The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-20
HOW TO CURE BLIGHT.
a Curious Fly That Has Made It's APP
pearance in Florida.

a SuELOuS T ~ 1h6b II q . 1hGOS Ab5 Ap-
pearance in Florida.
GAINESVILLE, FLA, June 19-The
MORNING News In noting large yields OF
wheat might have added that the dry
weather In the month Of May accounts for
it. The writer was told when a young man
by an old farmer that the only perfeot
wheat grains he ever saw was in the year
lS45, the year Of the longest drought within
the memory OF man.. Cloudy, damp
weather Ia the month OF May will certainly
give wheat the rust. In q conversation
with john Sheffield, a farmer who lives
near Hague. was given some very valuable
and interesting Information in regard to
blight of melon vines. be said that no
manure giving the viues large supplies of
ammonia aud potash should ever be used
in the growing OF vines of any kind, that
these two elements in excess in the soil
would give them blight more OF less
every year. / asked II the ants
and other insects which one could see suck
ing the diseased vines had not produced the
condition. He replied most assuredly not,
that when that part Of the stem beneath
the surface had become diseased by over
doses of ammonia and potash the vine then
began to wilt and exude a saccharated
fluid, which attracted tue insects, and pro-
ceeded TO lay bare the tap roots OF several
and to point out the diseased condition OF
each and compare them with healthy ones.
In the first instances. the stems or trunk
roots we're all hollow aud yellow. in last
they were solid, meaty and white. Nothing
but well rotted manures should be used tor
vines He proved to the writer another
very important thing, viz, that just be-
meath each ard every runner there Is a root
running precisely in the same direction as
the former and to bsyond its greatest ex-
nd oil ba EaaTiucy in ad.
vance OF it. This knowledge is
especially valuable to the grover, as it fur
nishes an exact guide as TO the distance he
must run from the hill TO avoid breaking
the roots, which in every instance is almost
destruction to vines Of all kinds. Mr.. Shelf
field then proceeded 10 show me how he ar
rested the blight When the leaves Of a
runner begin to wilt he digs down and
throws out the dirt under that runner down
to its particular lateral root, at the same
time exposing and leaving exposed for
forty.elght hours the stem or trunk root.
After this exposure he refills the hole with
damp cool earth and presses 1t with his
foot He further showed me how to tell
without fail when a watermelon is ripe,
which information alone is worth many
dollars to Young melon growers. There ID
delicate mold on melons
the the hand is firmly drawn
over them a wet looking mark is left; as long
as this wet looking impr ession of the fingers
will take place the melon is green. When
the melon is ripe this mold or down or
bloom Is gone and no impression Of the fin
gers is left.
Mr. Nipper of Jonesgille while in the city
yesteida was mpiainIng Of new pest OF
the cattle and horses. he calls it the Texas
fly because be says it was brought here
with the Texas ponies. No insectcide that
they have tried affords any relief.
1t is small ad long, being only
about one-third the dimensions of the
ordinary house fly. Mr.. Nipper said il you
slap one with a board it will swell up, roll
over and fly OF to the cattle again.
A couple Of our Gainesville women
are taking a hand in the county
campaign and the bad blood that a
single letter from each has enRendered
shows very plainly what "demuition"
time we should have Of it, we're the elective
franchise suddenly to become futed and
frilled; "blarst" me If the ballot wouldn't
be cut bias in jitfy.
a public meeting to take into considera-
ton a proposition Of Col. Cater, the princi-
pal Of the East Florida Seminary, to give
free to fifty pupils Of the county who could
stand the entrance examination into the
seminary their tuition, provided the county
board OF public instruction OF Alachua
,ounty would divert 81 600 of the county
school fund to said institution yearly. The
proposition was promptly voted down.
"Befo' de wah, when the patroller was q