Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-10-07
IMPROVEMENTS At
SOUTH TEXAS GARDENS
Irrigation System Being Equipped
With Steel Flumes-Various In
teresting Items.

made to the irrigation system at th'
South Texas Gardens. Galvanized
steel fumes are being wedged into
the dirt canals TO carry the irrigat-
ing waters 1t is believed by w. ].
Thrower, field expert at the gardens.
that this improvement will result in
saving about thirty per cent of the
water that has been lost in seepage
The gasoline that will be saved will
also amount to considerable.
There will be about a quarter Of a
mile of the steel flume, and work of
installing it will begin Friday. 1t
will not be carried to completion in
hurry as only such time as can be
given it will be used. The steel
fumes are guaranteed to last about
twenty years, and the expense of
Y putting it in the gardens will be
about $3.50, according to Mr..
/ Thrower.
U Odlc dlul OllNCWdy.
I About 500 date palms have been
set out in the gardens, it being Mr..
Throwers purpose to make beauti-
/ ful driveway leading to and around
| the field The palms are planted
about thirty feet apart, and he says
that remarkable success has been at
! tanned with them, as fully ninety
per cent have held out, and are grow
ing rapidly. These on the driveways
are about two and half feet high,
and indications are that the drive
way will be most attractive one.
About an acre of ground has been
broken in which Rhodes grass, i'm
ported from Australia will be planted
this winter. This is a fine grass for
stock. and it is Mr.. Thrower's opin-
ion that it unquestionably will do
well in this section.
An alfalfa field will also soon be
one of the experiments undertaken
at the gardens. Five acres are to be
planted in December.
r. A. Vickery and f. G. Smythe,
entomologists, are conducting expert
ments with lady beetles, imported
from Northern India. These lady
beetles, or lady bugs, as they are
probably better known here. feed on
the sorghum aphis. 1t is not known
as yet whether they will propagate
freely here, and the experiments are
being conducted to ascertain this.
This investigation is the princi-
pal experiment being conducted al
this time by the teomologists. They
have many glass jars containing
aphis and lady beetles in various
stages of growth They are living
on barley which is more easily
grown under glass than any other
green on which the aphis will live.
A study Of the life history Of the
sorgum aphis is being made, and
torty-fve generations have been car
ried forward in the space OF year
This species of the aphis, so far as
at present known. do not lay eggs
An effort is being made to discover
as to whether or not they lay eggs
on grass and if so, at what time. II
IL Is found that they lay in the fall
and incubate during the winter. the
best method of disposing of then
will. Of course, be to burn the grass
This experiment will be conduc-
ted at least until next spring.
The grass or army worm which
during the summer just passed, die
damage to forage crops east Of the
Mississippi river estimated al about
ls1O.OOO.OO0, is also undergoing al
Investigation at the experimental
gardens, particularly as to theil
parasites. They are nine species o.
parasites that feed on the army
worm. including two varieties o
flies and seven varieties OF wasps
ene wasp also has five parasites
this lengthening the experiment con
siderably.
These parasites kill about NINETY
per cent of the army worms undel
ordinary conditions. The percent
age varies because Of the fact tina
often the parasites fail to do theii
work, thus allowing the army worn
TO breed in larger numbers.
Other insect experiments under
way include an investigation of IN
cane bore and the corn bore. Tn
ravages Of this insect are noticeabl
only to the large cane growers.