The Indianapolis journal., 1890-08-20
AGRICULTURE AND GEOLOGY
Interesting Papers Read at the Sessions
of the Two Societies Yesterday.
The Promoters of Agricultural Science Discuss
Variety of Topics, and the Biologists Listen
to Talks from Eminent Professors.
PROMOTING AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE


PROMOTING AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE.
The Society Organized for That Purpose
Concludes Its Eleventh Annual Meeting.
The Society for the Promotion of Agri-
cultural Science resumed it's session yester-
day morning. the opening paper being read
by Prof. B. T. Galloway, of the Govern
ment Experiment Station, Washington.
His subject was Some Recent Observa-
tions on Black Rot of the Grape" and the
results of experiments recently made under
direction of the government were summed
up as follows:
L. Two hundred and more inoculations of the
grape berry with pyenidia spores from the leaves
Of Wits and ampelopsis produced no effect what
2. The same number of inoculations of the
leaves of Wits and ampelOpis with pyenidia from
the berries of the grape gave the same result as
3. Fifty or more inoculations of the berries
with pyenidia spores from the berries yielded the
4. InoculatiOns of ampelopsis leaves with as
cospOres from grape berries resulted in the form
alton OF typical phyllosticta ampelopisldls,
pyenidia and spores at the expiration of fifteen
days.
5. incubation of grape leaves with asco-
spores from the berry produced phyllosticta lab
ruscae spots, pyenidia and spores in twenty five
days.
paper on "a Comparative Test of Some
of the Copper Preparations In the Treat
ment of Black Rot of the Grape" was also
ready by Prof. Galloway. vineyard near
Washington, containing $50 Concord vines,
was treated with a preparation of what is
known as the Bordeaux mixture, which
contains six pounds of copper sulphate and
four pounds of lime to twenty-five gallons
of water. The treatment was begun when
the leaves were commencing to unfold, and
proved quite efficacious. 1t cost s. an acre
Prof. A. j. Cook and DR.. c. M. Weed read
papers on remedies for the plum curculio,
the former asserting that as the curculiO
was partial to plums it was good thing to
have plum trees near apple. pear and
cherry trees, in order to draw the curculo
away from the latter fruits He had
found that spraying was not effective,
and the tobacco decoctiOn of little
use, and believed that the best method of
ridding the trees of the insects was to jar
them into sheets and destroy them. The
proper time for this operation is early in
the morning and late in the evening. DIR.
Weed was a strong advocate of the spray
ing treatment, with which he has been ex-
perlmenting for several years. The solu-
tion employed with much success in spray
ing by the fruit-growers along the southern
shore of Lake Erie was pure Paris green
mixed with water in the proportion of four
ounces to fifty gallons.
Secretary Lazenby read paper by Prof
and Insecticides as Fertilizers" He advo-
Gated the use of lime in the form of dry
hydrate and tobacco as insecticides. Prof.
Osborn read paper on Silver Top IN
It." in which he held that the evil was
caused by some kind of insect operating at
the base of the terminal node of the
stalk. and the only way to prevent
it was to destroy the insect. Prof
Cook read paper prepared by Prof. C. p:
Gillette on Experiments with Arsenites."
Prof Gillette thought lime should be used
with arsenic, London purple and Paris
green when spraying is employed. as when
the damage to foliage is leSsened. After
listening to an interesting paper by Prof.
Cook ON Artificial Pastures for Bees" the
society took recess until afternoon.
The afternoon session was opened by the
secretary reading a brief synopsis of a
paper by DR.. L. F. Ladd, chemist of the
New York Experiment Station, on 'Silage
vs. Dry Fodder" According to this paper
an ,nsestnfa5ion e WAS undersaken ea aGr the he
converting, into silage as compared
with tield-curing,. the same as
generally practiced in New York;
also for determining the digestibility
of the two feeds-silage and tield-cured
maize, The corn was allowed to become
| well glazed before cutting for silo, and in
| this respect the investigation differed from
any previous ones thus far reported. The
| field-cured maize was 11.25 per cent. in
thirty light DAYS. and in the silo the loss
was 1921 per cent. in sixty-three days
A paper by II. p. Armsby. director of the
| Pennsylvania Experiment Station, on In
| tiuences of the Nutritive Ratio on Milk
| Production" was read by the secretary.
THE Promotion of the Sugar Industry
in the United States through Special Ex-
pertinent Stations" was the subject of an
| interesting paper by Prof. H. w. Wiley, of
n oh nisfn of
ment of Agriculture. For several years."
said Professor Wiley, "the Department of
| Agriculture has spent annually a consider
able sum of money for the purpose of pro-
noting the sugar industry of the United
| States. In spite. however, of these liberal
| appropriations and OF the work which has
been done under them. the fact remains
that tn the ANNA annual S.o Sntput t OF sugar
ten years." The Professor discussed at
much length the causes for this failure to
| increase the output, and thought the nat
ural disadvantages which this country pre-
sents to the introduction of the. sugar in
| dustry had been Overestimated. I'm the
| matter of the production of sugar-cane,"
| said he, lit is undoubtedly true that there
| are large tracts of land situated in portions
| of this country suitable to the production
| of sugar-cane. which either have not been
| cultivated in sugar-cane or are not in cul-
tivation at all at the present time In
the case or the alluVlal SOILS OF Louis
lana alone, it is only necessary for
one to look along the banks of tho
Mississippi, from Baton Rouge to the mouth
of the river to be convinced that probably
not one-third of the total area of those
banks is cultivated in sugar-cane. The
same is true of the lands bordering the
bayous. lakes and rivers in other portions
of that and other Southern States The
quantity of cane sugar which is now made
In the United States annually may be
placed at 10000 tons. but it is easy to see
that if the lands which have referred to,
which are suitable for the cultivation of
sugar-cane, could be brought into cultiva-
tion, an output of 500, 900 tons of cane sugar
wonld not be an extravagant estimate.
ut is discoura ging to be compelled TO say
that up to the present time no investment
of capital for the production of sorghum
sugar has proved remunerative On tho
contrary, we have seen O continued series
of financial disasters attend all these ef-
forts, and in the face of such an array of
facts it might seem illogical to assume that
there is any region in the United States in
which sorghum sugar can ever be profita-
bly, Produced The Professor. however.
thought if certain lines of work to which
he devoted much of mis- paper were fol-
lowed for few years that success was
En- Tho