MUSIC IN AGRICULTURE. • Music has come to the aid
of agriculture at Beaver Flats (Nebraska). Potato-growers at Beaver Flats, and indeed throughout the West, have been plagued for years by the potato bug or Colorado beetle, which has destroyed large acreages of crops. As it happens, Beaver Flats has a town band, and the conductor is a Professor of Agriculture who has been pondering the problem of the potato bug for some time. The Professor had observed that toads were (I) inordinately fond of potato bugs, and (2) had a partiality for the music of the town band. When open air concerts were given in the evenings it seems that toads were attracted to the vicinity of the bandstand in great numbers. Putting one and two together, the Professor decided to hold an experi- mental concert on a nearby potato ranch. The experiment is said to have been a huge success. Not only did an encourag- ingly large audience of toads turn up, but also under the influence of music their appetite for potato bugs was keener than ever. The result is so pleasing to potato-growers that the Beaver Flats town band are reported to be booked up for nightly concerts at the potato ranches until the crops are out of danger.
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