is that spring pruning induces wood growth and June pruning induces fruit growth. Of course, on young trees you should want only wood growth until they are good-sized and fully able to endure the strain of fruit bearing. Some growers do part of their pruning in March and part in June.
Don't prune mature trees too severely. A tree must have some place upon which to produce its fruit; otherwise it will produce water-sprouts instead of fruit.
Don't prune off a single branch unless you know just why you are removing it and why you are removing that particu- lar branch in preference to some other.
Don't neglect to paint all large wounds. Painting will improve the ap- pearance, prevent decay, prevent evapo- ration of the tree's supply of moisture, and facilitate healing.
Above all, don't allow any man to prune your trees if his chief recom- mendation is his ability to handle an ax and a saw.
Don't prune your trees because some one else thinks they need pruning. He may not know any more about them than you do.
Don't prune your trees unless you can tell the difference between a dead and a living branch, between a bearing and a non-bearing branch, between a fruit-spur and a water-sprout, and between a fruit- bud and a leaf-bud.
Don't prune off the large limbs when equally good results can be had by re- moving a few of the smaller limbs. The large ones form the framework of the tree and are needed to support the bear- ing branches.
It is sometimes stated that the fruit- growers of the Pacific slope, who pro- duce some of the finest fruit in the world, prune away "nearly half of the tops of their trees" every year .. They do nothing of the kind. They remove from one-quarter to two-thirds of the annual terminal growth of the previous season. But they give their trees cul- ture that causes the trees to make a terminal growth of from two to three, and often four, feet. The average east- ern farmer gives his trees only enough care to permit the growth of four or five inches of terminal growth; and so his tree tops do not need the same treat- ment that a larger growth would require.
Trim fruit trees a little every year, rather than much in any one year. Peach trees require more pruning than most trees; at least one-half of the length of the new growth should be re- moved each season. Cherry trees re- quire the least pruning; merely cut out dead, broken or "crossed" limbs. Other trees need a judicious thinning-out and, sometimes, cutting-back. Avoid cutting so as to leave "stubs"; make neat cuts close to union.
The harder you prune the more suck- ers you will have; don't overdo a good thing.
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CLASSIFIED BUSINESS DIRECTORY
Troublesome Pests-Roach
The ordinary roach or cockroach comes of an ancient (although not distinguished !) lineage which dates back farther than the "family tree" of the proudest human family. Fos- sil remains prove that this insect existed away back in the Carbon- iferous age.
About 5000 different species of the roach family are believed to - exist in different parts of the world, most of which, however, live out- of-doors and subsist on vegetation. Only a very few species are en- gaged in making trouble for good housewives.
Roaches are lovers of the dark; it is then they roam around pantry and rooms in search of mischief and food. At the approach of a light they scurry away, like a pack of cow- ardly thieves. Any kind of food tastes good to them, whether it be shoe leather, apple dumpling, or book covers. Toothache, loss of appetite, or dyspepsia are, we be- lieve, unknown to the roach family.
But the roach has one good point. Alas, only one. It is this: He has a fondness for bed bugs, and, by eating them, he often does the housewife a real favor.
Now we come to "remedies," and here the trouble begins. Nothing short- of eternal vigilance will rid a house of these pests when once they gain a foothold.
Unfortunately (for the house- wife) the roach seems to be en- dowed with remarkable intelligence
as regards poisoned foods. Arsenic, no matter how disguised, he refuses (with thanks) nearly every time. However, it is said that a prepara- tion of sweetened flour paste con- taining phosphorous will often fool him.
Another remedy often used is fresh pyrethrum powder or buhach. This, when liberally dusted on shelves, etc., usually affords tem- porary or partial relief. A better use of this powder, however, is to burn a quantity of it in an infested room, and then tightly close the apartment for ten hours. Bisulphide of carbon is sometimes used in this way, also, but its vapor is more dangerous to have in a dwelling house.
Trapping the insects is another remedy. Roach traps may easily be made at home, as follows. Take any deep vessel or jar and place it where the roaches congregate. Fill it partly full of sweetened, liquid paste. Then take several thin, nar- row pieces of wood, bend each one into an inverted V, and hang them on the jar-one end almost in the liquid, the other on the shelf or floor. The idea is to make several "gang planks" up which the roaches can crawl, with a steeper gangway inside, down which they will slide into the liquid-never to return.
Some of the prepared "roach powders" that are on the market are also effective when perfectly fresh.
245
JACKSON COUNTY
Troublesome Pests-Buffalo Moth
The carpet beetle (often called the "Buffalo Moth") has proved to be a very annoying and destructive pest throughout the northern part of the United States. It was imported into this country from Europe, about the year 1874, and has spread from the East to the West.
All the year, but more often in sum- mer and fall, an active brown larva about a quarter of an inch in length feeds upon carpets and woolen goods. This larva is decorated with stiff brown hairs, which are longer around the sides and still longer at the ends than on the back. It works in a hidden manner from the under surface of a carpet ; sometimes making irregular holes, but more fre- quently following the line of a floor crack and thus cutting long slits in the carpet.
The adult insect is a minute, broad- oval beetle, about three-sixteenths of an inch long, black in color, but is covered with exceedingly minute scales, which give it a marbled black-and-white ap- pearance. It also has a red stripe down the middle of the back, widening into projections at three intervals. When disturbed it "plays 'possum," folding up its legs and antennae and feigning death. Prof. J. B. Smith says: "The Buffalo Moth lives during the winter under scales of bark, in crevices and wherever else it can find shelter. It is the beetle that lives over, of course, and in the spring it congregates sometimes in great numbers on blossoms, favoring those in gardens, and from them it finds its way into houses nearby. I do not think that I have ever found larvae in houses un- der ordinary circumstances in winter; but I am quite ready to believe that in places kept uniformly warm at all times, breeding may go on in winter as well as in summer."
We believe that only where carpets are extensively used are the conditions favorable for the great increase of the insect. Carpets when once put down are seldom taken up for a year, and in the meantime the insect develops uninter- ruptedly. Where polished floors and rugs are used, the pest ceases to be a serious one.
The beetles are day-fliers, and when not engaged in egg-laying are attracted to the light. They fly to the windows, and may often be found upon the sills
or panes. Where they can fly out through an open window they do so, and are strongly attracted to the flowers of certain plants, particularly the spiraea.
Remedies: There is no easy way to keep the carpet beetle in check. When it has once taken possession of a house nothing but the most thorough and long- continued measures will eradicate it. The practice of annual carpet-cleaning, so often carelessly and hurriedly per- formed, is, as we have shown above, peculiarly favorable to the development of the insect. Two carpet-cleanings would be better than one, and if but one, it would be better to undertake it in mid- summer than at any other time of the year.
Where convenience or conservatism demands an adherence to the old house- cleaning custom, however, insist upon extreme thoroughness and a slight varia- tion in the customary methods. The rooms should be attended to one or two at a time. The carpets should be taken up, thoroughly beaten, and sprayed out- of-doors with benzine, and allowed to air for several hours. The rooms them- selves should be thoroughly swept and dusted, the floors washed down with hot water, the cracks carefully cleaned out, and gasoline or benzine poured into the cracks and sprayed under the base- boards. The extreme inflammability of gasoline, and of its vapor when con- fined, should be remembered and fire carefully guarded against.
Where the floors are poorly con- structed and the cracks are wide, it will be a good idea to fill the cracks with plaster of Paris in a liquid state; this will afterward set and lessen the num- ber of harboring places for the insect. Before relaying the carpet, tarred roof- ing paper should be laid upon the floor, at least around the edges, but preferably over the entire surface; and when the carpet is relaid it will be well to tack it down rather lightly, so that it can be occasionally lifted at the edges and ex- amined for the presence of the insect. Later in the season, if such an examina- tion shows the insect to have made its appearance, a good though somewhat la- borious remedy consists in laying a damp cloth smoothly over the suspected spot of the carpet and ironing it with a hot iron. The steam thus generated will pass through the carpet and kill the in- sects immediately beneath it.
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CLASSIFIED BUSINESS DIRECTORY
Weevils
Grain infested with weevils loses in weight, is undesirable for seed, and is unfit for human consumption. Nor is such grain good feed for livestock. Mil- lions of dollars are lost each year, sim- ply because many farmers do not under- stand how to deal with the weevils.
The mature Granary Weevil is only about one-sixth of an inch in length, and the color is a shining chestnut brown. This species is unable to fly; but it doesn't worry on that account. No, indeed! For it easily makes up, in grain-puncturing and egg-laying power, all that it lacks in wing power.
The female Granary Weevil attacks all kinds of grain, but prefers that which is husked. After puncturing the grain she inserts an egg; this hatches into a larva that devours the mealy interior. This egg-laying process is continued for an extended period, and in a single sea- son one pair of weevils will, it is esti- mated, produce 6000 descendants !
The Angoumois Grain Moth came to this country from France, nearly two hundred years ago. The color is light grayish brown, lined and spotted with black. This insect is very apt to deposit its eggs in unthreshed grain in stack or mow. Where the moths appear in force it is wise to thresh the grain quickly and hurry it to the mill, rather than attempt to store it.
Now for general remedies. Careful attention to the following preventive measures may bring partial relief :
First: Never store fresh grain in bins or granaries (or even under the same roof) where there is, or has been, wee- viled grain. Before using such storage places remove all old grain and thor- oughly scrub, clean and fumigate the bins, using bisulphide of carbon.
Second: Remember that damp, warm bins foster the rapid increase of insect life. Endeavor to have the granary cool and dry.
Third: Build the granary as nearly vermin-proof as is possible. Cover win- dows with fine wire gauze. See that doors, floors, walls, and ceilings are tight.
As regards aggressive remedies, there is one which is a grand success-carbon bisulphide. This is a colorless liquid which rapidly vaporizes into a heavy gas which works downward. Rightly ap- plied to infested grain or seed, the cost is slight, and no injury results to edible or germinative qualities.
How to use bisulphide: See that the grain receptacle can be tightly closed. Figure out the cubical contents of the receptacle or bin, and apply the bisul- phide at the rate of about one pound for each 1000 cubic feet of interior space. Place the liquid on top of the grain, in shallow pans ; about a teacupful in each. Then quickly close the bin for twenty- four hours.
Cautions : The vapor is highly inflam- mable and poisonous. Do not breathe it, nor allow any light near. Thoroughly air the bin or building after fumigation.
Cabbage Worm
This pest is the larva or caterpillar of a white butterfly which appears early in the season and which can be seen flying about cabbage fields until late in the fall.
Remedies : The main secret of success is regular, persistent treatment nearly every week. One treatment alone does little good, owing to the fact that new egg supplies are being placed on the cab- bages by the butterflies all summer. There are many remedies, and below we give some of the safest and best known :
Pyrethrum (also called California buhach and Persian insect powder). This may be diluted with five or six times its bulk of flour, and dusted on the plants in the evening or early morn- ing when wet with dew; or it may be mixed with water-one ounce to four gallons-and sprayed on at any time.
Hot water: Water at a temperature of 130 degrees will kill every worm it touches without injuring the plants.
Kerosene emulsion : An excellent remedy while the plants are young, but may give the heads a bad taste if used too late in the season.
Air-slaked lime: Some growers say that this (or, in fact, fine dry road dust, or any powdery substance) will kill every worm it covers.
Hand-picking: In small gardens, the worms can easily be controlled by pick- ing them off and killing them at regular intervals.
Preventive measures: The practice of leaving cabbage stalks in the field after the main crop is off is a reprehensible one. All remnants should be gathered and destroyed, with the exception of a few left at regular intervals through a field as lures for the females to deposit their eggs. Such stalks, being useless, should be burned later on.
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JACKSON COUNTY
The Iceless Refrigerator
An inexpensive refrigerator, or milk cooler, consists of a wooden frame cov- ered with Canton flannel. Wicks made of the same material as the covering rest in a pan of water on top of the refrigerator, allowing the water to seep down the sides. When evaporation takes place the heat is taken from the inside, consequently lowering the temperature. On dry, hot days a temperature of 50 degrees can be obtained in this refriger- ator. The following description will aid in the construction of this device :
Make a screened case three and a half feet high, with the other dimensions twelve by fifteen inches. Place two mov- able shelves in the frame, twelve to fif- teen inches apart. Use a pan twelve inches square on the top to hold the water, and where the refrigerator is to be used indoors have the whole thing standing in a large pan to catch any drip. The pans and case may be painted white, allowed to dry, and then enameled.
A covering of white Canton flannel should be made to fit the frame. Have the smooth side out and fasten the cov- ering on the frame with buttons or hooks, arranged so that the door may be opened without unfastening them. This can be done by putting one row of hooks on the edge of the door near the latch and the other just opposite the opening, with the hem on each side ex- tending far enough to cover the crack at the edge of the door, keeping out the warm, outside air and retaining the cooled air. The covering will have to be hooked around the top edge also.
Two double strips, one-half the width of each side, should be sewed on the top of each side and allowed to extend over about three inches in the pan of water. The bottom of the covering should ex- tend to the lower edge of the case. Place
the refrigerator in a shady place where air will circulate around it freely. If buttons and buttonholes are used, the cost should not exceed eighty-five cents.
Testing Seed Corn
Every ear of corn,
whether old or new, should be tested. Now is the time to make the tests before the rush of spring The work comes on. "rag doll" method is the cheapest, simplest way of testing.
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3
13.
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5
15
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19
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Take strips of heavy, unbleached muslin, 12 x 54 inches. Mark down the middle lengthwise with a lead-pencil, and then
crosswise every three inches, beginning twelve inches from one end and making eleven lines. Number the twenty divisions, and at the same time number twenty ears of corn to be tested. Take six grains from ear No. 1 (two from near tip, two .from middle and two from near butt), no two kernels from same row, and place them on division No. 1 on the cloth, with tips of all kernels pointing the same way, crosswise of the cloth. Place kernels from No. 2 on space No. 2, and so on for all the ears.
Next place a handful of moist sawdust on a piece of blotting paper on one end of the cloth and roll the rag around it carefully so the kernels will not be dis- placed; roll fairly compact but not too tight. Tie the "rag doll" at both ends. Soak it in lukewarm water over night, drain for half an hour, and stand it on end in a pail lined with a wet cloth- tips of kernels pointing down. A few pieces of brick in the bottom of the pail will afford air circulation and drain- age. Fold the pail cloth-lining over the top, put a fairly heavy dry cloth over the pail, set it in a warm place, and moisten the cloths with warm water every day. In seven days, when the sprouts will be about two inches long, take the doll out and unroll carefully. Any ear whose kernels have not grown vigorously should be thrown out. Be careful to throw away the right ear.
Make six or eight "dolls"-a pailful -- at the same time. To prevent mold, scald all the cloths used.
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248
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CLASSIFIED BUSINESS DIRECTORY
How to Have Good Roads
The construction and maintenance of earth roads is a vital topic in every rural community. The most practical and successful system is that which originated with Mr. D. Ward King, and which is now in general use all over the country.
The keynote, or basis, of Mr. King's system is a simply-made road drag, fash- ioned from a split log about eight feet long, with the two parts about two and one-half feet apart. Any farmer can make one of these drags for himself, at a cost of a dollar or so-or less.
Speaking of this system, the Iowa Highway Commission says in a bulletin issued by the engineering department of Iowa State College :
"Water is the foe to good earth roads, and the whole object of earth road con- struction and maintenance is to get rid of the water and its bad effects. Three systems of drainage are needed :
"First, Tile or Sub-drainage. Wher- ever the soil is naturally wet from ground water, a line of four-inch tile should be laid to a regular grade longi- tudinally along the uphill side of the road, under the side ditch, at a denth of three to four feet.
"Second, Side Ditches. A good, big, side ditch, built to a continuous grade as determined by a road level, so that the water will not stand in it at any point, should be provided on each side of the road. The road level should be used to make sure that the ditch is built to a grade which will not leave ponds of water in the ditches after rains. "Third, Surface Drainage. Proper surface drainage, to shed the water promptly into the side ditches, should be provided by properly crowning the road, and by then keeping it hard and smooth with a King road drag. This drag is the cheapest instrument we have found for this purpose. The annual cost per mile of road treated with the King road drag, where all the time has been paid for by the hour, has not been found to exceed $2.50 to $3.00.
"We advise farmers to start using the
drag without waiting for the road offi- cers to take it up. They will be well repaid for their trouble by the saving of time and expense in using the roads, and the increase in value of their land, due to a good road in front of it.
"We also advise road officers to adopt the road drag, and to provide farmers with free materials to make them, and to hire the roads dragged where the farmers do not themselves undertake the work. There is no possible use of the road funds known to us which will yield such great returns for so small an outlay. In fact, the outlay will be more than saved by the lessened need for the big road grader, with its great cost of operation.
"Gravel roads, when cut up an inch or two deep in continued wet weather, should be gone over at such times with a King drag, the same as an earth road."
The correct method of using the King drag is about as follows:
Begin operations at once, and do not entirely abandon the work except when ground is solidly frozen. A few min- utes' or hours' work, now and then, is better than a week's work all at once.
After each rain or wet spell drive up one wheel track and back on the other at least once, with the drag in position to throw the earth to the center. Ride on the drag. Haul at an angle of 45 degrees. Lay boards on the drag to stand on. Gradually widen the strip dragged as the road improves. To round up the road better, plow a shallow fur- row occasionally each side of the dragged strip, and spread the loose dirt toward the center.
Thus the road gradually becomes smooth, hard, and almost impervious to water. Rains run off the rounded road- bed, like water from a duck's back. By using the drag when the road is muddy (as advised) the earth packs and cements itself into a hard and nearly waterproof surface. And that is the idea, in a nutshell. 'Tis plain to see that if water can find no place to stand, no chuck-holes or ruts can develop.
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PLANTING TABLE FOR VEGETABLES AND BERRIES
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VARIETY
For Horse Cultivation Have Rows
For Hoe or Wheel- Hoe Cultivation Have Rows
Distance Apart in the Row
Depth to Cover
Time to Plant in the North, Outdoors (See Foot-note)
ASPARAGUS, Seed . ASPARAGUS, Plants ... 4 ft. apart
.. . . |21/2 ft. apart
1 ft. apart 3 ft. apart 212 ft. apart 2 ft. apart Pole, 4x4 ft. apart 4 x 3 ft. apart Bush, 212 x 11/2 ft. apart 2 x 11/2 ft. apart 212 ft. apart
3 in. transplant in 1 year 1 in. 2 ft.
Thin to 4 in.
Thin to 3 plants to a pole 1 in.
BEET
BLACKBERRY, Plants .. 8 ft. apart
1 ft. apart 6 ft. apart
Thin to 5 in. 2 ft.
1 in.
March-April April. Or in the fall
CABBAGE and CAULI- FLOWER, Plants ..
21/2 ft. apart
2 ft. apart
16-24 in.
Early kinds, April; late kinds, June
CARROT CELERY, Plants
212 ft. apart
1 ft. apart 2-3 ft. apart
Thin to 5 in. 6 in.
1/2 in.
March-April Early crop, May; late crop, early July First sowing. early May May 15
CORN, Sweet
4 ft. apart
Same
8-12 in.
2 in.
CUCUMBER
5 x 5 or 6x4 ft. apart
Same
Scatter 15 seeds in hill; 1/2 in. thin out later
CURRANT and
GOOSEBERRY, Plants . . 5 x 5 ft. apart
April. Or in the fall June 1 March-April
EGGPLANT, Plants LETTUCE
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