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KEEP YOUTH ON THE FARM.—­“What can we do to keep our young people free from the deceiving lure of the city and contented to remain on the farm?”.

The following was prepared by C. W. Kneale, of Niwot, Colo., a student in civics in the Colorado School of Agriculture, as a part of his regular class work.  Young Kneale, although a student, has some excellent ideas which “Father” and “Mother” might do well to ponder carefully: 

“Get good books, magazines and farm papers for them to read.

“Have some kind of lodges for them to go to, such as the Grange.

“Arrange it so they can have a party or entertainment once in a while.

“Go with them to church every Sunday.

“Arrange it so they can have one or more picnics every year.

“Teach them how to do all kinds of farm work, by giving them a small tract of land to farm for themselves and showing them how to raise their crops, and have them help you with your work.

“Give them a horse which they can ride or drive when they haven’t anything to do, or when they want to go anywhere.

“Teach them to love and be kind to animals.”

Ravages of the Buffalo Tree Hopper.

“Mr. Latham recently sent me some twigs of apple tree very badly injured with what we call the buffalo tree hopper.  These scars are made entirely by the female in the act of egg-laying.  This process of egg-laying takes place from the last part of July until the leaves drop in the fall.  The eggs hatch the following spring.  The young forms do not feed at all upon the apple but get their nourishment by sucking the juices from the weeds and grasses in the immediate neighborhood of the orchard.

[Illustration:  The Buffalo Tree Hopper and its work]

“The injury of this particular tree hopper is bad because the insect in egg-laying makes two slits, side by side, afterwards poking the eggs beneath the bark.  As the tree continues to grow, the area between the slits dies, making a very rough appearance of the bark and an area into which spores of disease and bacteria may enter.  The twig that is badly scarred very often dies, and sometimes young trees just set out are marked so badly that they succumb.

“The only practical remedy against such a pest is clean cultivation of the orchard, as one can readily work out from knowing the life history.  It is possible that some of the sprays like Bordeaux mixture, or self-boiled lime-sulphur, sprayed and kept active on the trees during the month of August would deter these hoppers from laying eggs.  However, we have had no practical experience along this line, although we do know that trees under clean cultivation are not affected.”—­A.  G. Ruggles, Head of Section of Spraying and Tree Insects, University Farm, St. Paul.

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MINNESOTA NO. 3 STRAWBERRY.—­A communication from Peter Jackson, Cloquet, says:  “I had my first trial of the Minnesota No. 3 strawberry last year and they did finely.  I had one hundred twenty-five quarts from sixty plants.”  Who can do better than that?